Moving Forward with Diversity and Inclusion at Holy Cross

Artwork by Sacrée Frangine

The summer of 2020 was a turning point in our country. With the ongoing fight against police brutality targeting African Americans, many community leaders organized protests to bring awareness to the severity of the issues. Meanwhile many companies, organizations and businesses evaluated their diversity practices or lack thereof, and many local independent schools, including Holy Cross, began to self-reflect as well.

At the same time, students and alumni from schools around the country (including Holy Cross) began posting on social media, looking for a way to share their own experiences and bring awareness to unfortunate events that occurred in school. Although it was disheartening to read what students had experienced, it was necessary to acknowledge our own shortcomings as a community and work more effectively towards a school environment that was welcoming and safe for all.

In the summer of 2020, Holy Cross developed the Anti-Racism Task Force, whose initial role was to be points of contact for students or parents/guardians to report racially motivated issues and take feedback from students to create goals and objectives for a new Diversity, Equity and Access program.

A major first step in moving forward included taking accountability, acknowledging and apologizing for times Holy Cross had fallen short on prioritizing diverse objectives and handling racially motivated reports made by students. Our school should serve as a place where our community can learn, understand and appreciate differences. Our student body is diverse in many ways, and it is important that all individuals are recognized, respected, included and seen. Our mission statement includes the words “dedicated to educating young women in a Christ-centered community which values diversity.”

As Holy Cross works to create a community committed to diversity and inclusion, the following steps this year helped begin this process:

• Hosting Town Halls: Speaking with students, parents/guardians, faculty and staff to engage in conversations, hear different perspectives and create goals and objectives from our community moving forward.

• Student Body Audit: Reviewing our curriculum and disciplinary practices to ensure that no group of students is being withheld from higher level courses or subjected to frequent disciplinary actions.

• Student Body Surveys: Surveys sent to get a student perspective and to better understand the growth of the diversity program and where we can still improve as a community.

• Advisory Programming: Utilizing advisory programming as an opportunity for students to grasp different racial and social injustice topics through videos, discussion and self-reflection.

• AIMS Accreditation: During the school’s re-accreditation preparation stages, evaluation, creating and reflecting on current diversity and inclusion practices including presenting professional development opportunities and areas where our community can improve.

As we continue to move forward, consider feedback from our community, and educate ourselves, we are evaluating ways to strengthen diversity efforts. This includes creating a strategic plan of goals and objectives; researching student development opportunities outside of Holy Cross; restructuring the diversity committee to include students, faculty/staff and parents/guardians; and creating a calendar of events to widely represent the different heritages, races, ethnicities and religions represented at Holy Cross. Additionally, Holy Cross is committed to hiring a diverse staff to help students to see themselves among their teachers and consider their potential career paths. The school administration is also continuing to find and promote professional development opportunities centered around schools and diversity.

This year several academic departments began reviewing course materials for ways to celebrate different races, ethnicities, cultures and traditions. Two elective courses were added to the academic Program of Studies for 2021-2022: Multicultural Literature in English and African-American History in History/Social Studies.

We want our students and families to feel safe, welcomed and valued at Holy Cross. The way we look at diversity, equity and inclusion will forever be evolving, and the steps Holy Cross has taken are the first of many.