Donovan has Celiac disease. The school has known of his autoimmune disease since he started there in kindergarten. (He just finished 11th grade.)
Yesterday, the school provided cupcakes to the entire upper school to celebrate the end of finals.
That is, the entire upper school except for my son and the few others who cannot eat gluten, because no gluten-free treats were provided. Nor did the school let us know in advance so that we could send something of our own.
No one is asking for special treatment. Quite the opposite. We're asking for equal treatment. We're asking that students with medical dietary restrictions be given the same opportunity to participate in the small moments that help build community and belonging.
What makes this especially frustrating is how easy the accommodation would have been. Gluten-free cupcakes are not rare. They're not difficult to find. And if obtaining them wasn't feasible, a simple heads-up to affected families would have solved the problem.
This is exactly why inclusion matters, despite what current resident of the White House wants us to believe. Inclusion isn't about ideology. It's about making sure people don't feel invisible.
Yesterday, Donovan felt forgotten. He felt like no one cared enough to think about him. Whether that was anyone's intent is beside the point. The impact was the same.
No one should feel that way at school. No one should feel that way at work.
The best schools and the best employers understand that belonging is built in the small moments. It's created when leaders take the extra step to make sure everyone can participate. It's reinforced when people with disabilities, medical conditions, religious obligations, or other differences aren't treated as afterthoughts.
Inclusion is not measured by mission statements, diversity committees, or carefully crafted website language. It's measured by whether people think about those who might otherwise be left out. A cupcake at the end of finals may seem trivial to most students. But when everyone else is celebrating together and you're the one standing on the outside looking in, the message is impossible to miss: this wasn't planned with you in mind.
Schools and employers teach lessons every day that never appear in textbooks or training manuals. This week's lesson was that some people belonged in the celebration and others were left standing outside it.
Here's what I read this week that you should read, too.
'Democracy Dies in HR' Is Great Clickbait—and Bad Management Analysis — via Improve Your HR by the Evil HR Lady, Suzanne Lucas
Who Should Investigate a Harassment Complaint? Not the Harasser. — via Eric Meyer's Employer Handbook Blog
Attendance Policy, Not "Stray Remarks," Drives Win For Employer — via Dan Schwartz's Connecticut Employment Law Blog
Spotting the Red Flags: The Legal Risks Posed by Employer Use of AI — via EntertainHR
AI in HR: Efficiency-Maximizer or Legal Minefield? — via BeLabor the Point
What Are Your Company's AI Nightmares? — via Harvard Business Review
Company Hands Law Firm Hiring Over to AI Bot — What Could Possibly Go Wrong? — via Above the Law
Do I have to hire an employee who went scorched earth after she left? — via Ask a Manager
Seven strikes, and this employer is out — via Employment & Labor Insider
Working from home or hardly working? When WFH corner-cutting becomes misconduct — via Employment Law Worldview