DEI Plan: Mid-Year Update

As part of our commitment to “Mean Well, Speak Well, and Do Better,” the DEI Committee of the Board of Trustees presented a strategic plan at our Annual Meeting in June 2021.

The plan outlines strategic goals in three areas: People, Program, and Policy - and together these goals provide a guiding framework for GUS DEI work over the next five years.

Inspired and eager to continue our DEI work with a renewed focus, we immediately dove into the work of our DEI plan last spring. We began with an updated DEI statement that more clearly articulates how our commitment to pursuing racial justice and equity is inextricably linked to the GUS mission and philosophy. It is now upon us as a school community to not just “talk the talk” of equity and inclusion, but to “walk the walk”; and we have taken this year’s theme of “Deeper and Further” to heart as we’ve begun our journey towards fulfilling our ambitious goals. We are united as a staff, faculty, and board in our devotion to this work and are driven to examine and reflect upon our program and curriculum, our school culture, and our policies. We do this work because we know that it will deepen not only the relationships we have, the community we grow, and the knowledge students build in their time at GUS; but because it will further the impact our students make in their ever-widening communities when their time at GUS comes to an end.

GUS is a school where children learn to be changemakers, and that learning begins by seeing that the adults in their community care about making change too. Change comes in many forms, small and large, overt and embedded in our everyday routines. We were inspired this fall by the changes GUS parent Caroline McCarthy brought to our new library, with the aim of making the organization of the literature section more inclusive. It has also been exciting to see the work of Chris Draper, Emilie Cushing, Elliott Buck, and Chris Doyle as they’ve examined and deepened how the study of indigenous people is integrated into the GUS thematic curriculum as it spirals from Pre-K to 8th grade. Their work this year has also led to the writing of a Native Land Acknowledgement that we read at the beginning of every All-School Meeting. Over the last couple of months, we have heard from our students who are learning about civil rights leaders, past and present, and thinking about how they can be changemakers and positive leaders too. We also continue to focus on how asking three simple questions can help us to deepen our understanding of history, and widen the stories we hear and the stories we share. We ask ourselves, who writes the stories, who benefits from the stories, and who is missing from the stories?

On Wednesday, April 6 at 8:30 a.m., we would like to invite parents to join us on campus for a conversation about diversity, equity, and inclusion work at GUS and how you can be involved. Please save the date!

In the meantime, please take a look at the progress we have made on our DEI strategic plan goals thus far. We look forward to continuing our work, and hope that you will join us along the way!

GUS DEI Plan: June 2021

Admission +

14.5% of current students identify as BIPOC

Hiring and Retention +

Engaged StratéGenius to help with recruitment
Review of hiring process began in the summer of 2021 and will continue to be a major focus area.
Working to expand the list of schools we are connected to for interns by widening our network through other community partnerships. This school year we welcomed interns from Endicott College, Montserrat, and UMass Lowell.

Board of Trustees & Parents +

Trustee Annual DEI Retreat - Redefinition of Critical Race Theory and the Impact on Schools

Curriculum +

A list of peer schools to visit, that have been working on curriculum integration, has been established.
A refresher on inclusive language, including discussion of gender pronouns and introductions, was presented at back-to-school faculty meetings.
Three mechanisms to evaluate curriculum were established: Social Justice Standards, Three Questions, and Ford Harris Bloom Banks Matrix.
Study of indigenous peoples saw renewed focus with the establishment of a faculty working group over the summer (Emilie Cushing, Chris Doyle, Christine Draper, and Elliott Buck), with emphasis on how it is approached across grade levels.
- The group began with a focus on integration in second, third, fifth, sixth, and seventh grade curricula.
- Published Land Acknowledgement
DEI committee split into two subgroups - one with a focus on curriculum review and one with a focus on looking across the whole school for gaps and opportunities including hiring pipelines, peer school work, community partners, holidays, and the school calendar.
- At the beginning of the year, GUS community members were invited to share their family traditions around holidays or special events. This school year we have had presentations led by faculty and families alike on Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur, Indigenous Peoples Day, Diwali, Veterans Day, Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Lunar New Year.

Professional Development +

DEI professional development was added as a requirement in all faculty + staff contracts this year. This requirement asks faculty + staff members to engage in at least one professional development opportunity that focuses on understanding antiracism and antibias education, both on a personal level and a professional level. The goal of this PD requirement is that every faculty + staff member at GUS be working in alignment towards the development of an antiracist + antibias school program at GUS.
In addition to this requirement, faculty + staff use ongoing weekly team meetings and monthly faculty meetings to review curriculum + program, to discuss teaching practices, and continue evaluating school culture.