Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

List of 7 items.

• Respectful Discourse at SSSAS

  Rooted in our mission to inspire a passion for learning and to celebrate diversity, St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School affirms the unique value of each member of our community as a child of God. We seek to provide opportunities to practice the virtue of goodness.

  
  

  Respectful discourse is the practice of people with differing perspectives engaging in active listening and the exchange of ideas to seek mutual understanding and personal growth.  

  
  

  Our school’s mission and the mission of the Episcopal Church call us to uphold respectful discourse as a way of recognizing the diversity of God’s creation and as a means of bridging ideological gaps, leading to relational reconciliation and transformation.

• Committees and Groups

  Faculty and Student Affinity Groups (LS, MS, US):
  

  • AAMATE (Black/African American males)
  • ACT (Asians Coming Together group of Asian American Students)
  • Boys of Color Affinity Group (MS)
  • First Generation
  • Girls of Color Affinity Group (MS)
  • Juntos (Latino Students)
  • LGBTQIA
  • Multiracial
  • Sisterhood (Black/African American females)
  • Women Affinity Group
  • Young Boys of Color (LS)
  • Young Girls of Color (LS)

  Student Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Groups
  

  • Alphabet Alliance (MS)
  • GSA (US)
  • Unity Leadership Council (US)

  Faculty Groups
  

  • Faculty of Color Affinity Group
  • Steering Committee on Anti-Racist Programming
  • Mentor program for Faculty in Color in Years 2-5

  Parent Groups
  

  • Parent Affinity Groups (All School)

• Faculty Professional/Personal Development

  • Required training session by division of how to handle specific scenarios around race. (Fall 2018)
  • Gender identity workshop by Ted Lewis, Executive Director of Side by Side. (2017)
  • Donna Ryan Faculty and Administrator Multicultural Seminar for all new employees.  (This has been a contractually-required program for over 15 years.)
  • Cultural Competency training for all staff.
  • Annual coaches workshop on anti-bias and inclusive practices.
  • SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) Monthly Dinners and Discussions (2014-present)
  • Faculty/Staff Examining Whiteness Group (meets 7 times per year since the fall of 2018)
  • AWARE (Alliance of White Anti-racist Educators) group of faculty members JK-12 that looks at curriculum development from an anti-racist lens (2019)
  • Anti-bias training for hiring managers
  • Professional development speakers have included: Howard Stevenson, Constance Clayborn professor of Urban Education at University of Pennsylvania and author of "Promoting Racial Literacy in Schools (2019); Peggy McIntosh, former Associate Director of the Wellesley Center for Women, co-founder of SEED, and author of "Unpacking the Invisible Backpack of White Privilege" (2016); Debby Irving, author of "Waking Up White" (will be rescheduled this year); Andre Robert Lee, Screening of film “Prep School Negro," professional development session with faculty, spoke with students of color about Black independent school experience (2012).

  
  

  Recent Faculty/Staff Reading and Listening:

  "So You Want To Talk About Race" by Ijeoma Olou

  "Waking Up White" by Debby Irving

  "How To Be An Antiracist" by Ibram X. Kendi

  "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

  "Real American" by Julie Lythcott-Haims

  "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin

  Scene on Radio, Season 2 (Seeing White)

   

• Affiliations/Organizations

  • Independent School Faculty/Staff/Administrator of Color in the DMV Group
  • National Association of Independent School People of Color Conference 
  • Virginia Diversity Network

   

• Hiring a Diverse Faculty

  SSSAS has developed a hiring handbook that integrates equitable and inclusive practices throughout the hiring process.

  All hiring managers were trained on equitable hiring practices and the role of unconscious bias in hiring decisions.
  
  The current faculty is 22% faculty of color, and the percentage of faculty of color hired during the past three years is:

  
  2018-2019- 37%
  2019-2020- 24%
  2020-2021- 37%

   

  During the 2019-2020 school year members of the SSSAS faculty and administration attended the following hiring fairs:

   

  • Carney Sandoe FORUM/Diversity, Philadelphia, PA
  • Potomac Diversity Fair, McLean, VA
  • Teachers of Color Fair, Atlanta, GA
  • Virginia Diversity Network, Richmond, VA 
  • AIMS Diversity Hiring Fair, Baltimore, MD 
  • NEMNET Diversity Fair, Washington, DC
  • NEMNET Diversity Fair, Boston, MA
  • Maryland Metro Educator Expo, College Park, MD (cancelled)
  • Howard University Educator Fair, Washington, DC (cancelled)

• Community Engagement/Guest Speakers

  • Annual Middle School Diversity Conference
  • Divisional Multicultural Nights
  • Upper School Speaker Series & Lunch Forums
  • Colloquium for the Common Good
  • Student Diversity Leadership Conference at People of Color Conference 
  • Diversity in the DMV
  • VDN Conference
  • GSA Summit
  • Social Entrepreneurship Summit

  Upper School Guest Speakers and Visitors
  
  

  • Schuyler Bailer, First Openly Transgender Divsion I Swimmer - Assembly Speaker (2019)
  • Richard Blanco, Presidential Inaugural Poet - SSSAS Poet in Residence (2018)
  • John Chapman, SSSAS Graduate and Alexandria City Council Member-Upper School Assembly Speaker and 5th Grade Leadership Series Speaker
  • Marcia Chatelain, Professor of History and African American Studies at Georgetown University - Colloquium Keynote Speaker  (2019)
  • Elizabeth Eckford, Member of the Little Rock Nine -  Assembly Speaker (2019)
  • Alysia Harris, SSSAS Graduate and Professional Poet - Chapel Speaker and Poet in Residence 2018, 2019
  • Chris Newman, SSSAS Graduate and Organic Farmer/Activist - Keynote Speaker, Colloquium for the Common Good
  • Vishavjit Singh, “Being Sikh after 911 - Racial Implications” - Assembly Speaker in MS/US (2018)

• Contact

  Director of Institutional Equity & Diversity: KiKi Davis