DEIB

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION AND BELONGING

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging work at The Philadelphia School has been a focus since the beginning of the school in 1972. In the Prospectus published in 1971 the founders made their vision clear, “[The School] will do all it can to build in chances for children to make ethical judgments about vital issues. This means your child will feel the concerns for peace, social justice, and for a better quality of life because these concerns will be part of the life of the school, just as they are a part of the life of all of us.”

While this work is the responsibility of everyone in our community, we have benefited from the leadership of our school Heads and former Diversity Directors Nica Fleming, Frances Hoover, Brian Johnson, and Gerald Dessus. Parents, teachers, staff, and students have taken a variety of training to heart over the years and implemented safe spaces to have important conversations. Brian Johnson, who came to TPS in 2014 to work in Admission with Frances Hoover and gradually took on increasing responsibility for diversity work, remembers his early days in the work as visiting classrooms, reflecting on what he noticed about the culture of TPS, and landing on important initiatives with the support and collaboration of Jeffrey Mordan, his immediate supervisor. Professional development for faculty and staff was critical to growth, as were parent discussion groups and affinity groupings for students. Teachers have fully committed to carrying on this important work.

Middle School teacher Noel Yee describes what has been gained in recent years: “At TPS DEIB is work that teachers infuse within our curriculum. This is shown in the entire school participating in the Black Lives Week of Action sharing our pronouns with one another in conversations, and with the intentional placement of a communal middle school time for students to participate in affinity groups. What makes the work progressive is that the students and teachers learn and choose the directions that this work will go. For example, for the past six to seven years there have been affinity groups, but last year a new group was suggested and wanted by the student population. The neurodivergent group is now a part of our affinity group rotation. With teachers we are working on finding ways as a community to help raise up marginalized voices in our community. As a teaching community we have formed Professional Learning Circles to help us share our thoughts. We have a white anti-racist group started by teachers, adult POC groups, and more. As TPS moves into the future, I am excited to see where the students, faculty and parents choose to guide it.”