A Message from Brother Tony

June 9, 2020

Dear Alumni and Friends of Central Catholic,
 
Yesterday, I sat in on our listening sessions with students, alumni, faculty and staff about the senseless death of George Floyd and its wider implications. Moving conversations were had. Ideas and experiences were shared. Emotions were on display. I am grateful that we have a caring, committed community that is willing to come together to have these difficult, but necessary conversations.
 
We recognize that we are not perfect, and that there is still a lot of work to do at Central Catholic in regard to breaking down barriers and fostering a community where everyone feels welcome. While we can’t change the past, we can continue to learn from it and build a better future.
 
One of the themes that came out of these meetings is that fighting against injustice is not a short-term endeavor. We will continue to have these difficult conversations, and continue to learn, grow and be agents of change – not only at Central Catholic, but within our communities. This change will not happen overnight, but we will continue to put in the work to change ignorance to understanding.

Over the past four years, to facilitate diversity and inclusion, we created our Dignity & Respect Campaign, increased involvement from our Cultural Inclusion Advisors, have conducted Youth Summits with Tim Stevens, Chairman and CEO of B-Pep (The Black Political Empowerment Project), and we continue to foster open dialogues with our Black Student Union. We have built an alumni group of well-respected African American alumni to advise the administration. Most recently, we have partnered with Todd Pipkin, ’87, and the TAP Expert Educational Consortium for continued diversity training and development.  The input from these groups, as well as input from our students and parents, is helping us continue to learn, grow and change.

Education is a powerful tool. This is where we can create change. We will continue to update our community on future listening sessions, as well as updates on ideas or programs that came out of yestrday's listening sessions. 

 
Fraternally, 

Brother Tony Baginski, FSC
Principal