THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN JULY 2020 ON THE INDEPENDENT CURRICULUM BLOG. (Content lost in a hosting transfer, alas.)
In this moment the world is clamoring for independent schools to be held, and to hold themselves, accountable to a higher standard, and we must examine ourselves and our institutions rigorously in response, refocusing our priorities and our practices as necessary. In particular, the privileges granted our schools by regulatory bodies have been systematically advantageous to our sustainability as an industry, and in this time of pandemic crisis and national reflection on racism and racialized violence, this urgency is greater than ever. If our schools are to be ethically sustainable, we as educators have an obligation and a moral responsibility to stand and work for justice and equity in our communities and in every aspect of the lives of our students—to whom and to whose world, let us not forget, we make extravagant promises in our missions.
Some years back the National Association of Independent Schools proposed areas of school sustainability, “domains” for attention and development. These included demographic, programmatic, financial, environmental, and global sustainability, whose appellations speak for themselves. As priorities, these spoke to the post-Great Recession moment, pertaining as they do to operational and curricular elements that lie at the heart of whether an individual school is doing all it can to ensure that it will be around, serving its students and community well, in years to come.
But in our moment there is yet another urgent priority, a priority that many have seen as urgent for decades but for which there has not been a single defining word or phrase. I want here to name this priority: The Commonweal.
Commonweal is a rather fussy but generous old word that refers to the “common good,” especially the notion of sharing and extending that good, and for the purposes of the independent school community in this moment and into the future I would propose that it be the umbrella covering many important elements relating to every aspect of a school’s stance and operational and programmatic approaches to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice. A school that neglects any of these areas or goes no further than to give them lip service is flirting with unsustainability every bit as flagrantly as a school that allows its finances to slip out of control or its campus to move farther from and not closer to carbon neutrality.
For the sake of brevity I’ll list some elements of The Commonweal in bullet points, but for each both general definitions and indicators of effective stewardship and implementation should be clear. In a nutshell, The Commonweal includes the way a school proceeds in all areas related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging—specifically how it operates, engages, and responds in these areas:
- Admission and retention practices
- Financial aid and its allocation
- Access to services of support and care for students and staff in all relevant areas of their lives
- Hiring, retention, and promotion practices
- Board recruitment and leadership development
- Campus accessibility
- Campus security
- A culture focused on balanced, healthy living for all members
- Place and space for student voice and for the expression of multiple perspectives and experiences
- Equitable access to learning and co-curricular programs and opportunities
- Professional training related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging for faculty and staff
- Ongoing authentic conversations and education related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging for students and families
- Inclusion in the learning program of such concepts as critical analysis, civic engagement, and advocacy
- Place and space for allowing discussion of current issues and real-life problems across the curriculum, with faculty trained and permitted to respond to these
- School outreach in multiple areas to underserved or underrepresented communities
- Institutional and administrative responsiveness to episodes or occurrences that represent bias or inequity
- Authentic place-based learning that acknowledges historical and current inequities and areas for amelioration, engagement, and improvement
- Regular review of operational practices in all operational areas to identify areas of systemic bias and promote equity
- Regular review of student grading, assessment, and student recognition practices to identity areas of systemic bias and to promote equity
- Regular review of academic program to identify areas of bias and to identify areas for improvement in all commonweal categories
- Public presentation of the school and its brand to accurately represent the nature and makeup of its community and culture
- Regular review of student activities, co-curricular programming, discipline system, handbooks, etc. to promote equity and inclusion
- Regular review of vendors, vendor contracts, and operational partnerships to promote equity, fair play, and diversity and inclusion
- Service learning that focuses on symmetrical relationships with partners and providers
Better minds than mine will be come up with more areas that abide under The Commonweal umbrella, but this is a start.
Now is the time to consider and embrace The Commonweal. Schools’ histories are past, but their futures have already begun, and these futures are not just our own but those of our communities and above all our students. By energetically and sincerely serving our communities and our students in the spirit of The Commonweal, we can yet better serve our society and our world.