Equity

Equity work has increasingly become part of normal conversations within schools which are generally a microcosm of the diverse backgrounds, cultures, and ethnicities. Over the past few years, a movement that grew nationwide challenged all independent schools, including Cold Spring, to examine equity work at its core. 

But, do we really understand what equity in schools looks like? How does inequity show up at our school, in our classrooms, in our interactions, in our communications, in our decisions? When might our own unconscious or conscious fears prevent us from taking risks or trying something different? What is the experience of our marginalized community members? Are we aware of our own blindspots?

For equity work to be infused in all areas of school, the steps have to be (slow) thoughtful, deliberate and purposeful. Building capacity in each community member requires personal and professional growth to happen simultaneously and this looks different for each adult. Through honest, reflective discourse, we are pushing ourselves and others to discover how beliefs may have an impact on others, how biases may show up in our work, and ways in which the school’s policies may be inequitable. 

While there will never be an equity box that we can easily check off marking completion, exciting work is happening behind the scenes at Cold Spring in areas of curriculum development, fundraising, admissions, faculty culture, social/emotional learning, student learning profiles, trustee development, Associate Teacher training and support, school calendar, personnel policies, hiring of faculty, professional development, and more. 

Thanks to Autumn Cloud-Ingram, our DEIJ Program Manager, for leading equity work and to our faculty for their commitment and dedication to examining practices. We hope these sustained efforts of building and rebuilding mindsets leads to true transformation in the way we think, plan, decide, communicate, relate, connect, admit, fundraise, and of course, teach and lead.