Diversity & Values Statements
OES Philosophy on Diversity
The purpose of Oregon Episcopal School is to prepare students with promise for higher education and lifelong learning and to enhance their intellectual, physical, social, emotional, spiritual, and artistic growth so that they may realize their power for good as citizens of local and world communities. We recognize that such growth is best nourished in an environment that honors and respects not only a diversity of ideas, perspectives, experiences, and traditions, but also a diversity of peoples within our community.
We acknowledge that a learning environment that welcomes and encourages diversity provides an invaluable opportunity for all, students and adults alike, to develop the skills and appreciation necessary to become vital, contributing members of our increasingly diverse local and global communities. Exposure to a variety of ideas and perspectives enriches student learning as it encourages critical thinking, open-mindedness, flexibility, creativity, and problem solving.
Because the formative years that a student spends at OES are the most impressionable, we believe there is no better time to teach a child to value a diversity of cultures, to honor a variety of traditions, and to respect the contributions of all people.
Therefore, Oregon Episcopal School is committed to the development and maintenance of an inclusive community in which racial, ethnic, religious, economic, and other diverse groups are welcomed.
Values Statement
This Values Statement was prepared by the Religious and Spiritual Life Committee of the Board of Trustees of Oregon Episcopal School and is intended to be a succinct presentation of the values at the core of the OES community. It was officially adopted as policy by the Board of Trustees on March 17, 1994.
Values are whatever we judge worth having, doing, being. Community values are whatever the normative values are, those subscribed to by the majority, or the central and guiding core of a community. The Religious Life Committee and the Board of Trustees believe both to be the case with the values expressed in this Statement.
We intend that this Statement will help all of us as we consider our behavior as adults and young people, teachers and learners, parents and children, trustees and staff. We intend that reality will be checked periodically against these values, that change will be considered in light of them, that alternatives considered will be tested against them, and that decisions will be made with them as benchmarks.
Ethical values that we are committed to as a school community:
- Honesty and Integrity
- Justice and Fairness
- Striving for the full development of each member
of the community - Respect for self and others, individual beliefs
and gifts - Commitment and responsibility to community and the world we live in
- Caring and compassion for, and service to others
We aim to encourage and educate members of the community to make good ethical decisions, especially in balancing conflicting ethical demands. We acknowledge that growth in moral action is a lifelong process that requires conscious training and support. As members in the OES community we:
- model the values we believe in
- make clear the values we support
- offer opportunities to deal with ethical values
- act in ethically responsible ways as an institution
- work to create an ethical environment at home and at school
