Editorials: Diversity Committee should engage more with the more available for office hours

18

Opinions

March 11, 2021

EDITORIAL Transparency vital to diversity efforts

Last year, following the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer and the broader outcry over the death of George Floyd, administrators made several changes to the way the school promotes diversity and inclusion. The most significant of these was a new Committee on Community, Inclusion and Diversity, which, as Headmaster David Dini outlined in a letter to the St. Mark’s community on Oct. 23, was formed out of a commitment to explore “additional opportunities to ensure that every Marksman is known, loved and valued equally.”

That message is continued on the school website, where, in a new page, the goals of the committee are roughly outlined as a way to enhance the school’s efforts “to underpin a sense of belonging for everyone on campus.” In a conversation with Dini and Director of Inclusion, Diversity and Human Resources Lorre Allen, The ReMarker was able to obtain more specifics on these efforts and their potential impact on the community.

The committee itself is made up of ten members, comprised of alumni, faculty, parents and trustees — giving it a depth and breadth of experience that allows it to interact with many facets of the community. It’s broken up into subcommittees, each of which looks for ways to maximize diversity in different areas: the curriculum, activities and events, recruitment, etc. Allen’s role is to align those various objectives and to facilitate interactions between the committee and student groups.

Right now, it’s conducting a review (going back a decade) of the school’s previous efforts to increase diversity on campus. The committee’s mandate is broad: it’s looking to increase diversity and inclusion among the student body not only in race but also in religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, geographic location and ability. And while the committee’s long-term goals are vague, it does aim to make specific curricular and programmatic changes — those should occur before the next school year.

We applaud the committee’s formation — now more than ever, it’s vital for the school to make a concerted effort to increase diversity on campus. And we understand that the school’s approach to change is a slow and deliberate one. As is evident by the successful introduction of the new schedule, that approach results in effective and welcome innovation. But when the issues the committee is considering are as pressing as they are, it’s vital that — even if changes are slated to occur over the long-term — the committee make every effort to be transparent in the present.

To that end, we have three recommendations that we believe will result in a more vigorous and open process and further the committee’s goals:

Publish regular updates on the committee’s progress It’s incredibly important that the student body remain up to date on what the committee’s current plans are — something the page on the website doesn’t accomplish. Even if updates are published once a semester, or even annually, doing so on a regular basis will keep the student body informed of and interested in the committee’s work, driving constructive discussion on how to make campus more inclusive.

Appoint student leaders as ex officio members of the committee The president and vice president of the Student Council serve as the official, elected representatives of the student body. By virtue of their position, they should serve on the committee, giving it valuable input on how potential proposals may affect the attitude and perspective of the student body. Doing so would give students an informal way to communicate their concerns to the committee and would create further confidence in the committee’s suggestions.

Hire diversity and inclusion consultants to conduct an external analysis Just as with the new schedule, when outside consultants were hired to conduct detailed surveys of the student body and provide a second opinion as to what changes should be made, the school should hire independent consultants to determine the state of diversity and inclusion efforts on campus. This won’t in any way undermine the work of the committee — rather, it should augment it, giving committee members new insight into current issues and potential solutions.

We’re incredibly supportive of the work of the committee and hope to see it succeed. But work on a topic as important as diversity and inclusion should be done not in the shadows but with the full engagement of the student body. We believe these proposals will help the committee accomplish that and will ultimately ensure its work is more equitable and longlasting.

Teachers should follow availability guidelines

Among the most appreciated resources here is the availability of teachers when students have questions that can’t be answered in regular class time or have concerns they’d like to address directly with their teacher.

Although the school has been on the right track to facilitate healthy, communicative relationships between students and teachers, we have still noticed issues in this dynamic that we can solve rather easily, so we would like to offer both students and teachers a reminder of policies and expectations already in place to make this communication as seamless as possible.

First, office hours. Though classes begin at 8:35 a.m. each day for Upper School, faculty are expected to be available for office hours beginning at 8 a.m.

In a random check conducted one morning by ReMarker staff, we found of 50 Upper School instructors (leaving out those who are not on campus for any reason, such as health, COVID-19 or travel), 21 were not in their offices at 8:10 a.m.

School policy asks that teachers be available during those hours, so we encourage teachers to make themselves more accessible in the mornings. Doing so will foster conversations that ultimately make class time more efficient.

To that end, it is unfair to expect teachers to take time out of their day to make themselves available if students are not inclined to take advantage of their time. Students should be prudent when making appointments and using the resources available.

Students should not waste time seeking help when they have nothing to discuss, for example, but at a school like ours, that is rarely ever the case. Therefore, we encourage students to use the resources they’ve been given.

Lastly, when in-person appointments are not available, we have noticed issues in the promptness with which several teachers respond to their emails.

Again, school policy dictates that a teacher should get back to a student within no more than 24 hours, but students should also try to reciprocate that expectation when a teacher emails them.

Holding everybody to high standards of dialogue keeps us all in a healthy degree of urgency, a must at a school as busy as ours, so we encourage students and faculty alike to follow these guidelines to facilitate efficient communication. 42% of teachers unavailable for morning office hours source: random check of 50 faculty by ReMarker staff student newspaper of ST. MARK’S SCHOOL OF TEXAS 10600 PRESTON ROAD DALLAS, TEXAS 75230 214.346.8000

Editorial Board editor in chief ROBERT POU assignments editor SAI THIRUNAGARI brand editor COOPER RIBMAN endzone editor WILLIAM ANIOL

executive page editor JACK DAVIS head photographer COLLIN KATZ managing editors JAMIE MAHOWALD HENRY MCELHANEY SID SINHA opinions editor ALAM ALIDINA perspectives editor LUKE PIAZZA senior editor CRISTIAN PEREIRA

Section Editors 10600, culture AXEL ICAZBALCETA WILL PECHERSKY discoveries, issues TOBY BARRETT AUSTIN WILLIAMS deputy endzone SEMAJ MUSCO deputy focus ERIC YOO HAN ZHANG reviews specialist TREVOR CROSNOE

sports LUKE NAYFA PETER ORSAK

Creative graphics director JONATHAN YIN artist COOPER COLE

Advertising business manager IAN MIZE

Writers ETHAN BORGE, MORGAN CHOW, IAN DALRYMPLE, NIKHIL DATTATREYA, SHREYAN DAULAT, GRANT JACKSON, RAJAN JOSHI, ARJUN KHATTI, KESHAV KRISHNA, MYLES LOWENBERG, MATTHEW REED, WILL SPENCER, DILLON WYATT, DARREN XI

Photographers BLAKE BROOM, ABE ECHT, PATRICK FLANAGAN, LUIS GARCIA, SAL HUSSAIN, EVAN LAI, EVAN MCGOWAN, HAYWARD METCALF, LARS OCHS, SKY PARK, HENRY PICCAGILI, DANIEL SANCHEZ, OWEN SIMON, EKANSH TAMBE, LUKE VOORHEIS, JERRY ZHAO

Adviser RAY WESTBROOK

Headmaster DAVID W. DINI

audience The ReMarker is intended for the students, faculty, staff and alumni community of St. Mark’s School of Texas. Press run is 4,000 copies, with more than 2,600 of those mailed out to alumni around the world, courtesy of the school’s offices of External Affairs, Development and Alumni divisions. opinions and editorials Editorials represent the viewpoints of the newspaper’s Editorial Board and are not necessarily those of the Board of Trustees, administration, faculty or staff. All personal opinion columns, bylined with the writer’s name and photo, represent the views of that writer only and not necessarily those of The ReMarker, Board of Trustees, administration, faculty or staff. online viewing www.smtexas.org/remarker. reader involvement The ReMarker encourages reader input through guest columns and story ideas. Contact the appropriate editor for suggestions. letters to the editor Letters to the editor are welcome and encouraged. They must be typed, signed and not exceed 300 words. E-mail submissions are not accepted. advertising Contact the business staff at 214.346.8145. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement. Inclusion of an ad does not represent an endorsement by the school’s administration, faculty, or staff or ReMarker staff members. membership The ReMarker maintains membership in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, New York City, NY; National Scholastic Press Association, Minneapolis, MN; and the Interscholastic League Press Conference, Austin.