Diversity Team

Diversity Forum

BACS invites parents, grandparents, teachers and all interested  community members to a Diversity Forum. Please join us on Tuesday evening, January 24 at 7-8:30pm for information and discussion about how BACS is working to increase a sense of belonging for all of the students in our school. We will report on where the Diversity Team has been, where we are now, and where we are headed; we will give an overview of the In-service we had this fall on increasing cultural competence; and we will provide an opportunity for valuable discussion and Q&A. We welcome anyone in the community who may have questions or curiosity about this important topic. Coffee and light  refreshments will be provided. We are looking forward to the forum and hope that you can join us!

The Bryn Athyn Church School is actively working to create an inclusive experience for our students in classroom, social, and spiritual contexts. The administration has appointed a Diversity Team (the D-Team!) to help bring this vision to reality.

On this Web site you will find our statement of purpose and an introduction to some steps that the Team is taking to bring this subject into the daily lives of our students and their families. You will find an increasing array of events, activities, and reference materials that are intended to open a dialog between BACS administration, faculty, parents, and students -- facilitated by the D-Team -- to improve our collective skills in dealing fairly with people whether they are similar to us or not. We encourage you visit here again to see what we are up to, and hope you will participate in this dialog with us.

Statement of Purpose

The BACS Diversity Team has been convened to:

  1. Promote awareness of cultural, ethnic, community, and family variety and recognize our own potential biases.
  2. Increase knowledge about people not like ourselves.
  3. Develop skills to help us respect and celebrate our differences.
  4. Take action on diversity issues that may arise in the school.

Terms to Define

As a starting point, let's see if we can agree on some terms that are relevant to the discussion:

  • Cultural Awareness: Realizing and contemplating the variety in humanity
  • Tolerance: Acceptance of those not like ourselves
  • Respect: Treating people with dignity even if you don't understand or agree
  • Variety: Different types of people
  • Diversity: Different but evenly distributed
  • Biases: Preconceived ideas based on assumptions and generalizations
  • Stereotypes: Assuming certain behavior from others based on appearances

Status

The BACS Diversity Team has met on several occasions to begin identifying steps we can take to open this discussion.

During our first few meetings, we've determined that there are many resources available to help institutions such as our school come to terms with where we are in the diversity spectrum. There are books to read, self assessments, consultants, motivational speakers, research, and opinions to choose from. Where do we start?

Let's start here:

  • The D-Team has read a number of books and we plan to offer short reviews to faculty and staff who may want to begin looking at the subject with us.
  • Our Chairperson attended a conference to start to understand how others are approaching this task.
  • We've identified a speaker who we feel can help us assess where we are by framing some goals and pointing us to some techniques for getting started.
  • The Administration and the D-Team are working to put in place some basic policies and procedures for addressing diversity issues that come up in the school, so students and parents have a place to start if they notice a situation that could be improved.
  • We've asked each other a bunch of questions, like: "What do the Writings say about Variety and Diversity?" and "What are some good sources where we can get information on what others are doing about Diversity issues in their schools?" and "What can we do that will have immediate impact?" and "What are the longer term issues to be considered?" and "Do we have acute tolerance and discrimination issues in our school that need to be addressed?"

Have any answers? Look us up. (also if you have ideas or questions...)

Carla Reuter, Chair
Jodi Carr
Kirsten Cronlund
David Cooper
Chris DeMaria
Taney Friend
Carol Nash