Greetings Durham Nativity School Community,

To Durham Nativity School (DNS) parents, donors, partners, alumni, community members and/or supporters, or if you are considering any of these roles in the future, we are concerned about the health, safety, and security of our students.  

As told, Dr. Joseph Moylan’s vision for DNS came from a place of deep faith, humility, and empathy for the community.  He believed in giving back and seeing the greatest potential in others.  With that heart, he chose to focus on offering an education to boys who were often below the poverty line and coming from broken homes and families, a tough reality for far too many black and brown youth even today.  Knowing his heart and the mission of the school, it is with great concern about the current administration that we are writing to you.

As with any transition there is a season of change and a period of adjustment that must be embraced.  Here, in our season of change, instead of grace and humility, administration responded with retaliation and consequences each time a health or safety concern was raised about our students and routinely prioritized the perception and image of Durham Nativity School over the students health and safety. 

The current administration's attitude in regards to student safety is unacceptable.  In the summer, at the start of the 2023-2024 school year, students were taken off campus for an unsanctioned community service event, which left one student injured and two students left behind.  Staff members that raised concerns about the event and made suggestions, including a roster and first aid kit for future events to administration, were subjected to immediate, unannounced observations as result.  Throughout the 2023-2024 school year, students have been transported to various events in a mixture of a school sprinter van, a full size bus, and staff members personal vehicles.  While parents/guardians may have been aware of the intention to take students off campus for various events, it was not clearly expressed that students would be riding in the personal vehicles of staff members.  When parents discovered and expressed their concerns about the transportation, their children were subjected to higher scrutiny and fewer opportunities for the remainder of the school year. 

The current administration has routinely prioritized social media and the exploitation of our students over their health and safety.  In the fall of 2023-2024 school year, administration launched a new school lunch program, providing meals for the students at no cost.  However, students were not allowed to opt in or out of this program and students with food from home were made to leave their food in their lockers and only allowed to eat what the administration provided.  This continued regularly, well into the second quarter of the school year, where students were not allowed to take their lunch boxes out and were photographed and made to appear as though their only option was the school lunch program.  In the winter of 2023-2024 school year, students were taken off campus for a field trip without notification to their parents or guardians of their location.  Further, several parents discovered their students whereabouts from the schools social media accounts, where the field trip was live streamed. Parents that raised concerns about the lack of notice were chastised by the administration.

 
The lack of care and consideration for our students' health and safety  is dangerous and is preceded by that same lack of care for the staff.   In just one year, the current administration has disregarded and dismissed a team of qualified and caring educators. There will be no educators of color that predated the current administration returning to Durham Nativity School in the 2024-2025 school year.  High turnover in a school setting is always concerning, and removing every teacher from this demographic resembles and feels like abandonment to our highly sensitive student population.  Further, following a staff member disclosing her cancer diagnosis, it was expressed by administration, “we are not a family and we are not here to take care of each other.” The staff member is still facing not only her illness, but also the challenges that come with battling cancer without income or insurance; and can be supported here: https://gofund.me/7e594d9a Good leaders see potential, develop, and delegate to other leaders. Instead of investing in people, this faculty has been deemed without value and replaceable.  

The approach of Durham Nativity School’s current administration does not align with the vision Dr. Moylan clearly set in the school’s founding, and it is our hope that it gets back to its core values and mission, not just on paper, its’ carefully curated depictions on social media, and public showings for donors, but in how it truly is a community that supports and values students and families as well as faculty and staff.  

It is for the reasons above that we are requesting the removal of the current head of school, Tiffany Alrefae. We are hopeful that with changes to the current administration,  Durham Nativity School will continue to be a beacon of hope for our communities and a family for black and brown boys and those who serve them.

Sincerely,

Concerned Durham Nativity School Community Members