DECODING RACE Marilyn Melnick As part of the school’s ongoing DEI efforts,the school’s Leadership Team recently participated in the “Decoding Race for White Leaders - Creating Cultures of Belonging” training held by Anima Leadership. The training attracted leaders from across Canada and many different organizations including schools, local governments, private organizations and not-for-profits. The facilitators provided an open safe place for everyone to have meaningful discussions and a time to reflect. This course allowed leaders an opportunity to explore their own racial identity and unspoken assumptions and behaviours that are brought into the workplace. The course uncovered the importance of taking an intersectional outlook to identify, power and how we make a place in our community to evaluate our voices. During June meeting week, all employees can look forward to working with our DEI Consultants, Equity Connections on professional learning and an ongoing partnership to continue our commitment. PRIDE Sean Rand Pride Month is celebrated each June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York City. What started as a riot to fight for equal rights now includes pride parades, parties and concerts to celebrate Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer people! While it is important to celebrate the increased visibility of the LGBTQ+ community, it is equally important to understand the community’s continued struggle for equality here in Canada and around the world. To launch our pride festivities, the junior school will be hosting Drag Queen Story Time with children’s presenters, Fay and Fluffy. Drag is considered an art form of self-expression and a celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride! The LGBTQ+ community has faced decades of discrimination and drag became one way to dismantle heteronormative ideals in society. The purpose of drag is to defy gender norms. We are very much looking forward to our visit from Fay and Fluffy and giving the children the opportunity to ask them questions!
Important Dates: June 2021 June is National Indigneous History Month; Pride Month; Filipino Heritage Month; Italian Heritage Month; Portguese Heritage Month June 5: World Environment Day June 18th - 27th: Pride Toronto June 18: Autistic Pride Day June 20: World Refugee Day June 21: National Indigenous Peoples Day June 21: Summer Solstice
The Progress Pride Flag incorporates the original six colour stripes of the pride flag plus light blue, pink and white chevrons to represent trans individuals. The brown stripe represents marginalized BIPOC community members and black commemorates those who lost their lives to HIV/AIDS and those living with the virus.
Resources to Check Out Gegi Project - www.gegi.ca Online resource with tools to advocate for gender expression & identity in schools Making Gay History Podcast A podcast that examines the lives of LGBTQ+ trailblazers and their contributions. GLSEN: Coming Out A resource for LGBTQ+ students. Inside Out Film Festival Canada’s Largest 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival The 215 Children
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As a community, we would like to reaffirm our commitment to reconciliation. To learn more, we invite any interested community members to register for a free self-paced course entitled “Indigenous Canada”.
Our thoughts and hearts are also with our friends and families who have ties to Israel and Palestine.
DEI Chairs & The REDI Committee Last week the remains of 215 undocumented children, some as young as three years old, were found at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School. This horrific discovery sheds light on the cultural genocide and abuse the Canadian government inflicted on First Nations, Métis and Inuit (FMNI) children through Canada’s Residential School System. We would like to take a moment to honour the 215 children whose lives were taken from them on the traditional land of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc, the estimated 4,100 children who died while attending residential schools Canada-wide, their families, residential
school survivors, and all those facing collective trauma, grief and loss. REDUCING BIAS IN ADMISSIONS Angela van Straubenzee The admission team has been working on identifying areas in our process where we can reduce bias. We have held internal team meetings, had discussions with some of our peer schools, and have learned from the expertise of Nathan Kuncel. We have a long list of items that could potentially affect our objectivity, and we will eliminate or alter these steps wherever we can. Here are a few of the items that we have been discussing, some of which have already implemented: ● Updating our scoring rubrics so that the criteria is clear and there’s less room for subjectivity ● Increasing the number of staff reviewing online interviews ● Ensuring our interview questions don’t make assumptions and are equitable ● Adding additional data points so that one requirement doesn’t weigh too heavily and disadvantage some candidates ● Considering that applicants may have had varying co-curricular opportunities (particularly during the pandemic) and not penalizing or rewarding candidates based on this fact ● Not giving an advantage to those who supply reference letters ● Not asking for parent employment info until families have been admitted ● Have a needs-blind decision making process (ie: the decision committee would not know which candidates may or may not have applied for Financial Aid) This work will be ongoing as we continue to identify areas where we can improve the application and decision-making process to be as fair and equitable as possible. New DEI Chairs We welcome our 4 new DEI Chairs: Jake Ernst, Shelley Gopal, Sean Rand and Noelyn Selvanayagam. They have all sat on the REDI committee for the past year encouraging learning and unlearning and in the process having uncomfortable but valuable conversations with our community. They are excited to continue making positive changes to The York School community. Our chairs will carry on working with the REDI committee and with our new consultants, Equity Connections, to work towards achieving goals stated in our Interim Strategic Plan.