October 2, 2020

Dear Ms. Cáceres and the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Friends School,

We, the undersigned employees of the Mary McDowell Friends School, write to you with a message of support for the Brooklyn Friends School Employees Union. As employees of a Quaker school, we believe that a workforce that chooses to unionize is not inherently contradictory to a school operating in concert with Quaker values. Though we have not yet chosen to pursue unionization at MMFS, we believe that to do so would not threaten the educational community rooted in Quaker values that we work to cultivate. Indeed, the social justice mission that your school and ours enshrine in our missions and seek to further in a manner grounded in Quaker values is historically enmeshed with the organized labor movement. We hope that you will reconsider your petition to the NLRB.

To the employees of Brooklyn Friends School, we extend our support and our compassion. We can only imagine how difficult it is to endure this additional ordeal on top of an already bewildering and exhausting school year. If this letter has no other consequence let it at least carry this message clearly: We are with you. We hope that your entire school community is able to find a unified and positive path forward through what is sure to continue to be a trying school year.

In Friendship and Solidarity,
[signed by 47 employees of Mary McDowell Friends School]