An elite all-girls school in Tennessee has announced that it is pausing a policy that would allow students who identify as a girls to enroll, meaning that boys who said that they were girls could have joined the school.
Harpeth Hall, a storied all-girls school in Nashville, announced that it would be pausing a policy allowing boys identifying as girls to enroll in the school after backlash from parents and others in the community.
“We recognize that this philosophy elicited strong reactions of support and opposition beyond our expectations. We care deeply about your feedback, and we have heard you. Based on the response from our school community, the Harpeth Hall Board of Trustees is choosing to pause the adoption of the philosophy in order to engage a wider audience in continued discussion,” said a letter from the school to parents.
The school, for grades 5-12, was founded in 1865, and has educated prominent figures like Reese Witherspoon, Amy Grant, and Minnie Pearl. Earlier this month, it announced that it would be introducing new guidelines for admission to the school.
“As the world evolves, so do our students,” the school wrote to parents. “The concept of gender has expanded and deepened over time. The members of our school community have asked good and important questions about gender inclusion and have looked for greater clarity on the school’s practices.”
The “pause” of the policy also follows a letter on Monday from members of the Harpeth Hall community for a meeting with the school’s administration. They told the school that its reputation had been “damaged” and that they were hoping to fix the situation.
The school’s message on Thursday, however, claimed that the school did not want to change its admissions policies.
“We would like to take this opportunity to clarify that Harpeth Hall did not and does not wish to make any changes to the school’s longstanding admission practices. Harpeth Hall was founded to serve girls and young women, and that is a key differentiator in selecting this school over coed options,” it said.
Parents and alumnae are still requesting that high-level staff at the school face consequences for introducing the policy in the first place, and sent the school a letter expressing their anger.
“We call today for the resignation of members of the administration board who have been proponents or enablers of political activism and division,” the letter read. “We will withhold all financial contributions to the school until this action takes place.”