DEI Update

Roland Park Country School’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion resides in all facets of our school building, including the Board of Trustees. As of 2019, RPCS’ Board of Trustees formed a committee that outlined specific goals to promote inclusivity, including but not limited to:

• Increasing the diversity of Board of Trustee members
• Having diversity and inclusion training for all members of the board

Our employees have shown a demonstrated commitment to assessing the practices of RPCS to ensure equity for all. As such, the Employee Inclusion Council is a group that meets on a monthly basis, and is open to all employees. Within the group, employees from all departments come together to consider topics such as:

• How do we ensure that every single person in our community (no matter their position) has access to diversity, equity and inclusion professional development?
• How do we ensure that parents have the necessary tools to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion topics at home?
• How do we ensure that our LGBTQ faculty and students feel heard, represented, and valued?

It is critical that as a society, we strive to better understand one another. Identity is pertinent to who we all are. As such, RPCS offers various professional development offerings for both faculty and staff. A few examples include:

• Jen Cort 
  • Jen Cort leads professional development with faculty and staff, as well as administration, considering topics such gender inclusion, talking about SES, and implicit bias.
• Rosetta Lee 
  • Rosetta Lee is a renowned diversity practitioner who visited RPCS both in the 2018-2019 school year and in the 2019-2020 school year. She discusses inclusion in the early years, girls education, and more.
• Carlos Duque
  • Carlos Duque is a lower school librarian at Capital City Public Charter School. He regularly comes to serve as a resource for lower school teachers. As we know that children learn so much about the world around them in the early years, his expertise and consultation with lower school educators helps to ensure that we are discussing, in age-appropriate ways, identity, society, and more.

In the past, we have also brought experts to work with math and science educators to consider diversity in this classrooms, as well as Alex Myers [insert site] and Jabari Lyles [insert site] to discuss supporting LGBTQ students. Furthermore, we have presentations by various faculty staff members who are well versed in DEI topics and offer presentations for their peers, such as:

• Teaching and the N Word: Tiana Oguaman, Akailah Jenkins McIntyre, and Jackie Regales
• Supporting LGBTQ Students: Chase de Saint-Felix
• Authentic Relationship Building: Robin Prescott, Carolyn Parker, and Akailah Jenkins McIntyre

This year, we continued to work with employees throughout the whole school who commit to meeting regularly throughout the school year to discuss and reflect upon our own white socialization, living in our racially inequitably society.  For more information on why white anti-racism spaces are necessary, please read AWARE-LA’s Why a White Space.

We aim to build the capacity for strong racial analysis through shared historical knowledge, vocabulary and literacy. We will reflect on a range of texts (articles, videos, etc.) and engage in challenging conversation about how whiteness operates on a personal, institutional and societal level.

This effort is in the service of building a group of RPCS employees who will be better equipped to address how racial inequity manifests itself in our institution: in curriculum, pedagogy, the experience of members of this community and other aspects of school culture.

In the Lower School...

• Third graders created a collaborative grade level book, Black History Bios, using Book Creator.  They worked in groups, using the Itty Bitty Bio series in the library, to research important individuals and their accomplishments.  Individuals included Booker T. Washington, Florence Griffith Joyner, Katherine Johnson, Rosa Parks, Mary Jackson, Harriet Tubman, and Martin Luther King Jr.

• In accordance with Lower School's implementation of the Pollyanna Racial Literacy Curriculum, students created self-portraits after mixing paints to find a paint that matches their complexion.

In the Middle School...

• Students in sixth and seventh grade library classes are preparing for author Mitali Perkins' visit on March 30. After participating in an interactive activity about social identifiers, students are now listening to Perkins' semi-autobiographical novel, You Bring the Distant Near. Perkins' story features inspiring South Asian girl and women protagonists grappling with love, faith, and culture, as well as the intersections among their personal, communal, and national histories.
• Students in eighth grade traveled to USHMM as a continuation of the yearlong Human Rights Unit. In preparation, students read Walls by Hiltgunt Zassenhaus who has connections to RPCS, and Refugee by Alan Gratz.  After studying the timeline of Nazi Genocide, students focused on turning statistics into people by reading short, individual biographies of people persecuted by the Nazis.
• The Middle School diversity conference and began to plan a diversity day, where they will lead diversity sessions to fellow middle schools students.
• The Middle School Black Student Union visited Lower School classes to read books in honor of Black History Month!

 

In the Upper School...

• Ninth grade students in history discussed the historiography and Pre-Modern Africa, specifically, students learned how colonialism, imperialism, the Atlantic slave trade, primitivism, and racist ideas continue to impact the ability of current historians to get a clear picture of Pre-Modern African history. They also learned about ancient race relations between Egypt and Nubia, exploring beauty standards from around the world and exploring the social construction of the them. Finally, they investigated how Dahomean and Yoruban religions survive in Afro-Caribbean communities to this day
• Students in AP European History and History of Anti-Semitism went on a field trip to attend the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.
• Lindsay Fitzpatrick’s Upper School English students celebrated Black Women’s History (including LGBTQIA+) every day of the month in their classes. Students received clues and did a few minutes of research to discover a Black icon and competed for both accuracy and speed. There was a “Black Joy” bonus round on the last classes of the last week, where students identified pictures of activists and change makers just smiling and enjoying their lives. They ran for gift cards to Mahogany Books and of course, some bonus points!
• On Friday, February 21, the Black Student Union hosted its annual ‘Black and Beyond: Black Influencers’ Upper School assembly. The assembly featured trivia with categories such as ‘Black Business’ and ‘Firsts but not Lasts’, and winners received prizes. The students ended their presentation by discussing micro aggressions and taking a stand against micro aggressions that they personally faced. Head of School, Caroline Blatti, concluded the program by standing in solidarity with the students and speaking out against micro aggressions.

 

In the Community...

• On February 4, employees Verna Mayo, Kati Colombat, and Alka Kumar attended a meeting at Roland Park Elementary Middle (RPEMS) to strategize about how to come together as a community against racism, following the racial incident that occurred on Roland Ave in which RPEMS students had a racial slur used against them by an unknown passerby. Following the meeting, RPCS offered faculty members and students the opportunity to create signs for a rally against racism on Roland Ave on Feb 7 at 7:30 a.m., which many RPCS students and employees attended.
• Throughout the month of February, school employees and students participated in Black History Month trivia! Each day, a two-part trivia question was sent to employees, as well as middle and upper school students. Winners of trivia among the employees included Margie McIntosh (top prize), as well as Lindsay Fitzpatrick, Siiri Fowler, Alka Kumar and Dani Kell Steinbach. In the middle school, Ms. Pniewski’s advisory were the winners, and Ms. Nichols’ advisory claimed the prize in the Upper School.

 

In the Lower School...

• Lower School had a special morning meeting where they talked about Martin Luther King, Jr. and listened to a historical video about how he came to write his speech. They also discussed service and how it’s connected to MLK. Furthermore, they read books about homelessness, reminding them that it doesn’t always look the way you might think that it does!
• As a Lower School, Hope Bags were created to give to a homeless shelter with a special note from the students.
• On January 14, Black Student Union members read diverse books in the 4 year-old classroom.

 

In the Middle School...

• On January 29, Elisha James and Akailah McIntyre led a discussion with all middle school students about Cease Fire Baltimore after watching this TED Talk, standing against violence, considering crime and the reasons for crime. The conversation will continue throughout the year as students work with Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. James to discuss the criminal justice system.

 

In the Upper School...

• Students in Mrs. Bissel’s English 9 Honors wrote poems in response to Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric. The poems focus on individual Black Americans mentioned by Rankine who have died at the hands of the police.
• Below is an overview of what the upper school students have been working on in RED Block:
  • Filmmaking and Change Making: Students in Hanson’s 11^th grade seminar collaborated to produce a documentary about Mitchell’s life and legacy through research, site visits, interviews, and consultation with filmmakers and public figures.
  • Design Thinking and Innovating in Global Health: In Surtees’ class, teams chose an area of pressing concern in health to focus on. They next identified the needs of relevant stakeholders, determined root causes, and examined current solutions landscapes.
  • Installation Art and Social Justice: With Sigler, students explored the contemporary genre of installation art, in which artists use unusual or unexpected media to make a construction designed for a specific space.
  • Model UN: The Art of Diplomacy, Conflict Resolution & Global Citizenship: Khalili’s MUN Red Block students represented constituents, in much the same style as countries in the United Nations and grappled with how they would resolve the crisis of unsafe drinking water in Baltimore City Public Schools.
  • Find Your Voice In Debate: Regale’s class this semester practiced and trained in Lincoln-Douglas styles of debate, held mock debates in class, wrote and delivered opening and closing speeches, gained research skills, and ultimately debated in front of the 8^th grade students and teachers on the place of civil disobedience in a democracy.
  • Exploring the Possibilities of Personalized Medicine – Case Study: Type 1 Diabetes: White’s seminar invited students to investigate and think critically about a chronic disease landscape, using Type 1 Diabetes as a case study. Students also toured a diabetes research lab, heard from individuals who are T1 Diabetics and studied new frontiers of diabetes treatment.
  • Finance and Sustainability: Can Doing Good Also Lead to Doing Well Financially?: Whitman’s seminar examined the role of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing in the current financial landscape. For the final project, each of the four groups was responsible for finding a company that was regarded as socially conscious and financially healthy. The presented their company to a panel of experts and fielded questions about their research.
  • Girls With Impact: Entrepreneurship & Leadership: Metsopoulos’ program, students became the CEO of their own Impact Venture - a business, project, or charity. Through live-online sessions led by a professional business coach and mentored by their classroom Seminar teacher, students came up with their venture idea and began to formulate a business plan, including creating a prototype.

• In AP World History, students are learning about Zanzibar as a trading center, imperialism of South and East Asia, specifically India, China, Japan, and Australia. They are also beginning to examine the Scramble for Africa which focuses on how different African people responded to European actions.

• On January 14, Black Student Union members read diverse books in the 4 year-old classroom.

In the Community...

• On January 13, the Diversity Equity and Inclusion committee of the Board of Trustees convened to discuss the revision of the current board diversity statement and various aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Throughout the month of January, students from RPCS went to Lillie May Carroll Jackson Charter School to make blankets, plush baby toys, and notes to donate to the organization ‘Share Baby’. In these four sessions, they also created signs for Cease Fire Day in Baltimore, which can be found around the school. Students were paired on each of the days as follows: fifth graders with ninth graders, sixth graders with 10^th graders, seventh graders with 11^th graders and 9^th graders with the seniors. Together they formed bonds of sisterhood through community service for MLK Day.
• On January 31, Sarah Rollfinke, Tiana Oguaman, and Akailah McIntyre (members of the Employee Inclusion Council Faculty Task Force), attended a diversity hiring fair of Carney Sandoe in Philadelphia to attempt to recruit more diverse candidates.

In the Lower School...

• In Ms. Venick’s second grade class, four Pollyanna lessons were taught focusing on the introduction of geography and the different houses, food and clothing that are found around the world! These lessons were used in preparation to read Rickshaw Girl.
• Fourth grade is focusing on Westward Expansion in Social Studies and Literacy with the two questions, “Who is telling the story?” and “Whose voice is being left out” as a framework for our discussion. They have spent time analyzing John Gast’s painting “American Progress” and the idea of Manifest Destiny, as well as exploring the impact on Native Americans through picture books, discussion, and research!

In the Middle School...

• In sixth and seventh grade library classes last cycle, students participated in an activity about social identifiers! First, students discussed the difference between the term "identity" and "social identity" under the supervision of Mrs. Fox, the school librarian. They were then asked to work together to match the definitions and examples with the appropriate identifier from a list of social identifiers. Important discussion question came up such as: Why do you think we are talking about social identifiers in library class? How are social identifiers connected to writing, publishing, and reading?  How do your own social identifiers influence your reading choices?

In the Upper School...

• Mx. de Saint-Felix’s ninth grade history class is examining manifestations of Islamophobia in current American society, investigating Islamic rituals and practices, including the Hajj, and have discussed complicated gender dynamics in Islamic Sharia worldwide. The students are also examining the legacy of Umayyad rule in Spain! Creativity has also sparked as they learn about traditional Japanese art forms, including kabuki, bunraku, noh, calligraphy, enso, haiku, and woodblock prints!
• In another US History class, students have embarked on an in-depth study of the Reconstruction Era using the excellent curriculum developed by Facing History and Ourselves entitled “The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy.” Some of the enduring questions which anchor this unit include:
  • The role of the federal government in protecting the rights of individuals.
  • The relationship between force of law and the beliefs of people in determining who belongs in a nation and who doesn’t.
  • The membership and participation of many groups—including African Americans, immigrants, workers, women, and Native Americans—in political and social life.
  • The use and prevention of violence in our society and politics.

Following the unit, students will embark on research projects that will examine the state of our democracy today through the lens of key historic turning points of the 20^th century. Keep your eyes out for a podcast in which students will collaborate to produce based on their individual and collective research!

• French 5/6 continued to discuss the immigrant experience in France as portrayed in two movies: Inch’Allah Dimanche and Welcome! The students also watched and discussed Les Intouchables, which is based on a true story and deals with issues of class, race and physical ability. The students were encouraged to think about, reflect on and discuss many DEI related subject! Their final presentations included (among others):
  • Les Stéréotypes
  • “Overcoming Alienation and finding one’s identité”
  • The intersection of two worlds
  • “The Struggle between Justice and Morals”
• Four students of Roland Park Country School attended People of Color Conference in Seattle on December 3-6. Upon their return, they presented to students in each division about their journey.
• Members of the Black Student Union (BSU) and White Students Confronting Racism (WSCR) came together to present the importance of the two groups. They shed light on the forms of privilege and oppression the students face in society, as well as the advantages black students at RPCS do not have. The students also wanted to recognize the importance of BSU serving as a safe space to their members and why WSCR is important to serve as allies.

In the Community...

• On December 3-6, the following faculty and staff members attended the People of Color Conference in Seattle: Tori Murrill, program support; Karen Heindenreich, Middle School math teacher; Kim Wilson, library assistant; Beverly Edwards, Lower School librarian; and Akailah McIntyre, Diversity Equity and Inclusion director were those who attended. They then presented to staff about what they learned.
• On December 10, the first Parents of Color Gathering, as requested by parents, was held. Participants engaged in community building activities.
• On December 12, the Parents Diversity Committee meeting that was led by Kristin Tubman, director of global programs at the Boys Latin School where they discussed chapters 1-4 of the book Blindspot.

In the Lower School...

• Under the direction of the Lower School art teacher, Holly McAslan, first grade students have created character self-portraits! As part of the Pollyanna and art curriculum, students mixed a variety of skin tones discussed in the books “Shades of People” and “The Skin You're In” as well as focusing on brush control.

• Second grade teacher Haley Venick has added new chapter books into her classroom library that features diverse characters! These new series include Mia Mayhem, Jada Jones, and Diary of an Ice Princess.

• “Best Part of Me” poems by the fourth graders in which they celebrated a body part that makes each girl unique were published! These poems were based on the book The Best Part of Me by Wendy Ewald.

• Lower School math teachers Sydney Carter and Becky Stevenson taught STEM by The Numbers, a lesson from Teaching Tolerance, which introduces students to pie charts and percentages. These graphs were applied in the analyses of underrepresented groups of people, based on race and gender, in STEM occupations! Key vocabulary was introduced, such as underrepresented, percent, statistics, and workforce. The class also discussed three reasons why Black men and women, Hispanic men and women, and all women are underrepresented by using words such as power, encouragement, and opportunity!

• The Lower School celebrated World Kindness Day on November 13. As part of the day, students in Haley Venick’s second grade class drew photos depicting different skin colors and representing that no matter the color of our skin, we are all special and unique.  

In the Middle School...

• Seventh graders in Karen Heidenreich’s class discussed the concepts of how characters in books can be windows and mirrors, in which students can identify with certain characters and gain new insights by interacting with unfamiliar characters. To facilitate their learning, students read Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woods and charted acts of kindness on a graphic organizer. This activity went alongside the lesson from Pollyanna.

• Suzanne Fox, Middle and Upper school librarian, has been working with students interested in learning more about LGBTQ experiences and history. She has taught them how to find books related on the topics they desire to learn! Some books she has spotlighted are Geography Club by Brent Hartinger and Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender, both which highlight the development of identity beyond cisgender.

• Akailah McIntyre visited Ellen’s Krich’s sixth grade classes to discuss the history of slavery and Jim Crow as the students read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. The week before, Verna Mayo visited to discuss the history of the N-Word. All of these concepts are critical to students’ understanding of the context of the novel.

In the Upper School...

• Erin Crites, our Artist of Residence and friend of Ricky Watson, spoke to a few classes about Clowns Without Borders! She discussed the work she has done in Central and South America as well as Kenya. The focus of the conversations was about life in refugee camps, who the work serves, and the importance of play, creativity, and connection in the midst of recovering from political and natural disasters.

• In Mrs. Colombat’s French 5/6 course, students watched Inch’Allah Dimanche, a French/Algerian film about an Algerian woman who moved to France with her children and her mother-in-law to join her husband in the 1970s as part of the “Regroupment Familial” program. This film explores the difficulties that immigrants face as they try to navigate a new language, a new culture and the stereotypes and preconceived notions all the characters have towards each other.

• The French 3H course memorized and recited Baobab! by Congolese poet Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard for the Birgit Baldwin International Poetry Festival to be held here at school on January 28. They will be doing a personal reflection on the poem and writing their own poem (in January) based on this poem. Erin Hoskins was chosen by the class as a representative!

• On November 18, students from “Project HBCU” visited with the Black Student Union during lunch to discuss the importance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The students later that evening hosted a movie night, screening the movie “ATL” and offered the opportunity for area independent and public schools to attend.

In the Community…

• On November 26, during our annual all-school Thanksgiving Convocation, Morgan Alexander, Student Diversity Association President, offered a land acknowledgement for the first time, sparking a new RPCS tradition. As part of this land acknowledgement, she noted that RPCS exists on the land of the Piscataway Peoples, Native Americans whose land was forcibly taken from them as a result of colonization.

• The Parents Association and Parent Diversity Association support the start of parent affinity groups, which will begin this month with a group meeting for the parents of students of color. RPCS is the last school of the tri-school to join this effort, and is happy to support those members of our community who are in the minority coming together to be in community with one another. To learn more about the necessity of affinity spaces, please read this or email Akailah McIntyre with any questions.

In the Lower School…

• For the celebration of Sukkot, a Jewish holiday, a Sukkah was placed on the playground for students to use! In the Sukkah, there were books the children could read during their playtime between October 14-25. This was followed by a presentation from Middle School students to help them learn more about Sukkot and the Sukkah.

• Second grade students began research projects on notable women, including Amelia Earhart, Frida Kahlo, and Georgia O’ Keefe. They are using either Scratch Jr., iMovie, or Book Creator to make their bibliographies!

• Third grade students were each assigned a “Share Day,” where they could bring in something from home, share pictures, or even ask the class a question for everyone to discuss. Not only did the students speak on why their item is meaningful to them, but they were able to practice public speaking/presentation skills, as well. The Share Day will also prepare the students for their spring activities in which they lead an entire morning meeting!

• “I Am” poems and designed collages are being created by Mrs. Mejibovsky’s fourth graders to focus on attributes that make each of us different and unique. A similar activity was also done with first grade buddies!

• Three Branches and Leaves programs commenced in October. There are now Branches and Leaves for Jewish girls, advised by Heather Samet; students with separated parents, advised by Renee Best; and Brown girls advised by Akailah McIntyre and Sydney Carter. The Jewish girls and Brown girls group meet every two weeks and enjoy visits from Upper School girls to discuss aspects related to their culture!

In the Middle School…

• The Middle Schoolers created a presentation to help Lower School students learn more about Sukkot and the Sukkah on October 25 (see above).

• Diversity club has begun! Mrs. Akailah McIntyre and Elisha James, advisors of the club, met with students on October 16 to discuss Columbus Day and the importance of honoring Indigenous People.

• Monica Recht’s classes reenacted the Seneca Fall Conventions where they learned the importance of asserting their position on a number of issues that relate to women’s rights and defend their position on those issues.

• Under the direction of student Lauren Blumenfeld, $3,339.15 was raised for the fight against breast cancer on Think Pink Day, nearly three times as much raised in 2018! With the help of Middle School student leaders and faculty, this event was a huge success and 100 percent of the funds will be donated to Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at John Hopkins to support research into funding new treatments and cures for breast cancer.

• Akailah McIntyre spoke to the middle school and upper school on October 17 about appropriate Halloween costumes.

• Under the direction of Ms. Elisha James, there was a ceasefire day at RPCS in support of Baltimore’s Cease Fire Weekend-long event. Each day, the names of victims killed in Baltimore were read, followed by activities to promote peace and awareness within the community.

In the Upper School…

• Students in Mrs. Vasta and Mrs. Nichols’ Spanish classes read books to Lower School students in celebration of Hispanic Heritage month!

• Students in Level IIIR French are doing a project on typical homes in Francophone countries!

• In Mx. de Saint Felix’s class, ninth grade World History students have been studying how cultures from around the world influence each other for good or ill. During the quarter, they have discussed the important differences between contemporary American and South Asian gender norms and presentations, they critically examined racist and classist beliefs built into the Pre-Modern Indian Caste System, and much more!

In the Community…

• The school created a social media post to commemorate the legacy of Maryland representative and former RPCS parent Elijah Cummings, who passed away on October 17.

• On October 18, the school closed for the National Coalition of Girl’s Schools at The Bryn Mawr School. A number of our very own teachers presented at the event!

• The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee for the board of trustees held their first meeting on October 23.

• On October 24, two RPCS employees attended an AIMS professional development session to talk about supporting gender non-conforming students.

• An employee inclusion council meeting, which was open to all employees across the school, was held on October 30 to talk about any issues that may be coming up for them.

• Akailah McIntyre and Duncan Booth led a session with staff, including athletics, admissions, communications, maintenance, school store employees, business office, etc. concerning this year’s diversity training to ensure all of the employees on campus are engaging in diversity, equity and inclusion professional development!

• Sara Rollfinke, Dean of Faculty, Tiana Oguaman, English teacher and department chair, and Carolyn Parker, Director of Counseling, attended a hiring for cultural competency event, where they learned about strategies for hiring people who can promote inclusive classrooms!

 

In the Lower School…

• Lower School affinity groups begin the first week of October! Details about the groups were communicated to families in last week’s newsletter from Lisa Teeling. All affinity groups will now be referred to as “Branches and Leaves.” This year, we will have Branches and Leaves groups for Brown girls, Jewish girls, and girls with separated parents. Click here to sign your child up! 

• Carlos Duque, who serves as a librarian at Capital City Public Charter School and regularly consults with our Lower School teachers, visited the Lower School on Thursday, Sept 20, 2019. He visited 3s, 4s, second grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade classrooms to observe, work with students, and co-lead the afternoon faculty meeting with Akailah McIntyre, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Carlos will visit RPCS three more times this year, and will work with teachers on reaching their inclusive classroom goals.

• Students in Ms. Mercer’s kindergarten class read the book Princess Hair, in which they discussed the beauty of all different types of hair, including bantu knots, braids, head wraps, and more. Some students shared that they had worn these types of hair styles before, and were excited to discuss their own hair types.

• In Mrs. Soellner’s fifth grade class, students are considering different constellations through a non-western lens. They researched constellations and considered the importance of those constellations through the lenses of other cultures, including indigenous cultures.

• Third grade students are dispelling stereotypes about mathematicians through their “What does a mathematician look like?” board, which is right outside of the third grade classrooms! Students discussed their thoughts about mathematicians, drew photos of mathematicians, and then read a book titled I’m Trying to Love Math. Through this book, they recognized that math is everywhere and that everyone is a mathematician. Teachers then took photos of students and labeled them “What an Actual Mathematician looks like” to remind students that they are all mathematicians!

• Fourth grade students kicked off their “Embracing Our Differences” unit, which focuses of people who are dis/differently abled. Mrs. Mejibovsky highlights that students will engage in dialogue around the texts “Out of My Mind” and “Rules,” and write a series of poems over the coming months about what makes them unique! 

In the Middle School…

• There are two new affinity groups for students this year in the Middle School: a Black Student Union and Jewish Heritage Club. We also have a Student Diversity Association and Gender and Sexuality Alliance, as we did last year. 

• Akailah McIntyre kicked off the year with a Middle School professional development session in which teachers created goals for their classrooms in regard to considering and teaching about identity, and found resources to support them in their endeavors.

• Mrs. Recht’s classes created skits that discussed the history of native peoples and colonization. Students performed their skits for several captive audiences!

• Beth Venn’s advisory conducted a “get to know you” activity in which they discussed a few of their favorite things as well as their dreams, hopes and goals for the year. As our Director of Learning support, Julie Bierman, routinely notes, students must feel known to feel safe! These activities help our students feel ready and willing to engage in conversations about themselves and others.

• On Saturday, September 21, Middle School teachers Kim Hoffman and Tiana Oguaman, as well as MS/US librarian Suzanne Fox traveled to Dalton School in NYC to learn about their K-8 Racial Literacy Curriculum. They were joined by Assistant Head of School for Academics, Carla Spawn-van Berkum, as well as Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Akailah McIntyre. This trip was an endeavor to continue to support our work to talk about all forms of identity in the K-8 classrooms, including race. 

In the Upper School…

• Upper School diversity clubs and organizations have kicked off! This year, we are offering the Student Diversity Association, Jewish Heritage Club, Black Student Union, Asian Students Alliance, Gender and Sexuality Alliance, FOCUS, Hispanic Culture Club, and White Students Confronting Racism.

• At a morning meeting on Tuesday, September 17, Upper School students offered an announcement for their peers about what an affinity group is, and will continue to make announcements throughout the year about the groups and their importance. 

• A group of Upper School students and teachers went to go see Ailey II, a diverse dance ensemble that is part of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, at Towson University on Saturday, September 14.

• Students in Megary Sigler’s Fundamentals of Visual Arts (FOVA) class created social justice posters, a continuation of an idea initially sparked by Emily Rohrer. Posters can be found in the art wing and near the grand staircase, and speak out about a range of issues, including trans rights, the Holocaust, domestic violence, body image, and more. Check them out!

• Dr. Cyd Hamilton’s classes are having discussions about similarities and differences. Students grapple with the fact that humans’ DNA only differs by less than 0.01%. What does this mean in terms of the ways that we are all both alike and different, and in terms of the judgements that we make about one another? Do animals also make judgements? Dr. Hamilton notes that these questions led students into a discussion about community level dynamics and mutualism versus antagonistic interactions. Dr. Hamilton has also highlighted great woman scientists as part of her lessons. 

In the Community… 

• The Parent Diversity Committee will host its first meeting of the year on Wednesday, October 2 at 6 p.m. in the Trustee Seminar Room. Not able to attend in person? A “zoom” link will be sent out in advance so that you can join virtually! 

• Communication was sent out to all families earlier this week about appropriate Halloween costumes. Please read that email, titled “Halloween Reminder,” and reach out to Akailah McIntyre should you have any questions about your child’s costume. 

• The Offices of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Counseling, Learning Support and the Library have teamed up to create a bi-weekly newsletter for teachers! The newsletter features tips for teachers to consider as we continue to work toward centering student voices, experiences, and wellness. 

• The Employee Inclusion Council, a collaborative group that’s open to any employees interested in discussing matters of DEI, will host its second meeting of the year on September 23 at 3:30 p.m.