Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

List of 5 items.

• Guest Speakers

  Throughout the year, we invite guest speakers to provide insight and perspective to our students, faculty, and the broader community. 

  
  

  Dr. Mykee Fowlin: Psychologist, Performer, and Poet

  
  

  Dr. Mykee Fowlin returned to RCS to talk about the value of promoting inclusive communities and celebrating unseen differences in individuals. Dr. Fowlin’s programs combine both his professional acting talents and his psychological training, which he uses in pursuit of his mission to create an atmosphere of worldwide inclusion, not just tolerance, of all people.

  
  

  

  
  

  The Anti-Defamation League: Fighting Hate for Good

  
  

  The Anti-Defamation League led interactive workshops with our seventh and eighth-graders as part of their A World of Difference program. The Institute's programs and resources are designed to help students:

  
  

  • recognize bias and the harm it inflicts on individuals and society
  • build understanding of the value and benefits of diversity
  • improve intergroup relations
  • confront racism, anti-Semitism and all other forms of bigotry

• Student Experiences

  Lower School
  
  Community Partners
  Community Partners is a monthly gathering of all Lower Schoolers, during which small groups of students, faculty, and staff meet to create community and a sense of belonging. Activities alternate between those that build connections at school, like creating a wall of favorite and unique Thanksgiving foods, and those that celebrate diversity, like discussing how we might welcome someone to our school who is blind and then learning to write our names in Braille. Groups are arranged purposefully with children across grade levels so that students create strong, multi-age bonds, resulting in ebullient greetings by the youngest members as they see their new friends in the halls and on the playground. Most importantly, groups are arranged so that each child has other students with whom they share a commonality. This mirror could be race, visible or invisible disability, similarity in family structure, hometown, etc. The pairings are deliberate and yet not explained, so that throughout the year, there are so many wonderful moments of discovery. We have students who have bonded over a recent divorce, being a twin, having a parent who was born in the same part of the world, and languages spoken at home. Amidst these connections, unexpected bonds are formed over details that are most important to young children - having the same favorite color or the same kind of dog. Community Partners offers yet another space for kids to be themselves and to find others with whom they can connect. It is an important part of the strong fabric that makes our Lower School a place of belonging and joy.
  
  Upper School
  With a culturally rich curriculum, students are exposed to a variety of perspectives through academics, Learning Immersion Days, co-curriculars, Allied Arts, guest speakers, C.A.F.E. (Cultural Awareness for Everyone), and our widely acclaimed Visiting Artists Series.  
  
  Building Lasting Connections
  Eighth-grade students from RCS and Memorial High School in West New York, New Jersey read The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas. After completing the novel, they met to discuss the book and their different life experiences. Given the vast difference in economic and racial backgrounds between the students, it was a unique opportunity to share perspectives and open dialogue about real-world topics.
  
  Student Perspectives
  “The students from Memorial High came into the discussion and immediately joined in and shared their story, their perspective, and how they related to it. I thought that was really brave of them because I was even hesitant about sharing even in my own environment surrounded by people I know. The people in my group were awesome.” --Student ‘20
  
  “I have enjoyed learning about a completely different community, events that occur, and the reactions that people have to these events. I think it’s necessary to read these types of books; it’s good to broaden your understanding and to dip into pools of discomfort. Hopefully, you benefit and create an understanding of these things that you may otherwise have not experienced.” --Student ‘20
  
  
   

   

• Professional Development

  Members of the DEIB Team, as well as faculty and staff, have attended a series of conferences and workshops to receive training and development on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.These include, but are not limited to:

  
  

  • Dalton Diversity Conference
  • Diversity Leadership Institute
  • Diversity Practitioners Conference
  • Holocaust and Human Behavior
  • NYSAIS Diversity Conference
  • People of Color Conference
  • The Knapsack Institute
  • Transgender Training Institute
  • White Privilege Symposium 
  • IDSJ (Institute for Teaching Diversity and Social Justice)
  • NYSAIS Global Language and Culture Conference 
  • Freedom Rising 
  • Facing History and Ourselves
  • “But You're Wrong” – Strategies to lead and discuss challenging conversations
  • Afro-Latinos and Hair: An Identity Journey of the Past, the Present, and the Future
  • Gender-Inclusive Language in the World Language Classroom
  • The Color of Language - Centering the Student of Color in World Language Acquisition
  • Pollyanna, Inc.
  • BookFest at Bank Street

   

• Faculty Workshops

  Three times per year, the entire faculty, staff, and administration engage in interactive workshops that help RCS educators develop meaningful and beneficial ways to teach students with various needs and backgrounds. The RCS team works together to remove barriers to academic achievement, enrich the community experience, and develop stronger bonds among the students and their peers.

  
  

  • 5-10-15 Minute Diversity and Inclusion Activities
  • Children and Identity through Explicit Classroom Discussion and Literature
  • Classroom Diversity and Inclusive Teaching
  • Connecting with Kids is Easy, but...
  • DEI Strategies
  • Discover Teaching Tolerance: A Guided (and Practical) Tour
  • Gender and Sexuality: How to Support the Students Who Might Not Know They Need It
  • Identity and Intersectionality: The Impacts of the Lenses We Wear
  • Identity Cards: Who Am I? 
  • Microaggressions and Ask An Informal (Ignorant) Question
  • The Value of a Socio-Economically Diverse School Environment
  • Transgender 101: Understanding the Basics of Language, Affirmation, and How to Support Non-Binary and Genderqueer Students

  These workshops are led by the RCS DEIB Team.
  

   

• Faculty Book Clubs

  The faculty book club was created in 2018 to facilitate difficult conversations and to cultivate deeper understanding with respect to cultural identifiers. 

  
  

  We have read the following books:

  
  

  • Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw: Reimagining Success as a Disabled Achiever by Eddie Ndopu
  • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehishi Coates  
  • Real American by Julie Lythcott-Haims 
  • George by Alex Gino
  • Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin
  • New Kid by Jerry Craft
  • The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
  • We Move Together by Ann McGuire and Kelly Fritsch
  • Rolling Warrior: The Incredible, Sometimes Awkward, True Story of a Rebel Girl on Wheels Who Helped Spark a Revolution by Judith Heumann and Kristen Joiner
  • Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann and Kristen Joiner