You Belong Here is a group of parents, faculty & students who care about Lab and want it to be a place where everyone at Lab can feel that they belong. We are concerned that the   "Standards for Viewpoint Neutrality," which are currently in draft form and being fast-tracked into becoming Lab Policy, will stifle teachers' ability to cultivate cultures of thinking and belonging in the classroom. 

Please scroll down to learn more about these standards & our concerns. 

“As a parent, I am deeply worried. The Administration’s use of viewpoint neutrality to soften Lab’s commitment to inclusion in order to appear more politically balanced, is not protecting education, it is compromising the very values that make it meaningful. For students from historically marginalized communities, whose sense of belonging has too often been undermined in educational settings, this shift is not abstract. When the administration hesitates to affirm students’ identities and lived experiences, it sends a troubling message that some students’ belonging is negotiable. Neutrality in moments that call for affirmation does not create balance, it deepens harm.” - Lab Parent

“The current direction negatively impacts everyone. A framework that discourages educators from engaging deeply with complex social realities risks narrowing classroom inquiry for all students. When teachers feel constrained in discussing history, ethics, and lived experience, every student loses opportunities to develop critical thinking and the ability to connect their learning with the world around them and their lives outside of school.”  - Lab parent

"I see our students--even the very youngest-- as individuals who are capable of complex thinking--not as vessels to be filled. I believe that education is, in our founder, John Dewey's, words, 'an active and constructive process," and that I must respond to and uplift our students' whole selves. This means that I must make space for their questions and concerns about the world around them. 

 Dewey also said, 'the real process of education should be the process of learning to think through the application of real problems.' These new guidelines have a chilling effect. I start to second guess myself each time I read an award-winning picture book,  teach histories of all people,  follow the class' lead in pursuing a subject of inquiry--that this somehow will be deemed "controversial" or a "contested issue" by these standards, and the consequences for this are unclear. 

How are we supposed to help our students learn how to think under these conditions? "   -Lab Teacher

 "A disagreement can start a new idea." 

" I want everyone to feel like they're loved."

"A neutral stance would be harmful if someone is being bullied"

"I know someone at Lab whose parents are not accepting, but at Lab she feels accepted." 

"Stop the racist, anti-trans, anti-neurodiverse things that are happening... no more affinity groups at Labfest....signs are being taken down."     -Lab Students