Taking Action for Racial Justice

N 2020, AS CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACE became a national focal point, our leadership team launched Confronting Racism, a comprehensive initiative designed to support diversity, equity and inclusion in our world and in our school community.

“In the past several years, we have made significant efforts to challenge and support one another in our mission to be a more inclusive community,” Loyola Academy President Rev. Patrick E. McGrath, SJ, and Principal Charles W. Heintz wrote in a letter to Loyola families. “With the leadership of a dedicated director of school culture, we have reviewed our curriculum, offered professional development opportunities for faculty and staff and broadened student exposure to important social issues.”

With this groundwork in place, Loyola took decisive steps during the fiscal year to address racism, hiring the school’s first director of diversity, equity and inclusion; working with a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant to assist in the development of a multiyear strategic plan for our school; and meeting with students of color to hear about their lived experiences of racism.

In June, we launched a number of programs for faculty and staff, including weekly Dialogues on Race, a professional development series entitled Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Building Community in the Classroom and a book club with selections such as Not Light, But Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom.

By Fall 2020, we had created a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee composed of faculty and staff members; launched a Student Diversity Board; formed an Alumni BIPOC Group (Black, Indigenous and People Of Color); established an advisory group of parents and guardians of students of color; and developed a multiyear plan to recruit, hire and support faculty and staff of color.

“I’m thankful to all of the faculty, staff and students who have offered constructive pathways forward and ideas and suggestions for how we can become better,” reports Father McGrath. “We are committed as a school to doing the hard work that lies ahead—to becoming a bit more, day by day, the community that God calls us to be.”

"Conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion must happen here at Loyola Academy. It's the way that we come to understand each other and grow in greater appreciation of our differences." Charles W. Heintz, Principal, Loyola Academy