by Evelyn San Miguel ’26

The senior class shirt—a time-honored tradition often playing on the numerical graduation year and the word ‘senior’—went awry this year, sparking a total recall, redesign, and release of a county-issued statement discussing its contents. Distributed to Class of 2026 seniors on October 15, the shirt had an arrangement of the graduation numbers 2 and 6 in ‘senior’ that appeared to some to evoke a racial slur better known as the ‘n-word.’ Shortly after its distribution, MCPS released a community letter on October 16. Co-signed by Peter Moran, MCPS Division Chief of School Leadership and Improvement, and Nyah Hamlett, Division Chief of Equity and Organizational Development, the letter responded to the incident with an apology from the county, as well as detailed steps moving forward for Sherwood.

“We are writing to acknowledge and address a deeply harmful incident that has caused pain … for [those] across the Sherwood community,” the October 16 letter stated. The letter included several focuses, namely a list of actions precipitated by the incident that the county would reference to amend the situation and unkempt promises made by the county in the past. Over its history and even across just the past few years, the letter stated that Sherwood has confronted several “repeated acts of racism and bias” that include a noose tied on school grounds, “insensitive language published in the most recent yearbook,” and students shouting offensive comments at a volleyball game in 2021.

The county released a follow-up statement on November 17, detailing their “review findings, supports, and next steps.” The letter clarified points of confusion and frustration raised by the community and those who provided the county with feedback, as well as making due on the promises listed in their original statement. Senior class president Stephanie Rinelli and class sponsor Jean Arthur were “heartbroken” to see the pain and damage the shirt had unintentionally caused. In interviews provided to Bethesda Magazine on October 24, they both took issue with the county’s decision to immediately release a community letter without first conducting an investigation, a key part of MCPS policy to respond to incidents of hate and bias. “[MCPS] very much jumped the gun,” Rinelli said, expressing her frustration in an interview with The Warrior conducted on November 11.

MCPS has a three-tiered identification system to determine what level of disciplinary action is to be taken in situations of hate or bias, as well as providing definitions for incidents that cause offense or harm to members of the community. The third and lowest level, yellow, which can be determined through “fact finding,” and requires that the actions made are determined to be “hurtful, unwelcoming, and/or harmful, but not motivated by hate or bias.” This level only dictates communication to those involved and their respective parents, not usually characterized by a community letter. In response to criticisms that the county bypassed their own process of investigation, Hamlett disagreed. “The decision to communicate publicly was not based on individual intent, but rather on the significant community impact and the harm caused by the imagery,” Hamlett said in an emailed response to questions sent by The Warrior.

In their second letter to the Sherwood community on November 17, Moran and Hamlett addressed the mention of the Hate-Bias policy in their original statement, acknowledging that it was referenced “prematurely” in accordance with the incident. Hamlett assured The Warrior that “MCPS is committed to learning from this incident and applying those lessons systemwide,” and that they have received “valid feedback” in the past about delays or lack of acknowledgement in situations of hate or bias, which is what drove the quick response by the county on October 16.

Arthur and Rinelli disagreed with much of the language of the original MCPS letter. “The language was inflammatory,” Arthur said. “No question. It was inflammatory, and it was meant to cause chaos. It was meant to cause problems.” Arthur, who is a composition assistant in the English department, wrote a response addressed to MCPS central office, detailing her frustration with their handling of the issue, as well as what she felt should have been said in the original letter. Rinelli and Arthur were both infuriated with the MCPS statement, arguing that it created the misconception that Sherwood is a “racist school.”

“I don’t think it’s right to mark a couple of things and then to say that the entire school is racist,” Rinelli said. For her, the idea that Sherwood has a racist culture is not just inaccurate, but offensive. “My beliefs aren’t necessarily going to be like the person next to me, and certainly not like the entire school’s beliefs. I don’t share the beliefs of everybody in the school. So to label an entire school as racist, I think is incredibly wrong,” Rinelli told The Warrior.

“We recognize that within the Sherwood community, and MCPS more broadly, there are differing perspectives about the nature of … whether broader cultural issues exist,” MCPS wrote in the follow-up letter on November 17. Moving forward as a community, MCPS invited all members to participate in strengthening the school climate. “Honest dialogue, thoughtful reflection, and shared responsibility help build a culture grounded in dignity, respect, and care,” Moran and Hamlett stated.

One of the pillars of the October 16 letter was the investigation launched by the county, which was declared concluded as per their November 17 update. The specifics of the investigation were not made public, and in interviews with Rinelli and Arthur, both confirmed that they had not been personally contacted by the county as a part of the investigation process. According to Hamlett, “relevant staff and students were contacted through the proper channels,” but there was no specification as to whether or not this contacting of those involved occurred prior to the release of the October 16 statement. “The information gathering process did not affirm hate-bias intent or motivation,” MCPS concluded.

To Arthur, an investigation doesn’t change anything. “You don’t give a verdict before you’ve had the trial … [MCPS] already said we’re guilty, so what’s the investigation going to find?” The only form of contact Arthur and Rinelli received was from Janita Love, a coordinator from the Department of Systemwide Equity, with an invitation to a “restorative luncheon” hosted by the central office at MCPS’ headquarters in Rockville. “My impression is they’re doing this to say that they did something, because in the letter they said they would do something. I don’t expect it’s going to make a bit of difference,” Arthur said. According to the county as written in their November 17 statement, the verdict of the investigation was not for the purpose of assigning blame, but in order to understand “how [MCPS] systems allowed this incident to occur and [find] where safeguards must be strengthened.”

In conjunction with the BDFI Training Institute (BITI) and its head, Keisha Allen, MCPS hopes to bolster conversations about potentially harmful incidents and about Sherwood’s complicated history with hate and bias in the community. According to their website, BITI is a nationally recognized training institute, providing material for workshops and seminars that help “create transformative learning experiences” in areas of restorative justice, family decision making, childhood adversity, restorative leadership, and more.

Partnering with groups across education, justice departments, companies, non-profits, and communities, BITI focuses on meeting a variety of needs in the vein of equity and accountability. Collecting testimonies from those impacted and involved with the situation, BITI officials have a thorough process for mediating between groups with conflicting opinions and beliefs in difficult situations, with discussion circles and ‘breaking bread’ as their core pillars. Detailed on posters placed throughout the school building, the school will host restorative sessions during third and sixth period in the media center on November 19, open to voluntary participation from students of all grade levels.

Principal Timothy Britton officially communicated to parents and students about the incident on November 2 — about three weeks after the first community letter — directing students to drop their shirts off and exchange them for the redesigned shirt. The senior class photo was retaken on November 17, remedying the original photograph which pictured dozens of students wearing the initial shirt. Britton declined a request from The Warrior to comment.