7 minute read
A Conversation about Diversity, Equity Inclusion, and Belonging
In recent years, Kent Place has accelerated its efforts to create a culture that is more equitable and inclusive, which have entailed a diversity-climate assessment and a comprehensive Anti-Bias/AntiRacism Action Plan. Head of School Jennifer C. Galambos and Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Walidah Justice explain challenges, progress, and what’s to come.
We’re deeply committed to the work.
And we’re not done.”
—WALIDAH JUSTICE
Kent Place Magazine: Jennifer, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts have been among your top priorities as Head of School since 2017, when you arrived. Why was this an area you wanted to focus on from the outset?
Jennifer Galambos: Making sure that every girl has a welcome seat at the table and that our students graduate as culturally responsive citizens of the world has been important to me throughout my career in education. When I arrived at Kent Place, we engaged in a diversity-climate assessment so I could better understand the degree to which we were already achieving inclusivity and where we had gaps. That assessment became a road map for Walidah’s hiring in 2018 and for the work we did between 2018 and 2020.
KP: It’s easy to assume that cultural competency and diversity are encapsulated in the diversity within the student body. But what’s the difference between that and true equity and inclusion? How does that look and feel different?
Walidah Justice: For a lot of schools — Kent Place among them — getting student “numbers” can make it look as if they’re diverse, but increasing the racial diversity in your student body doesn’t really change the infrastructure of a school.
For example, although we’re a school with a diverse group of students, we needed to look at how our classrooms and overall spaces could be more inclusive. It isn’t enough just to have a diverse student body. When you go into classrooms, what’s on the walls and bookshelves? Who is and who isn’t represented in the curriculum? Are all students seeing themselves represented?
If an event happens in our country and students have been reading things on social media or talking with their friends, do teachers carve out a little time to have a conversation? Students are aware of current events and hot topics. They’re looking for teachers to make the curriculum relevant and applicable to them today.
By giving students the opportunity to discuss difficult topics in class, teachers can provide language, give historical context, and teach them to use our community conversations to create respectful dialogue.¹
JCG: Real success will be in our students’ sense of belonging while they’re here and in their preparation for the world beyond Kent Place.
KP: What is KPS doing to create an inclusive environment?
WJ: For more than 10 years we’ve had a program called Seeking Educational Education and Diversity (SEED), led by fifth-grade teacher Sally Snyder and Department Chair of Physical Education and Health and Wellness Michelle Stevenson. I established a structure for liaisons from each division and for staff to help identify areas to shore ourselves up and consider different training based on any gaps.
1. Community Conversation Norms are a set of guidelines to help all of us be thoughtful and empathic speakers and listeners. 2. Among current affinity and diversity clubs are the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Association, the Black Cultural Association, the Diversity Council, the Latin@ Cultural Association, Gender and Sexuality Alliance, and the Jewish Cultural Society. 3. Students have attended the NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference, the New Jersey Students of Color Conference, Widening the Lens, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Diversity Conference, the WPC-Youth Action Project, the Leading into Equity and Awareness Diversity Conference, and the MS Equity and Inclusion Summit. 4. View our Anti-Bias/Anti-Racism Action Plan and progress at kentplace.org/actionplan.
For example, we’ve had seminars on skills teachers need to combat bias that might occur in their classrooms and summer workshops that help teachers think differently about their curriculum.
Students have been passionate participants in groups that focus on social justice and diversity for years.² I’ve also started sending students to different leadership conferences,³ which has given me a pulse of where students are and where there are areas of growth to develop.
KP: This past year has accelerated and broadened some of your work. In July 2020, the school announced its Anti-Bias/Anti-Racism Action Plan.⁴ Can you talk about some of the things you’ve accomplished?
WJ: It was critically important for us, as we created the action plan, that it involve the entire community and that it start at the top. We needed a Board of Trustees DEIB Task Force, and we needed for members to be skilled up to do that. They supported our action plan, actively participated in training, and fully embraced the need for institutional support from the top.
We created a DEIB Alum Council because our alumnae know and love Kent Place and they expect us to provide a welcome seat at the table for every student. They’re also wonderful partners in helping us to build a more inclusive community. In addition, we formed the DEIB Race Equity Committee, which comprises administrators, faculty, staff, parents, alumnae, and representatives from the Board DEIB Task Force and the Alumnae Council.
These three committees are groups that have given us antennae. We have supporters and influencers who are saying there’s work that we’re accountable for. We have an institutional commitment to creating an equitable and inclusive school culture.
We’re also adding Middle School and Upper School student task forces. We hope they’ll be champions of this work, give us feedback, and challenge us to be better.
JCG: We’ve also reviewed and updated policies in academic areas, financial aid, and college advising to ensure access and equity. We’ve rewritten and clarified our interpersonal misconduct policy for acts of bias and harassment. We’ve begun a multiyear process of evaluating our curriculum and then revising texts, content, and pedagogy to be culturally responsive to all students as they grow in their identities and intellectual endeavors. That doesn’t mean everything will change overnight — we’re deliberate with our changes.
KP: As you look ahead, what are some of your top priorities?
WJ: Although we do have a diverse student body, our faculty and staff need to be more diverse. Every year I’ve been here, that’s gotten better, but we’re still working on it. We can achieve it, but it’s a process. And we hope to continue to skill-build with our faculty by creating awareness of their blind spots. By having teachers fully participate in dialogue across the lines of difference, with a better understanding of their own social identifiers they can build the capacity to better connect with all of their students.
JCG: Reconnecting with our alumnae is also a top priority, as is ensuring that all of our practices, policies, and procedures support all of our students.
KP: What else do you want readers to know about the efforts over the past year or so?
WJ: We want to build up all of the students in ways that will enable them to go out into the world and show up as difference-makers.
JCG: I want people to know that we’ve made significant strides. We’re deeply committed to the work. And we’re not done. We want to build an inclusive culture in which every student and every adult on our campus feels a sense of belonging.
Students who are more culturally competent will be more successful in college and beyond. And as a leading school for girls, we believe that this is important for them to learn here — how to interact with a broad range of people, how to be confident in those interactions, and how to lead a diverse team.
Institutional change isn’t easy. But if we fully commit to more equitable policies and inclusive practices, everyone gains.
—JENNIFER GALAMBOS
WANT TO SUPPORT KENT PLACE’S DEI EFFORTS? Read more about what we’re doing and contact staff members by visiting kentplace.org/diversity or get in touch with any member of the DEIB office, the Board DEIB Task Force, the DEIB Alum Council, or the DEIB Race Equity Committee to provide feedback or suggestions. Support the cultural and educational parent programs provided by the DEIB Office, the Diversity and Equity Parent Group, and other KPS departments throughout the academic year.
