DEI Plan: Mid-Year Update 2024

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.

As we embark on year three of Glen Urquhart’s DEI Strategic Plan the administrative DEI team, consisting of Director of Upper School Brad Belin, Director of Lower School Emily Rabinowitz-Buchanan, and Director of Admission Katie Chhu, is proud to update the community on our progress towards goals related to GUS people and programs. We welcome any feedback as enhancing our work in these areas certainly requires the efforts of the full community!

 

Admission +

  • Opened the 23-24 school year at 19.4 percent students of color, and working towards our goal to 20% before 2026.
  • Revised our application questions to collect more specific data on our students racial and ethnic identities and asking families to share all languages spoken at home.

Hiring and Retention +

  • Implemented a formal process for self-reporting race and ethnic identity to better track our progress towards the goal of 10% faculty and staff of color

Board of Trustees & Parents +

  • Organized gatherings for families of BIPOC students, including a Back-to-School Gathering and a second one on the weekend of 1/21/24 offsite at The Castle Board Game Cafe in Beverly, in an effort to recognize and support these families in a community that is predominantly white.
  • Two parents joined the Parents Association Executive Committee as DEI representatives
  • Hosted PA meeting on 1/17/24 on the GUS DEI Plan as well as how we incorporate DEI principles and questions into our curriculum and program.

Curriculum +

  • Sending four Upper School students and one faculty member to the AISNE Middle School Diversity Conference in February.
  • Hosted Michael Barbaro on campus during upper school community time to share his story of coming out as a gay male, and working to build allyship.
  • Hosted Nick Thomas, Boston College football player and former student at an AISNE school, to talk about his experience in navigating predominantly white spaces, code-switching, and leadership.
  • Worked to create more interdisciplinary projects rooted in real world problems, with student-driven solutions not being from a saviorist lens.
  • Students on the 8th Grade Service + Leadership trip (April 2023) visited Cambridge, MD to learn about current efforts being made by local activists to hold difficult conversations about the historical divide.

Professional Development +

  • Sent two more faculty members to the second annual Leadership for Racial Justice Fellows program in July 2023
  • Held a professional development workshop in October 2023 with Linda Murphy, focused on understanding neurodivergence and examining the GUS learning environment to ensure that it is inclusive and supportive for all students, including our neurodiverse learners.
  • Contracted with Jenny Jun-lei Kravitz to facilitate a DEIJ-focused workshop aimed at building upon teachers’ approaches to teaching + learning through a DEIJ lens.
  • Sent an administrator and a faculty member to the National Association of Independent Schools People of Color Conference in St. Louis to engage in two and a half days of DEIJ-focused workshops + affinity spaces.
 
DEIBrad Belin, Katie Chhu, Emily Rabinowitz-BuchananGlen Urquhart Schooldei plan, strategic dei plan, mid-year update