EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF INITIAL ACTION PLAN
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF INITIAL ACTION PLAN
In doing so, we draw on evidence-based best practices, input from our community members, and guidelines from regulatory bodies such as the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Human Rights Commission, which ask us to put anti-racism and antidiscrimination front and centre.
Our DEI vision and aspiration, like all of our efforts here at Branksome Hall, are progressive and comprehensive:
• To be a community that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion so that it permeates our institutional culture, guides our actions, and is reflected in our students’ and employees’ lived experiences.
• To be the community where diversity, equity, inclusion and restorative justice involve engaging multiple perspectives, critically challenging assumptions, and taking empathetic, informed and responsible action in our school, our partnerships and in the world.
We understand that racism and prejudice occur in various ways at all levels of society: systemic, organizational, interpersonal and personal. Branksome Hall is committed to countering them in many ways and at all levels.
DEVELOPING OUR DEI STRATEGY
Branksome Hall’s DEI Initial Strategic Action Plan is a living document that will be developed during 2020 and 2021. We will seek internal feedback and input from key faculty, management and student leaders, as well as groups representing alumni and parents.
In 2021, the final DEI Strategy and Action Plan for 2020-2025, as well as a year-end report of our initiatives, will be provided to the Board of Governors. Milestones for the coming four years will be co-
created with departments and incorporate the feedback from our third-party equity audit. We will consider that the strategic development of a highly inclusive culture is successful when diversity, equity and inclusion are championed by every member of the organization.
STRUCTURE
Branksome Hall has made some additions to its organizational structure to ensure the successful creation and implementation of our DEI Initial Strategic Action Plan. Mira Gambhir, PhD, our head of research, will be taking on an enlarged role as the Head, Research & Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She will report directly to the Principal and will be supported by a Coordinator of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. There will also be two new groups under Dr. Gambhir’s leadership, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Working Group and the student-led Diversity Council, which will be involved, variously, in policy development, advice on strategic priorities, advocacy and community relations.
GOALS
Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion goals will serve as the foundation for our actions going forward. They are based on school values, and will give rise to the tasks we undertake as we forge a highly inclusive culture at Branksome Hall. Our primary DEI goals are to:
• Increase DEI awareness, understanding and action for all constituent groups, through leadership, governance, communications, enrolment management and human resources practices;
• Develop an organizational culture that encourages advocacy, anti-racism/anti-discrimination, and values the lived experiences of community members;
Given our location in one of the most diverse cities in the world, Branksome Hall has made a commitment to prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). To make this commitment a reality, we have created Branksome Hall’s Initial Strategic Action Plan: An Executive Summary.
• Build employee leadership and capacity through continued learning opportunities to foster classroom and school operational practices that are rooted in anti-racism and anti-discrimination education;
• Build student capacity for advocacy, dialogue and anti-racism leadership across the school; and
• Develop metrics, collect data and report findings that inform DEI priorities.
ACTIONS
As we continue to refine and develop our DEI Initial Strategic Action Plan, we will be undertaking numerous actions immediately to weave DEI into everything we do here at Branksome Hall. The initial actions we plan to undertake derive, as they will in future, from our goals, and include but are not limited to a focus on Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) members of the community.
1. Increase DEI awareness, understanding and action for all constituent groups
Branksome Hall will develop inclusive leadership principles and will offer training in inclusive leadership for all members of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), School Management Team (MT) and K-12 Instructional Leaders (ILs). In addition, this year, our other actions will include:
• Review and revise all of our board policies and bylaws and our communications, social media guidelines, recruitment and job posting materials using a DEI lens;
• Recruit members of the BIPOC community to Board of Governors;
• Review financial assistance to reflect BIPOC within the student community;
• Conduct Board of Governors DEI orientation, training and education;
• Develop DEI mandate and philosophy and action plan for BIPOC student recruitment; and
• Address DEI in job postings and include it in onboarding and performance reviews.
2. Develop an organizational culture that encourages advocacy, anti-racism/antidiscrimination and values the lived experiences of community members
Expanding our DEI Initial Strategic Action Plan will be
our major focus for year one. We will also embed DEI as a department priority and develop departmental action plans, as well as host learning circles for students and employees.
3. Build employee leadership and capacity through continued learning opportunities to foster classroom and school operational practices that are rooted in anti-racism and anti-discrimination education
We seek to educate all of our communities, whether internal or external. We will accomplish this by creating a speaker series that addresses anti-racism, anti-discrimination, social action, privilege and allyship, and we will offer online learning modules and in-person opportunities that address the same issues. There will also be a DEI-related curriculum review, professional development opportunities, and all-employee book clubs.
4. Build student capacity for advocacy, dialogue and anti-racism leadership across the school
Our determination to champion DEI also means taking problems seriously, and we will develop a process for students to report issues of concern, drawing on the expertise of the lead social worker and the heads of both schools and seeking input from the student-led Diversity Council. We will also:
• Assess student groups and their mandates through the lens of DEI and support ongoing training for them, using the results of the third-party audit to determine the topics and content that are most necessary and valuable at this time.
• Support the sustainability of the Black Students’ Union and Council as a multi-stakeholder body.
5. Develop metrics, collect data and report findings that inform DEI priorities
Branksome Hall subscribes to evidence-based decision-making, and a third-party DEI audit will give us the information we need to create sound DEI plans, policies and programs. We will share the results with our constituents and post them on our website, and we will also work with the auditors to develop qualitative and quantitative data-gathering tools to record progress and to continually assess DEI progress. We will regularly provide DEI updates to the Board of Governors, the Senior Leadership Team, the Management Team and the Diversity Council.
STUDENT EXPERIENCE
AUG 2020
SEP
• Student Leadership DEI Development: Part 1 of 3
• DEI Student Sessions: Grades 7-9 & 10-12 (September 16, 17, 2020)
• DEI Intersections: Orange Shirt Day
OCT
• Student Leadership DEI Training: Part 2 of 3
• Meeting of student-led Diversity Council
• DEI Intersections: Pride Week, Holocaust Education Week
• Launch of co-curricular groups
• Boarding Listening Circles
COMMUNITY EVENTS AND ENGAGEMENT
EMPLOYEE-LED OR FOCUSED INITIATIVES
• All-Employee Book Club: Launch (Week of August 24, 2020)
NOV
• Student Forums –Raising of DEI Issues
• DEI Intersections: Compassionate Community Week
• Installation ceremony with DEI Leadership Panel Interview (September 24, 2020)
• Share Preliminary Action Plan – Parents’ Association and Alum Executive
• Share Preliminary Action Plan –Signatories and alum of Student DEI Proposal
• Communications –Developed strategy to elevate focus on DEI in communications
• Evaluating what it takes to deepen our commitment as a Legacy School
• Portia White Plaque
– Exploration and Interdisciplinary Unit program development
• Review of employee recruitment postings and updated equity statement
• DEI Junior School
Professional Learning Community
• All-Employee Book Club: Meeting #2 (October 7, 2020)
• Begin JK-12 Partnership Mapping
• National Coalition of Girls’ Schools (NCGS) Building Inclusive and Anti-Racist School Symposium (crossrepresentative team and presentation)
• Building the VirBELA Campus Linking DEI Content in Spaces
CURRICULUM AND CONTENT ACCOUNTABILITY
DEC
• Sharing of Initial Action Plan and Update with the Community
• DEI Junior School Professional Learning Community
• All-Employee Book Club: Meeting #3 (November 6, 2020)
• JK-12 Partnership Mapping Continues
• Planning Professional Learning Opportunities for the Future
• English Curriculum Pilot Review
• Revision to Theory of Knowledge Grades 11 and 12 unit on systems of oppression
• Conversations with departments or teams K-12
JAN 2021
• DEI Case Studies Session with students (early January – date TBD)
• DEI Alum event with guest speaker Dr. Mira Gambhir (December 9)
• The READ magazine Fall 2020 issue, featuring BIPOC student and alum stories (December 13)
• DEI Case Studies with Parents’ Association
• All-Employee Book Club: Meeting #4 (December 7, 2020)
• NameCoach software –Roll out to Employees
• Select courses and faculty including DEI issues in conversations or lessons
• Branksome releases message committing to diversity, equity and inclusion and to eliminating systemic racism (September 4, 2020)
• All-Employee Book Club: Meeting #5 (January 18, 2021)
• DEI review of IB Assessment Policy
• Select courses and faculty including DEI issues in conversations or lessons
• Initial meetings with potential third-party auditors
• Launch of NameCoach software to support pronunciation of names
• Initial meetings regarding review of Admissions processes
• Student recruitment planning
• Continue meetings with third-party auditors
• Finalization of thirdparty auditor for DEI audit branksome.on.ca