News of the new Upper School for Boys has inspired a range of opinions and discussions. While some students are impassioned by the issue, many students, including the Inkwell team, feel that the issue is neither as polarizing, nor as significant as other community issues, such as the former controversy surrounding hair dye or today’s politics.

Annie Wright will still offer an all-girls experience. Although there will be boys on campus, they will not be in the classrooms, which is where, as high school students, we spend most of our time. In addition, girls will still be in leadership positions, from speaking up in class to being president of the ASB. Opportunities for sisterhood need not be impacted.

Boys are already part of Annie Wright. The school is committed to inclusivity and diversity, yet we kick them out after 8th grade. We have the opportunity to educate boys in the Annie Wright tradition, with every teacher knowing and appreciating every student and teaching them to be respectful, introspective and forward-thinking feminists. In addition, there are boys out there in the real world. We need to understand how both to collaborate and compete with them.

The Inkwell staff, like our community of alumni, faculty, students and families, has a variety of opinions on how to execute the plan to educate boys. We all agree that by educating boys, we are addressing a need in the community. Our opinions on how to do this, however, vary from becoming fully co-ed to building a completely separate campus.

If we let this divide take away our ability to move forward, however, we will never be able to make progress. Voicing your opinion and fighting for what you believe in is important, but allowing disagreement to hinder action is counter-productive and good for nobody. Do not let the Annie Wright community devolve into the negativity and polarity of our current political climate.