DEIJA at Waring

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice and Anti-Racism (DEIJA)
Multi-Year Action Plan – Waring School

Latest Revision: 5.24.21

Leadership/Institutional

• Publish a Board statement on Anti-Racism and Waring’s deepened commitment to DEIJA and review/update Waring School’s Diversity Statement (summer, 2021)
• Ensure that the Board and Head of School’s goals in DEIJA are aligned, actionable and that school leadership on all levels are held accountable to these goals (immediate, annual).
• Initiate a philanthropic “Waring Forward” Major Gifts program to fund professional development and program initiatives in DEIJA (in process, spring, fall, 2021) and set longer-term fundraising strategy for DEIJA through the strategic planning process (2022-2023).
• Ensure that DEIJA is a main driver in Waring’s next 5-Year Strategic Plan (to be developed in 2021-2022)
• Include DEIJA-oriented training annually in Board and Head of School professional development plans, and for new Trustees (immediate, annual).
• Review current policies and handbooks (e.g. Family Handbook, Employee Manual, Board norms) through a lens of equity; implement an Incident Reporting Protocol along with a plan for incident tracking (summer, fall 2021).
• Plan, fund, and implement a DEIJA team of 4 staff members to help ensure Waring’s growth in such areas as: curriculum development, professional development, hiring practices, admissions, student and community life, and visibility/communications. (Planning in process; Pilot program: 2021-2022; to be reviewed and assessed no later than February, 2022 to determine scope and resources for 2022-2024).

Faculty/Staff: Deepened Enrichment and Equitable Practice

• Resume the National SEED Project initiative with at least one Waring staff member taking part in Summer SEED training and allotting adequate time in the faculty meeting schedule for DEIJA and anti-racism training (Summer 2021, annual).
• Increase the Professional Development and Program Development budgets by 33% to ensure that no less than half of these budgets are earmarked for DEIJA-related enrichment for staff (2022 Budget and forward).
• Implement a New Faculty Mentor (as part of the DEIJA team or in tandem with the team) to ensure that DEIJA is a focus in new staff member training and orientation (fall, 2021).
• Continue to diversify and broaden Waring’s faculty/staff hiring pool, implementing best equitable practices in hiring and retaining staff. Use AISNE and NAIS’ extensive resources on hiring practices, including the training of hiring committee members on leading inclusive, equitable searches. Include DEIJA-oriented language in job postings and broaden the network of postings, using tools such as Nemnet.net, Indeed.com, and affiliations with other organizations and communities (immediate, on-going).

Learning & Curriculum

• Continue annual curricular reviews (begun in 2020) with a view to deepen DEIJA programming across all areas (current, annual).
• Maintain regularly scheduled learning and development programming for all students managed by DEIJA Team (2021, ongoing).
• Include in Waring’s course catalogue a section on DEIJA-related programming and ask that each teaching team and classroom teacher include DEIJA-related programming in their semester course descriptions that continues to reflect our teachers’ own diverse perspectives/independence of thought and a use of new resources introduced through this work (beginning fall, 2021).
• Continue building an Anti-Racist Lib-guide as part of Waring’s curated set of library resources (begun 2019, ongoing).
• Use All-School Meeting on a regular basis for student affinity groups (e.g. Student Diversity Alliance; Queer Club) to present topics and lead discussions on the peer to peer level (ongoing).
• Conduct NAIS’ Independent School Health Check survey to enrich Waring’s health program (2022).

Visibility

• Ensure that Waring’s website reflects the continued work in DEIJA across the school, and includes up-to-date and regularly updated:
  • Anti-Racist statement/ Multi-Year DEIJA Action Plan (fall, 2021)
  • DEIJA Contacts (fall, 2021)
  • Initiatives and Programming (by 2022)
  • Procedure for Incident Reporting (by 2022)
  • Acknowledgment statement of our campus land
• Include major DEIJA events/programming on the Waring School calendar (fall, 2021).
• Publicize the ongoing work of Student Affinity Groups (e.g. Student Diversity Alliance) in Waring media (Website, Weekly update, Social Media, Blog) (fall, 2021).
• Plan and implement visual communication on campus and showcase art/music/theater that promotes an inclusive school community of diverse voices/perspectives.

Community

• Conduct annual Climate Surveys and Focus Groups to address DEIJA issues (by winter, 2022, annual).
• Host Annual DEIJA open forum evening (similar to the open forum on gender at Waring in 2018) (winter, 2022, annual).
• Include DEIJA policies in Parent Orientation and Program Night (by fall, 2022).
• Use school venue’s (e.g. New Building All-School meeting room) to attract outside speakers and DEIJA programming for the school and outside community (2021 and onward). Work with the Parent-Chair Co-Chairs on Speaker opportunities for the Parent Group and DEIJA themes for Parent Tea & Coffee sessions.
• Network with external DEIJA organizations (e.g. NAACP of North Shore) (ongoing).

Since the fall of 2016, a Waring faculty member who attended SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) training has led a monthly seminar for faculty. These seminars ask participants to reflect on their own experiences as a way of opening conversations about systemic injustice and inequality. The seminars aim to make the Waring community more equitable and inclusive of all.

In February of 2018, the Diversity Committee held a meeting on gender at Waring that was open to the whole community. This meeting gave the committee valuable insight into issues that needed to be addressed.

In the fall of 2018, the Waring faculty participated in a number of gender equity and inclusion training sessions led by the organization Cambridge Hill Partners.

Each year, Waring students attend the NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools)/SDLC (Student Diversity Leadership Conference) People of Color Conference. The conference brings together students and faculty of color from across the country to discuss issues facing students of color in independent schools.

Since 2017, Waring middle school students have attended the AISNE (Association of Independent Schools in New England) Middle School Students of Color Conference.

Formed in 2017, WIDA (Waring Inclusion and Diversity Alliance) provides a time and place at Waring for conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion that aim at action–both short and long term. Students help lead school wide activities and serve as resources for other students hoping to engage with these topics.

A student-led group dedicated to learning about and promoting feminism.

A student-led discussion group and safe space for queer students and allies.

Sustained Social Research (SSR) is a component of the Humanities curriculum in which students work with people across different demographics in our local community. Placements include: Pathways for Children (A Head Start Program), and ESOL at Project Bootstraps (for immigrant language learners).

The Waring community welcomes student initiatives to organize social justice related events. So far, students have organized: women’s week, gun violence awareness day, and Earth Day.

Bathrooms in the School and House buildings have been converted to gender neutral facilities.