Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board

"“The Garrison Forest School community is deeply committed to equity, kindness and respect as part of the educational experience.”

--GFS Statement of Respect

At Garrison Forest School, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work is grounded in our Core Values, our Statement of Respect and our desire to create a campus environment that fosters belonging, inclusion and empathy.

In June 2020, Garrison Forest School created the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board. Made up of GFS faculty and staff members from across divisions and offices, as well as members of the GFS Board of Trustees, the role of the Advisory Board is to provide guidance and recommendations to the school in its ongoing efforts to be proactively anti-racist and inclusive.

Over the past year, the work of the Advisory Board has extended into many facets of daily school life. One of the group’s goals is to provide transparency into what is being done to continue building an inclusive campus as well as ensuring DEI work throughout the school is ongoing, productive and impactful. The initiatives listed on this site are not meant to be all-encompassing but aim to continue the conversation with our community and keep all constituents up-to-date. It is a snapshot of where we are and where we’re going; the vital work of creating a more equitable campus where all students feel a sense of belonging is never done. To that end, we appreciate the many partnerships that have helped drive this work—current parents and students, alumnae, faculty and staff and the school’s Board of Trustees will all continue to play an important role in ensuring this important work continues.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Work at GFS: Vision Statement

At Garrison Forest School, the building and nurturing of an inclusive, antiracist campus is a vital component of our community and our Core Values. Our work to promote diversity, equity and inclusion is integral to every aspect of school life, and is essential to ensure that our campus is a place where all students feel welcomed, encouraged, supported and heard. As a key focus across our campus, diversity, equity and inclusion work at GFS examines our school-wide protocols, policies, practices and infrastructure with the goal of developing action plans that result in real and measurable progress.

This work is guided by three key pillars:

Community Life and Care
Pedagogy and Curriculum
Recruitment, Retention and Support

Key Pillars and Initiatives

Community Life and Care

Initiative	Status as of June 2021
Implement anti-racist, diversity, equity, and inclusion training for all members of the GFS community	Ongoing; in the 2021-22 school year, GFS partnered with professional facilitators to lead a series of workshops for students and faculty/staff. Read more about their work below.
Create a resources document with anti-racist DEI readings, and trainings that will be available to all faculty and staff	Ongoing; resources are provided as needed to families and faculty and are maintained on the Office of Community Life & Inclusion website.
Work with the GFS Alumnae Board to form a Black Alumnae Subcommittee of the board and plan events in coordination with and support of DEI initiatives	Completed; earlier this year, GFS proudly welcomed the Black Alumnae Association (BAA). In addition to the networking events the BAA has organized, the broader Alumnae Board has held book discussions for parents and alumnae.
Work with the GFS Parent Association to plan events in coordination with and support of DEI initiatives	Ongoing; both the Parent Association and the Community Life and Inclusion Committee of the PA have worked to make their meetings more accessible for all parents.
Create a school-wide DEI vision statement to guide work moving forward	Completed; this is one of the first tasks the DEI Advisory Board completed in order to guide our work.
Create disciplinary procedures around identity-based incidents for all members of the GFS community and ensure transparency throughout the process	In the planning stage.

Pedagogy and Curriculum

Initiative	Status as of June 2021
Assemble student DEI groups in the Middle School and Upper School	Ongoing; student Advisory Boards have been created in both the Middle and Upper School, giving students an opportunity to engage with DEI initiatives, programming and goals.
Implement DEI training during Orientation	In the planning stage.
Build a robust, transparent and complete set of metrics with an established methodology for the collection and monitoring of data about the placement of students in different courses to ensure equity for all students	In the planning/research stage.
Design and develop curriculum, courses and spaces for the safe engagement and education around historical and global context, cultural competence and social justice topics that facilitate a diverse, equitable and inclusive learning environment for all students	Ongoing and in the planning stages; all divisions have begun thinking about curriculum review processes to ensure cultural competency, relevancy and appropriateness of texts and content. In the spirit of amplifying student voices in important conversations, the Upper School formed a Student Advisory Board for Curriculum Committee. In addition, our Counseling team conducts an ongoing review of mental health/school counseling practices with a trauma-informed lens; they also track utilization of counseling services by students to identify trends and determine if we are being equitable in delivery of services.

Recruitment, Retention and Support

Initiative	Status as of June 2021
Expand our recruitment efforts to reach a more diverse and inclusive pool of applicants.	Ongoing; we continue working with recruitment firms such as Handshake, Nemnet and add Pipeline Collaborative to proactively seek out diverse candidates and attending job fairs that specifically focus on diverse candidates.
Support new faculty and staff	Ongoing and in the works; we have established GFS 101, an infrastructure for the support of new faculty cohorts that provides community building, support and guidance that includes providing each new GFS employee with a mentor.
Work to retain faculty and staff of color	Ongoing and in the works; we are planning to reintroduce a Faculty and Staff of Color Affinity Group and implement an exit interview process for all faculty and staff of color.

Communications and Updates about DEI Work at GFS

Reflecting on DEI Efforts at GFS (June 14, 2021)

Support for our Jewish students and community members (May 25, 2021)

Support for our students (April 20, 2021)

Addressing recent Anti-Asian violence in the US (Mar 20, 2021)

Updates on DEI work (Mar 11, 2021)

Announcing the GFS Black Alumnae Association (Nov 20, 2020)

November 20, 2020

Announcing the GFS Black Alumnae Association

GFS is excited to introduce the GFS Black Alumnae Association (BAA), led by Tiane Hill ’03! As an extension of our Alumnae Board, the GFS Black Alumnae Association will give voice to Black alumnae perspectives and work to provide support, events and programs to all members of the GFS community.

The group's mission statement reads: The Black Alumnae Association (BAA) at Garrison Forest School is an active network of alumnae from the African diaspora who wish to meet the needs of and advance the interests of both alumnae and current students. The body of the association will serve as a resource for current students through mentorship. The BAA will encourage a more inclusive environment by mobilizing the Garrison Forest community to prepare future leaders for the world beyond the School’s campus. The association will plan and implement culturally concordant, timely programs and events that meet the personal and professional development needs of minority students and alumnae. The association will serve as an advisory group to the school’s Alumnae Board by amplifying Black Alumnae perspectives to provide proactive, higher quality support, events, and programs to all members of the broader Garrison Forest School Community.

To learn more, click here or email GFSBAA@gfs.org.

Tone-setting to start the school year (Oct 1, 2020)

October 1, 2020

Tone Setting to Start the School Year

One of the key take-aways from listening sessions and other input the DEI Advisory Board received across all constituent groups was the need for school-wide trainings and professional development in courageous conversations, cultural competency and other areas that will further the school's commitment to building an antiracist community. This is vital in laying the foundation to ensure our students are able to respectfully engage at all levels and to create a shared language around DEI work.

As one of its first initiatives, the DEI Advisory Board determined that tone-setting prior to the beginning of the school year was important to ensure work in this area could begin immediately. To facilitate these sessions, GFS partnered with the same professional psychologists, Myque Harris and Bryanna Campbell, who led the alumnae and parent listening sessions. We expect to work with Myque and Bryanna throughout the school year as we build on these discussions.

About our facilitators:

To date, we have facilitated a training session with all GFS faculty and staff, as well as age-appropriate, separate sessions for Lower School, Middle School and Upper School students. Additional sessions, including opportunities for parents to engage, will be scheduled soon.

An update on diversity, equity and inclusion work at GFS (Aug 27, 2020)

Listening Session Overview (Aug 25, 2020)

August 25, 2020

Listening Session Overview

Throughout July, GFS held 32 listening sessions for members of our community, including faculty and staff, Middle and Upper School students, parents and alumnae. The goals of these sessions were to hear directly from our entire community, guide the work of the DEI Advisory Board and the school as a whole going forward and give our community the opportunity to share their experiences. Faculty and staff and student sessions were led by members of the DEI Advisory Board; for parent and alumnae sessions, we used professional, experienced facilitators The facilitators who will be moderating these listening sessions are licensed, practicing psychotherapists who have experience working with young women and teens and a focus on racial justice and equality. We plan to continue engaging with these facilitators for training and additional listening sessions throughout the year.

In addition to providing summaries and recordings of each session, facilitators provided an overview of suggested next steps based on the themes identified throughout the sessions. The DEI Advisory Board reviewed all content and used it to guide and refine their areas of focus moving forward. The broad categories of their suggestions are:

Accessibility: Ensuring equal access across all student and parent groups to events and support systems.
Accountability: Creating transparent systems of accountability for all community members who engage in inappropriate or hurtful speech or behavior and uphold school values for all
Alumnae Involvement: Creating meaningful engagement opportunities for alumnae, particularly alumnae of color
Curriculum: Review and revise curriculum to meet the school's DEI goals and vision
Connection: Be intentional about how and when students connect, especially around courageous conversations
Parent Involvement: Create opportunities for parents to engage in DEI work and connect for meaningful dialogue
Representation: Increase or enhance recruiting efforts for faculty and staff that represent racial/ethnic diversity as well as diversity in gender, disability and religion
Retention: Create systems and groups designed to support faculty and staff
Community Involvement: Examine and evaluate service opportunities and partnerships with local communities
Transparency: Aim to be honest and transparent in hiring processes and overall communications around policies and procedures
Trainings and Professional Development: Implement school-wide and age-appropriate training around courageous conversations, cultural competency and other areas that will further the school's commitment to building an antiracist community

Update on the DEI Advisory board (July 18, 2020)

Building a better community for GFS (Jun 13, 2020)

Lessons learned and a long road to travel (Jun 3, 2020)

A message to GFS families (May 29, 2020)

Goals of the DEI Advisory Board

Goals of the DEI Advisory Board

The goals and focus of the Advisory Board will continue to evolve as their work gets underway. At the outset, the group was charged with the following goals:

To create opportunities for GFS community members to share their experiences with us through listening sessions and other formats to be determined by the group.
Through listening sessions and feedback, determine what gaps and issues persist on our campus and within our community and assess our vision for diversity, equity and inclusion.
Recommend both immediate and long-term action steps to address inequities and improve the experience of black students and other minorities on our campus.
Provide input on curricular, policy and/or programmatic changes that need to be implemented.
Report out to our community with updates and progress on a regular basis, providing transparency throughout this process

DEI Resources for Parents and Students

Along with the specific initiatives outlined above, the Office of Community Life and Inclusion will support students, parents and faculty and staff by providing resources to help facilitate courageous conversations and develop age-appropriate ways to engage students in these efforts. Similar resources have been provided to our faculty and staff.

Resources for Parents

31 Children's books to support conversations on race, racism and resistance

100 Race-conscious things you can say to your child to advance racial justice

We Really Need White People to Talk to Their Kids about Racism

Talking to Kids About Racial Violence

Supporting Kids of Color In the Wake of Racialized Violence

How To Talk To Kids About Race: An Age by Age Guide

Resources for Middle and Upper School Students

Ten Ways To Fight Hate

10 Lessons for Talking About Race, Racism and Racial Injustice

Youth In The Front

How I Stopped Worrying and Learned To Talk About Race

8 Great Docs On Women Activists

Advisory Board Members

Chris Hughes (co-chair), Head of School
Carolyn Lewis (co-chair), Director of Community Life and Inclusion
Crystal Lee Alston '96, GFS Board of Trustee Member
Lauren Misera Anderson '02, Middle School Dean of Students
Jamie Bailey, Directory of Early Childhood Education
Lauren Baylor, Upper School Dean of Students
Jodi Blackburn, Director of Residential Life
Shondra Cowling, Director of Counseling
Meisha Dockett, Human Resources Manager
Pamela Dorman, Middle School Counselor
Vanessa Griffin, Executive Assistant to the Head of School
Gail Hutton, Head of the Lower School
Reema Khanchandani, Head of the Upper School
Tasha Landis, Associate Director of Admission
Heather Malone-Wolf, Director of Dance
Kristen Miller, Upper School English Teacher and Faculty Liaison to the Board of Trustees
Jessy Morgan, Athletic Director
Katherine Hayes, Director of Constituent Outreach
Shelly Placek, Director of Communications and Marketing
Shannon Schmidt, Head of the Middle School
Bryna Stoute, Preschool Teacher
Aminah Wells, Upper School Counselor