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Sowing the Seeds of
Equity and Justice by Bob Riddle Head of School
Nearly 30 years ago, I arrived at Crossroads to interview for a teaching position in the Middle School. I knew nothing about independent schools and very little about this young, progressive, urban school that had placed an ad in the paper looking for a math teacher. I had just moved here from Connecticut, having taught in a public school there. I was not only looking for a school that matched my nascent educational beliefs, but also one where I could be free to be completely open about myself.
Above: Steve Morgan gets tearful as the Middle School building is named for him.
I had just come out as a gay man, and, this being the early 80s, had not yet found a school with any other openly gay teachers, let alone one that was comfortable with the notion that someone could be out in the classroom. You can imagine my surprise when I was interviewed by Steve Morgan, then Middle School director. ose of you who remember Steve know that he was an openly gay administrator, and one of the most beloved figures on campus. is was clearly a school that truly believed in diversity and walked its talk! Sadly, Steve died of AIDS a few years later, and even then, at a time when there was much AIDS panic in the country, the School community embraced Steve, supporting him as he succumbed to this horrible disease. A few months before his death, we surprised Steve by bringing him onto campus, seated in Jake Jacobusse’s convertible Mercedes, where he was greeted by the entire School community standing in the Alley as we unveiled the naming of our Middle School building in his honor. Needless to say, there wasn’t a dry eye in the Alley that day. Steve’s story, and the School’s unconditional support for him at a time when few schools in the country were accepting of people who were gay or living with AIDS, is one of literally hundreds of stories throughout our 41-year history when Crossroads and its students, faculty and parents stood up for the ideals of equity and justice, often in pioneering ways. ese stories speak to equity and justice in its broadest sense—from gender or sexual orientation discrimination to environmental degradation, economic inequities, racism and war. Indeed, one of the founding commitments of Crossroads School is to the greater community, and that belief has been embedded in much of what we have done and continue to do. From the founding of the School, when community service became a graduation requirement— something few schools at the time were requiring—to the School’s outreach efforts on behalf of public schools, beginning with the launch of P.S. ARTS, working for the common good has always been