Progress on E&I Initiatives

We believe strongly that one key to a better, more inclusive OES starts with what happens in the classroom. In order to support adult learning and professional growth, we provide the following opportunities and have taken the following steps:

• Teachers participate in regular identity-based harm/microaggression training.
• We cultivate beloved community through ongoing restorative practices training and guided practice.
• We have a dedicated, full-time equity coach working with each division and department, a variety of grade-level teams, and individuals to revise curriculum and instruction to be more inclusive and culturally responsive.
• We created a position to provide lateral leadership and support for teachers—the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coordinators (DEICs), made up of teachers (including after-school instructors) who meet regularly to plan for enrichment opportunities for divisional staff/teachers.
• We implement the Social Justice Standards in every division, at every grade level, and in every content area. This work is supported by the DEICs and the equity coach.
• Division administrators prioritize funding and resources for professional growth and development based on social justice teaching.
• We provide opportunities for sustained curriculum development and collaboration in the form of curriculum camps where participants spend a few days during the summer to hone social justice skills integrated in a subject area. The two camps we sponsored thus far have been restorative practices in math, and health and wellness. Each content area is viewed with a social justice lens. 
• Each spring, the Office of Equity & Inclusion hosts an Equity Book Fair where every employee is offered a free book explicitly about social justice or authored by a member of a marginalized community. 
   

We believe that classroom practice—both what is taught and how it is taught—can make a difference in the current and future lives of students. In order to support student learning, we have adopted the following standards:

• All curricula are informed by our adoption and implementation of the Social Justice Standards.
• Curricular reviews, Pre-K–12, occur regularly with a lens of racial justice, equity, and inclusion.
• Librarians actively build an inclusive circulation and bring in authors who represent marginalized identities, providing windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors (see Rudine Sims Bishop’s work).
• Students take part in peer-to-peer learning through a new group: The Peer Advocacy and Activism Coalition (PAAC). PAAC uses their power for good by responding to injustice and teaching peers about ways to combat injustice. They have sponsored Black Lives Matter events and created an identity-based harm reporting campaign for the Upper School.

We believe that affinity groups can be a strategic tool to support people from underrepresented groups and help them to thrive. Additionally, we know that understanding racial identity development as a White person strengthens our community. As such, we have added the following affinity and alliance groups in the past three years: 

Students

• Upper School: The Neurodivergent Affinity Group and the South Asian Affinity Group
• Middle School: LGBTQIA+ and Allies Group, Students of Color Affinity Group, and Neurodiverse Thinkers Allies Group
• Lower School: Common Threads—an affinity group for students of color in grades 2–6

More informations is available on the Student Affinity and Allyship Groups section.

Employees

• The White Ally Learning Space (WALS)—a group for White identifying OES employees to come together to actively advance the school's work as an anti-racist institution 
• Employees of Color Resource Group—an affinity group for all employees of color

Parents/Guardians

• Tapestry—an affinity group for parents/guardians of students of color
• Neurodivergent Community Affinity Group—an affinity group for parents/guardians of neurodiverse learners
• Pride Alliance—an alliance group for members of the the LGBTQIA+ communities (students and/or parents and guardians) and allies
• Mishpacha—an affinity group for Jewish families (adults and children)

More information can be found on the Parent/Guardian Affinity Groups page.

We believe in providing opportunities to engage with scholars, educators, and artists around issues of equity, diversity, and antiracism. To that end, we provide these ongoing opportunities: 

• DEI Cafes—these events are for the OES community (employees, parents/guardians, and alumni) to explore justice-informed practices through speakers, equity-oriented activities, and readings.  
• Dreaming Justice—this speaker series provides the broader community with opportunities to engage with experts around topics of education and race. 

We believe that philosophy must be supported by inclusive policy. Since 2020, we have created the following policies to enforce our beliefs. More details about the below policies can be found in the All-School Policies section of the All School Family Handbook.

• The N-word and other harmful language policy
• Inclusion of Transgender/Non-binary students policy regarding privacy, names and pronouns, and accessibility (including overnight trips)
• Whenever possible, offering gender inclusive bathrooms through new building projects and retrofitting spaces

We also created the OES Best Practices for Imagery in collaboration with Upper School student leaders:

• OES Best Practices for Imagery— students (or parents/guardians if under 16) must consent to be photographed

We believe that a diverse workforce benefits all, and that students need role models from a variety of races and backgrounds. We are committed to increasing our employees of color population and have implemented the following practices:

• Adopting hiring practices that work to eliminate barriers for teachers of color such as: expedited application system; full review of job description to make sure our minimum requirements are not barriers
• Partnering with organizations to train hiring managers on best practices
• Commitment to having candidates of color in the finalist pool for every position
• Sending hiring managers to recruitment and hiring fairs that focus on teachers of color
• Making our payroll management and reporting  system available in Spanish

We believe that a diverse student body cultivates a rich learning environment and builds each individual’s capacity to act toward justice. We are committed to increasing our students of color population and have implemented the following strategies:

• The Office of Enrollment participates in annual anti-bias training.
• The Office of Enrollment offers information sessions for families interested in flexible tuition.
• The Office of Equity & Inclusion sponsors a welcome meeting for new families of color.
• The Office of Equity & Inclusion attends local community fairs to introduce OES to the broader community.
• The Office of Equity & Inclusion attends Open House for every division.
• The Lower School E&I Student Coordinator regularly reaches out to families of color in the Lower School.
   

We believe that leadership should reflect the student body, represent a diverse population, and be accountable for moving the school toward its equity and inclusion goals. 

• In 2020, the Board Inclusion Committee was created to ensure the School’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is realized throughout the school.
• Since 2020, the racial diversity of the Board of Trustees has steadily increased.
• We have continued to increase the racial diversity of the senior leadership team.
• Every Board of Trustee meeting contains a DEI-related activity.
• Board members are encouraged to attend the annual People of Color Conference (PoCC) sponsored by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS).

We believe that all students can thrive with the right support and that creating a community where every student is accepted, safe, empowered, supported, and affirmed is paramount to our existence. Because of this, we have implemented the following: 

• We created a new position, the Lower School Equity & Inclusion Coordinator, to work directly with students to support the strategic equity and inclusion initiatives of the School at the Pre-K–5 grade level.
• We began providing unique excursions and evening gatherings for students of color, grades 2–6, as part of Common Threads.
• We have a point person for Upper School affinity groups, so that students have guidance and support as they develop their leadership skills and serve their communities.
• Beginning in the 9th grade, students participate in scaffolded overnight trips that build to a culminating experience in 11th and 12th grades. By structuring these experiences, we help students unfamiliar with camping and overnight trips become confident and competent.  
• We created the Dorm Academic Resource Team (DART) to provide additional learning resource support to all dorm students
• Full time International Student Resource Coordinator
• English Language Learners (ELL) skills course 
• We intentionally connect international students and families with current students and families from the same country upon enrollment.
• We translate all major school communications and individual family communications, as well as allow users to translate all pages on our website into 10 languages by using a built-in application.

We believe that words matter and action must be monitored in order to work toward our Commitment to Justice. In order to remain accountable to our community and to the principles of justice, we:

• Provide regular updates in the OES magazine and Aardvark newsletter highlighting E&I initiatives and events.
• Update the caregiver community at the annual State of School.
• Dedicate time at Parent Partnership meetings to share divisional classroom curriculum related to equity and inclusion.
• Periodically survey Upper and Middle School students regarding belonging.
• Create DEI-focused goals for the following offices: Advancement, Business, and Enrollment.