As fall is turning into winter, many students may find themselves plagued by a lack of vitamin D, and therefore feeling a bit lower than they did when night started at 8 instead of 5.

Thankfully, there is an almost endless list of resources for students feeling depressed, anxious or even just stressed — about school, work or maybe even the President-Elect.

This issue is about mental health, but the article that will stick with me most is “Equity takes effort” (on this page). The piece identifies issues the district and its schools have with achieving progress.

Providing staff members with a one-time, two-day equity training is clearly not effective enough in ushering into schools a new culture where all students are accepted and have their backgrounds respected.

Without a real attempt to get students — or even other teachers, who are the adults in these situations — to have those “courageous” and often uncomfortable conversations, our race to equity is stagnant and rendered wholly ineffective.

It’s not enough to simply not be racist. Clearly, this bar may not even be met by all teachers.

Regardless of how many editorials the Budget runs on the issue, no printed words could have the effect that the leaders of this school could have in initiating a culture of acceptance, awareness and justice at Lawrence High.

The more that administrators, teachers, upperclassmen and brave underclassmen go out of their ways to challenge injustice, the more students we might have R.O.A.R.-ing with pride.