Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

In a global, Quaker, intercultural school like ours, there is no space between the idea of “Minding the Light,” and our desire to create an environment where everyone feels a sense of inclusion and belonging. In our work together, it is my hope that George School can model for the world what it looks like to foster love and curiosity, embracing our diverse backgrounds — especially during times of difference. In keeping with our mission, we strive to recognize and honor the light within and commit to the continuous work of building a school where everyone feels safe, connected, empowered, loved, seen, and heard.

We celebrate our accomplishments and continual commitment to creating a joyful and vibrant community. And we believe that each member of our community joins us in the work of inclusion and belonging — we are all DEI practitioners. Brighter together, we invite you to join us in the work of creating a community that not only “Minds the Light,” but reflects and radiates it out.

In peace,

Rachel

we invite you to share your feedback and wisdom with us

Suggestions

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Meet the Team

DEI Working Groups

Faculty and Staff Inclusion Committee

Meeting at least once per term, the Faculty-Staff Inclusion Committee champions George School’s intention to create and nurture a truly inclusive community. This Committee is a thought partner to the Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and a task force for implementing institutional initiatives to ensure that we combat and confront bigotry and bias head-on. Consonant with the Quaker understanding that “there is that of God in everyone,” the Faculty-Staff Inclusion Committee supports and, in some instances, leads the School’s efforts to inspire a more equitable, just, and anti-racist community. Faculty/Staff Inclusion is currently composed of five new working groups:

Gender Support Team. The Gender Support Team at George School is a group of adults in the community who are available to George School students on a one-on-one basis for support, consultation, and coordination around matters of gender inclusiveness. Students can meet confidentially with members of the Gender Support Team to discuss a Gender Support Plan and, if desired, figure out how to communicate information about their gender to the community. Adults in the community are also welcome to meet with the Gender Support Team regarding matters of processes, policies and responsibilities around creating a gender inclusive community. The Gender Support Team advocates for the affirmation of all student genders and gender expression as we continue to work towards the deconstruction of binary systems in the school environment.

Newtown & Community Relations Team. Meeting once per term, this group of faculty, staff, administrators, and students discuss ways to support student safety, community engagement and our participation in local events to build reciprocity between George School and the local Newtown and Langhorne businesses. This group includes a George School Liasion appointed to connect with local businesses and organizations, and our Director of Campus Safety.

Diversity Hiring & Retention Team. The Diversity Hiring & Retention Team is composed of faculty, staff, and administrators and meets once a term to discuss goals, processes, policies, and progress, as we seek to attract and retain a more diverse full-time faculty and staff community.

DEI/Pedagogy & Curriculum Team. This groups’ focus is on professional development, curriculum, and pedagogy through a DEI, Culturally Relevant lens. This group works to examine the tension between teacher autonomy while also ensuring that every teacher has a culturally affirming approach and every student receives some type of equity, inclusion, and justice understanding while going through a four year sequence at George School. We also work to implement best practices and tools for our adult community so they can create safe and inclusive spaces for belonging, camaraderie and respect amongst our students. This group is also tasked with examining student placement in courses across the curriculum, in discipline, in leadership roles, and works collaboratively to create resources for advisors to share with their students.

Religious & Cultural Observances Team. This group consists of the Director of DEI, The Director of Student Activities, The Director of Communications, Head of the Religions Department, and our Director of Events and Rental Programs. Team members gather once a term to discuss ways in which George School can educate the community as well as celebrate the unique religious and cultural traditions and observances that are meaningful to our community members. This team collaborates to expand the reach of the Director of DEI as we work collectively to honor and affirm all members of the community.

Inclusion Oversight Committee

The Inclusion Oversight Committee is a standing sub-committee of the George School Board (GSB) charged with providing direction to and oversight of George School’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, programs, and efforts in all aspects of school and community life. The committee consists of GSB members, a staff liaison, and faculty, parent, and student representatives. The Inclusion Oversight Committee will strive to consider issues respecting inclusion at George School from a 30,000 foot perspective and provide guidance to the GSB on issues having to do with diversity and inclusion at the school.

Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day Committee

Parent and Guardian Inclusion Committee

Student Inclusion Committee

In a global, Quaker, intercultural school like ours, there is no space between the idea of ‘minding the light’ and our desire to create an environment where everyone feels a sense of inclusion and belonging." Rachel Williams
Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Cultural and Religious Observances

Our community is rich with diversity reflected in the observances celebrated by our families. This list of holidays, cultural observances, and heritage months has been curated by our students, faculty, and staff.This is a dynamic document that will be updated regularly as our awareness grows. If you would like to share more information about a religious or cultural observance that is important to you and your family, please contact Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Rachel Williams.

RSS Feeds

Dec 25 2024

Christmas Day

all day

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Affinity Groups

Affinity group members come together via a common identifier of heritage or orientation, e.g. race, gender, religion, etc. Members of the group can speak to the experience of the group from the “I” perspective. Creating a space for affinity groups those who identify from that background within the larger context of the diverse George School Community. Affinity groups typically empower members of historically minoritized/marginalized identities as they prepare to engage deeply with others on campus.

African Student Association

Eastern European Affinity Group

Havurah

LASO

Teal rectangle with words "MSA Muslim Student Association" with a white, orange, and teal pattern in the top left and bottom right corners.

MSA

Samosa

SAGA

SEASU

UMOJA

George School Inclusion statement

Mindful Speech Agreement

Bias Incident Reporting

Equal Opportunity Statement

Adult Campus Groups

If you would like to create a new affinity group or accountability space please contact Rachel Williams, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at rwilliams@georgeschool.org.

Cyd Carpenter '47 Alumni Network

In honor of George School’s first black student, Cynthia “Cyd” Crooks Carpenter ’47, the aim of this group is to strengthen the connections between alumni of color and allies, support current students of color and engage the school around issues of diversity. The Cyd Carpenter Alumni Network was created in 2016 in the spirit of community and collective enrichment so we welcome all alumni of color and friends to share experiences, whether past or present, and explore any synergies or other networking opportunities that will arise among members of this group.

Faculty and Staff of Color Affinity Group

Faculty & Staff of Color Affinity Group

The Faculty and Staff of Color Affinity Group is specifically for members of the community who identify as BIPOC = black, Indigenous, and person of color. Affinity groups for faculty and staff are designed specifically to bring together people who have an identifier in common. Affinity groups are for individuals who identify as members of the group and can speak to the experience of being a member of the group from the “I” perspective. To preserve the safety and integrity of the space, we ask that community members join this space only if they identify as black, indigenous, or a person of color.

White Accountability Group

This Accountability Group was created for the understanding that it is not the sole responsibility of people of color to educate White people about race. White people must take responsibility for their own growth to be anti-racist educators and community members. Participation in this group includes pre-work, readings, and gatherings for reflection (reflecting on self, on self in relation to others and on self in relation to “the system” and broader community). The format and resources are modeled and informed by the Building Antiracist White Educators (BARWE) organization and the group is open to all adult community members.

“Accountability is self-reflecting, apologizing, making amends, and changing your behavior so the harm you caused doesn’t happen again. It is a process and not a destination. Over the years, accountability has been at the heart of transformative justice work.” – Definition created by Project Nia and the Barnard Center for Research on Women

An All-Gender Community

George School is a culturally vibrant and rich educational environment that supports students’ self-worth, self-expression, safety, and emotional/mental well-being in ways that are aligned with the school’s mission to allow students to live authentic lives.

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Professional Development for Faculty and Staff

All of our faculty and staff participate in at least one annual professional development experience related to diversity, equity and inclusion. In addition, all of our teaching faculty members craft an equity or inclusion goal as part of their professional growth and innovation program.

On Campus

Being Anti-Racist:

This 15-day practice has been designed so that faculty and staff make time and space to learn and reflect on issues pertaining to inequities, racism, and barriers to inclusion in a thoughtful and structured way. Each day for three consecutive weeks, we are tasked with keeping equity and inclusion at the forefront of our minds by engaging with research and videos focused on being anti-racist educators. The practices run for 15 days (weekends not included) and each Friday faculty and staff join together for a lunch conversation and debrief.

DEI Self-Assessment Tool

DEI Self-Assessment of Environment, Instruction, and Materials. The DEI Self-Assessment Tool is an initial step towards developing a sustainable, ongoing process for a review of our classroom environment, curriculum content, and instruction practices through a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens. With this tool, the collection of student feedback, and small group follow up discussions, we seek to help teachers create an equitable and inclusive space to support the student experience. With this approach, everyone can deliberately, and intentionally identify areas of strength and areas for growth. All teachers in an evaluation year or “research and reflection year” use this tool as part a professional growth tool.

SEED: Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity

SEED - The National SEED Project (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) partners with communities, institutions, and schools to develop leaders who guide their peers in conversational communities to drive personal, institutional, and societal change toward social justice. SEED has a transformational impact on the lives of SEED leaders, SEED seminar participants, and their communities. Those who participate in SEED report they are better able to listen to all voices, including their own. They are also able to embrace the challenges and joys of the many kinds of diversity found in their own lives and in the lives of others with more confidence and competence. George School is a SEED site offering on campus programming where faculty and staff join in fellowship and community building.

Off Campus

Off-Campus

Every year our Faculty & Staff are encouraged to attend professional development workshops dedicated to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Here are a few that our faculty and staff have attended in recent years:

Section

In This Section

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

we invite you to share your feedback and wisdom with us

Suggestions

divider secondary

Meet the Team

DEI Working Groups

Faculty and Staff Inclusion Committee

Inclusion Oversight Committee

Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day Committee

Parent and Guardian Inclusion Committee

Student Inclusion Committee

Cultural and Religious Observances

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Affinity Groups

Adult Campus Groups

Cyd Carpenter '47 Alumni Network

Cyd Carpenter '47 Alumni Network

Faculty and Staff of Color Affinity Group

Faculty & Staff of Color Affinity Group

White Accountability Group

White Accountability Group

An All-Gender Community

Professional Development for Faculty and Staff

On Campus

Being Anti-Racist:

DEI Self-Assessment Tool

SEED: Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity

Off Campus

Off-Campus

Contact

Resources