DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION UPDATES

Board Committee

This summer, the Board of Trustees approved a new effort to envision how the Board could support our school’s deepening commitment to equity work. Three trustees have spearheaded this work as members of the newly created Equity and Justice Committee.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office

Part of our strategic vision unveiled last year, The Dream That Drives Us, outlined the expansion of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office. As phase one of this expansion, parttime roles will be created for an Upper School Diversity Coordinator and a Middle School Diversity Coordinator. Phase two will include a Lower School Diversity Coordinator and Early School Coordinator. We are planning to begin hiring for these positions in the 2021-2022 school year.

Professional Development

While the launch of this school year was hardly typical, we still began as we do each August with professional development training specific to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This year we have focused on examining our existing anti-bias curriculum, investigating pedagogical questions raised while implementing them, and defining curricular commitments to anti-racist work. We also continued our commitment to this work by sending staff and trustees to the National Association of Independent Schools People of Color Conference (virtually, this year) and five Upper School students participated in the accompanying Student Diversity Leadership Conference.

Curriculum Community-Wide Initiatives

Abolitionist work starts with our youngest students, and Durham Early School Head Teacher Carmen Raynor worked with staff and families to develop antiracist commitments for their learning community.

Lower School’s theme for the year is “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and teachers have been connecting their curriculum to the history of the poem and song. The Lower School has also implemented portions of the Pollyanna Racial Literacy Curriculum, a K-grade 8 program created in 2019 geared toward independent schools. As part of a multi-year examination, the Middle School has revised its foundational second year social studies course. Now known as “Anthropodyssey,” the curriculum continues to explore cultures and belief systems across history and geography, with specific attention to our local indigenous communities and a decolonizing framework.

The entire Upper School is engaged in a year-long program studying and discussing This Book is Anti-Racist. Going forward, this program will be incorporated into the Upper School’s ninth grade “CFS Life” curriculum, which examines all dimensions of student health and life skills. The Upper School Liaisons have also helped facilitate evening virtual events on anti-racist parenting and affecting change in our specific spheres of influence.

— Naa Norley Adom

Read about The Dream That Drives Us and the three pillars of our strategic vision at www.cfsnc.org/dream.