Diversity at Bertschi School
Definition:
At Bertschi School, we honor and support the unique contributions to our society made by people of all ethnic, economic, religious, racial backgrounds, physical abilities, learning styles and sexual orientations. We strive to promote inclusiveness in all school areas, including school programs, community activities and recruitment of students, faculty, staff, and Board. We are actively committed to increasing diversity in our school community to reflect the region in which we live.
Bertschi’s longstanding commitment to global education is rooted in the belief that children benefit from an environment where diversity is embraced on all levels. Diverse cultures are studied through year-long, project-based studies to explore origins of families, aspects of community, history and celebrations. The curriculum emphasizes diversity to broaden perspectives and encourages children to become active community members at Bertschi and beyond.
At Bertschi, children, educators and families embrace the principles of mutual respect, tolerance and compassion everyday. Children learn by example and through direct experience of the impact they have on their community, fostering positive self-esteem, security, and reliance. Bertschi students are prepared to actively engage in their future as life-long learners.
Experience Book Project 2010:
Hear ye, hear ye: announcing the first Experience Book Project (EBP) for the Bertschi School community!
The Diversity Committee has chosen the book, Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything In It by Sundee Frazier, as part of our efforts to focus on race this year. It is a chapter book written by a local author who is biracial herself. The book is about a 10 year old biracial boy who deals with multiple issues around race, including the mystery of why his maternal grandfather is not a part of his life. This book gives us all the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations with our children and each other about race, skin color, and identity. As the recent Newsweek article by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman pointed out, explicit conversations about race rather than general statements of “we must respect everyone” are important for children’s developing racial awareness and attitudes. The Diversity Committee hopes that Bertschi families will read the book together and engage in discussions that will help to move our entire community forward with regard to understanding racial issues and social justice.
A copy of each book was placed in each classroom on Nov. 6, 2009, with a list of suggested discussion questions. Participation in the project is entirely voluntary. The Committee encourages parents to read ahead to determine what aspects of the book they would like to discuss with their children. Since one copy is to be circulated amongst the families of each class, it is important that books are checked out and returned in a timely fashion. Extra copies are available through the Bertschi Library and families can check their public libraries or local bookstores to purchase their own copy ($6.50 for paperback).
The Committee has also invited the author, Sundee Frazier, to speak at a culminating celebration of our Experience Book Project on Friday, March 19th from 6:30-7:30 p.m. This will be in collaboration with The Bite Of Bertschi. Save the date and read the book before then!
Diversity Events:
Affinity Groups:
Definition: To quote NAIS, “The term affinity group is used as a bringing together of people who have something important in common, e.g. race, gender, profession, or special interests. Any significant historical movement or everyday social interaction could
probably be traced to the actions of people who share a common experience and passion.”
Affinity groups allow for the following: building community, identifying issues, sharing successes, promoting ideas for action and preparing for deep and honest cross-cultural dialogue with other affinity groups. Participation in an affinity group also provides opportunities for affirmation and celebration. A large number of diversity initiatives in independent schools across the country originated out of conversations in these groups.
Our main vision for creating affinity groups is to provide a safe space for all participants to identify important issues and common concerns through dialogue, using our voices to bring about affirmation, fellowship, connections, and empowerment: to come together for sharing and listening and offering support towards greater understanding.
Affinity groups would be informal gatherings on campus, in homes, a coffeehouse, etc. Participants would self identify. So far we have affinity groups for parents of children with allergies, families of color, and adoptive families. We hope that as we move forward that families will identify affinity groups that they feel are needed.
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