Dear Grace Church School,
We write to you today as the co-chairs of the Board’s Institutional Culture Committee (ICC) to provide an update on Grace’s antiracism work. We are living in a time like no other, but we persevere. We will continue to do so as we move forward into a new year with love, hope and courage, as members of this great community we call Grace Church School. Much has been done since our October 5th letter to the community, and while there is still more to do, we are encouraged by how the work is moving forward and grateful to all who have been involved.
We are particularly thankful to everyone who participated in the focus groups facilitated by the outside experts from Pollyanna, Inc. Your input in this first phase of their independent assessment of Grace’s culture around race and racism has shaped the survey Pollyanna will use as the second phase of their work. There are four versions of the survey and the survey link you are receiving in this email is specific to the constituency to which you belong. Members of the community that belong to more than one constituency will get more than one survey link. If, for example, you are a parent and staff member you will receive a link for each of these roles. Although Grace is providing the links to the survey, the Pollyanna consultants will be the sole recipients of your anonymous responses, which they will collect, collate, and analyze as part of a report for the Board, the findings of which we will share with the community this spring.
Survey links for different constituencies were sent on Monday, January 11.
Below you will find the third of our promised series of quarterly updates. You can find links to the previous updates on the Antiracism, Equity, and Belonging page of the school’s website, along with resources like the truly useful GCS inclusive language guide and antiracism readings for teachers and parents curated by our librarians. There you can also find descriptions of various entities helping to advance the school’s commitment to this work. We want to communicate effectively and spare you from drowning in an alphabet soup of acronyms—struggling to distinguish the OCE from the ICC or the Diversity Council from BSDC. Most important is knowing that, whoever you are and however you identify, there’s a role for you to play in this work.
Thank you for your continued participation.
With love and gratitude,
Barbara and Renée
Renée Noel
Barbara Sibley
Co-chairs of the Institutional Culture Committee
Quarterly Update: Grace’s Response to Racism in our Community
It is our intention to continue these updates every calendar quarter (not academic quarter). The headings follow the topics and order of the two previous letters.
Provide a Comprehensive Response to the Student Demands
Grace students and administrators continue to work towards a full response to the updated demands, which we will share with the community. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) coordinators from independent schools across the city met with student leaders of Black Students Demanding Change (BSDC) offering support to enhance collective approaches to organizational change as part of this work. The entire process has been iterative and productive, and we’re grateful to our student representatives for their leadership. Next steps will include further discussion of the response with BSDC, more details of which we plan to share in our Spring update.
Strengthen the Vital Work of the Office of Community Engagement (OCE)
The OCE has drafted, and will soon post, a job description for the additional full-time position they are adding to their staff this year. The hope is to have that position filled before Spring Break. The OCE has been busy on a number of fronts, including: organizing a half-day training in restorative practices for high school faculty, followed by a student assembly; expanding the capacity of the office by supporting divisional liaisons, who are now planning their second semester work with division heads; facilitating faculty wide discussions that build off the summer readings of Ibram Kendi and Dolly Chugh; collaborating with the admissions office to arrange admissions events for prospective students and families of color; supporting projects to examine and codify the school’s anti-bias hiring practices and to develop standards for antiracist curriculum planning, pedagogy, and leadership that can support faculty growth and evaluation.
Host a Community-wide Town Hall
Having hosted one town hall at the end of summer, we will begin to plan another for this spring. It will once again focus on the school’s response to racism in our community. Unlike the previous town hall, which took place as a webinar presentation, we hope to structure this next event in a way that leaves room for facilitated open exchange. We will schedule it once we have a better sense of when Pollyanna’s assessment will be complete.
Launch the Institutional Culture Committee (ICC)
We are a committee of 32 members strong, including three HS students and two newly elected faculty representatives. Members of the committee are working in teams to advance particular priorities (e.g., a data team is seeking to identify metrics and design dashboards that can help track our progress and hold ourselves accountable to our aspirations). Meetings of the full group reserve space for hearing reports on initiatives underway (e.g., the history department’s antiracism self-study) and responding to emergent issues.
Conduct an Independent Review
As noted above, Pollyanna has completed the first phase of their assessment process, conducting over 30 meetings with members of the Grace community in forms ranging from individual interviews to large zoom groups. The next step is the community wide survey that is included in this email. We know how full people’s schedules are, but this is exactly the right time to do an independent review like this one—and your participation will help make it a success. When you receive the survey, please take a few minutes to complete it.
Clarify Reporting Procedures
This work is ongoing. This fall, the school updated faculty and student handbooks, clarifying hate speech rules and definitions. The handbooks delineate guidelines for addressing speech and other infractions. HS students and faculty participated in conversations designed to build comfort and competence with restorative practices. This work was introduced at the MS level as well. The HS Student Community Board is active and will be called upon to address some concerns in the winter quarter regarding Student Life Agreement violations.
Create a Comprehensive Parent Orientation
The OCE held Parent Orientations this fall for all grades. Thoughtful feedback is leading to refinements to content and scheduling with the goal of reaching all existing parents. The OCE also plans to create mandatory sessions for all incoming new parents in the spring as well as special sessions for existing parents as their children transition between divisions. The OCE is hosting a White Parent Series and have held three of their six planned meetings.
Expand Spaces for all Community Members to Engage in Antiracism Work
Affinity groups are active among all divisions, for faculty, parents and students. In particular, the Faculty WAAG and Faculty of Color groups have continued regular meetings and have maintained momentum. Student groups have launched and are working toward expanding their membership. These groups are critical in engaging the entire community in the advancement of our antiracism work. Five white affinity spaces are now running, including groups for faculty, parents, MS Students, HS Students, and administrators. Students in the high school have more than 12 affinity spaces, and this year saw the addition of an affinity space in the high school for women of color. MS Affinity Groups have met three times so far and include CASA, students of color, and a MS SWAG (Student White Antiracism Group). Anyone interested in joining a group can contact Kim Chaloner here. In addition, the HS Student Diversity Council has now run two community wide discussions about antiracism at Grace. The next one is planned for MLK week during this week’s HS intersession. Other discussion forums, such as the Diversity Council, Community Book Club, and Parents of Diverse Cultural Backgrounds groups continue to be available. |