Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Harker: What it Means, Where it’s Headed

This story originally appeared in the fall/winter 2021 issue of Harker Magazine. The original version of this story is published on issuu.

The impact of the pandemic and the political and social upheavals of the past two yearshave prompted reflection and action by individuals and institutions alike. Harker is no exception, and the entire community has been involved in various ways in Harker’s self-reflection, assessment, and commitment to continue being the best school it can be for the students and the world.

An important component of this reflection was partnering with the National Association of Independent Schools in spring 2021 to conduct an “Assessment of Inclusivity and Multiculturalism (AIM)” to gauge and improve the inclusiveness of our school community for all members. Greg Lawson, then assistant head of school for student affairs, spearheaded the survey with the help of a faculty and staff committee of seven. The survey was offered in English, Spanish and Chinese to students, parents, faculty, staff and alumni. “It was important to get feedback from all our constituents to have the best data possible,” Lawson noted. “We were very pleased with the level of participation and extremely grateful for the valuable feedback our community took the time to share with us.” The results were analyzed by the administration and shared with the community. According to Brian Yager, head of school, the survey results indicated two key areas of suggested growth: 1. for multiculturalism to be integrated more intentionally into the curriculum; 2. for faculty and administrators to continue enhancing our capacity to bring out the best in our students in working with, understanding and embracing their roles as citizens of a diverse school and world. “While Harker has considered each of these areas a priority for many years, we are exploring further avenues to achieve success in these areas,” he said.

The survey feedback revealed high marks for the school’s respect for diversity shown by students, administrators, faculty and staff, and confidence in the school’s commitment to fostering an environment “where all members … feel included and affirmed.” Yager found this heartening but asserted that this work is never done. “Being an inclusive and safe space for students and staff alike will always continue to be a top priority for the school.”

Inclusive Curriculum and Programs
While Harker evaluates the curriculum routinely to ensure it meets the needs of students in an ever-changing landscape, the events of the past 18 months led the school to a deeper analysis. This included reviewing how we teach the history and works of marginalized people, particularly in the English and history curriculum. “The works we have taught to students have evolved over time,” explained Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs. “Teachers in our English departments have also taken time to review the titles and works we teach; while we are making some title changes, we are also looking at how we are teaching all of the works. Teachers are discussing as a department how to best leverage the opportunities we do have in each work to further our DEI mission and understandings.”

At the lower school, diversity co-coordinators Kathy Clark, campus librarian, and Andi Bo, grade 3 English teacher, have provided resources to teachers on a variety of topics, which are then integrated into classroom instruction.

“I was an adult before I saw myself reflected in a book,” said Clark, who is Chinese-American. “Knowing that and understanding that dynamic, we need to reflect who our kids are, so finding materials that are of their culture, characters that reflect who they are and give other people insight into who they are – that’s always been very important to me.” Clark and Bo also have worked with the administration to expand perspectives in areas such as the English curriculum. “We’re trying to freshen up the curriculum and make sure there is enhanced diversity within that,” said Clark.

Other departments, such as history, have made similar inroads. “Our teachers are consciously ensuring that diversity, equity and inclusion are finding a place in the classrooms,” said history chair Mark Janda, who also serves on the school’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee. “It’s not just happening by accident. There is a conscious effort to make sure that the curriculum reflects all our students.” American history classes, as an example, have increased their survey of the women’s liberation and LGBTQ+ rights movements. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s and its links to the Black Lives Matter movement has also become a staple in required U.S. history courses. Classes on the Holocaust, social justice and social psychology also have been added to the curriculum.

The middle school began holding a series of assemblies called “Windows and Mirrors” last year. “We wanted to provide students a window through which to see cultures other than their own, and a mirror for those who belong to those cultures,” explained Patricia Lai Burrows, assistant middle school division head. The first of these assemblies was held in September 2020, during which Andy Lulka spoke via Zoom on the experiences of living in Jewish communities in Mexico and Canada. Other assemblies welcomed poet Jonathan Rodriguez, Hawaiian cultural camp director Kawika Shook, Kwanzaa storyteller Diane Ferlatte, and director/activist Gabrielle Gorman. “It’s been a meaningful and eye-opening series that has led to a deeper understanding of life experiences different from our own,” Burrows added.

Additionally, in an effort coordinated by our newly formed Student Diversity Committee, representatives from the Muwekma Ohlone tribe visited the upper school campus in May for the unveiling of a monument that signified Harker’s formal recognition of the land it rests on as the ancestral home of the Thámien Ohlone-speaking people, the Muwekma Ohlone’s direct ancestors. Additional land acknowledgement assemblies were held on Harker’s middle and lower school campuses in October. Gargano noted, “Our history department chairs are creating a scope and sequence of how and when we teach about the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, as well, to ensure a well-articulated progression of topics and discussions as it relates to this community.”

Diversity on Campus
The AIM survey recommendation to diversify faculty and administrators at Harker is one the school will continue to take to heart. “We search nationwide for the best teaching candidates for each position at Harker,” said Gargano. “We also work to ensure that each new teacher enhances and enriches our community, and we recognize that having a diverse teaching body contributes to that.”

Providing the Harker experience to as broad a group of students as possible has been a priority for the school for years, according to Danielle Holquin, K-12 admission director. “In addition to various outreach efforts over the years, the new Alumni Scholarship Endowment funded by Andy Fang ’10 bolsters need-based financial aid to students who qualify for admission,” she said. “Our goal is always to bring the best group of learners to our school given our mission and our program,” added Yager. “We believe there are diverse students out there who would benefit from our program – and bring benefit to it – and our goal continues to be to find them.”

Diversity Training and Awareness
Harker has had a long history of diversity education, particularly in faculty training. The annual faculty retreat, organized by Gargano, has had diversity education as a key component as far back as 2012, when Jayasri Ghosh spoke on the ways culture affects interactions between teachers and students. Other initiatives include the addition of DEI-related works into the faculty summer reading lists, started in 2014; and since 2017 Harker has hosted a yearly event featuring Rodney Glasgow, Ed.D., a noted speaker and facilitator on DEI issues and head of school at Sandy Spring Friends School in Sandy Spring, Md. “We understand the import of discussing these topics,” said Gargano. “Each day as a faculty we have a great impact on the types of adults and future citizens our students become. We do not take this responsibility lightly.”

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee
The school’s DEI Committee was formed in 2013 with just under a dozen members. It has now grown to 70 faculty and staff who represent all divisions and support the DEI coordinators, who are Janda, Rebecca Williams, Tyeshia Brown and Karriem Stinson, and the division leadership teams of Bo and Clark (lower school); Bernie Morrissey and Abigail Joseph (middle school); and Susanne Salhab and Eric Johnson (upper school). DEI Committee members have regularly attended the National Association of Independent Schools’ People of Color Conference (PoCC) to gather and share ideas about DEI work and ways that schools can implement them. Joseph, the middle school learning, innovation and design director, remembered being the only faculty member to attend PoCC in 2011, her first year at Harker. The following year, she was joined by Burrows, Janda and middle school English department chair Arabelle Chow, who all traveled to Washington, D.C., for the conference. “That outing to D.C. sparked interest in finding ways to help the school embrace and grapple with the challenging work of bringing DEI into the forefront of the work that we do,” said Joseph. Now, six students and between six and 10 faculty and staff attend the conference each year. Stinson, the lower and middle school’s assistant athletic director and a DEI coordinator, has attended PoCC since 2014. “It’s so powerful to see people that look like you and that are in the same situation as you,” he said.

Brown, assistant to the assistant head of school for student affairs and one of the DEI coordinators, has also attended. “My life is diversity work, being a Black person myself,” she said. “My kids attend Harker and helping the school understand the importance of cultural competence, cultural humility is important to me.”

Student Organizations
Following the mass unrest and protests that erupted after the murder of George Floyd, an upper school Student Diversity Coalition (SDC) was founded in fall 2020. Co-founders Uma Iyer, grade 12, and Natasha Yen ’21 were inspired to form the coalition after Harker hosted a group of students to attend the 2019 Student Diversity Leadership Conference, an annual nationwide conference in which students from independent schools learn how to discuss social justice topics with their peers and educators and find ways to ensure their schools are welcoming and safe for marginalized groups.

The founding of the SDC also led to the founding of affinity groups, which the DEI Committee had been building up to foryears. Recently founded affinity groups such as the Black Student Union (BSU) and Latinx Student Union provide spaces for people belonging to those groups to meet and discuss topics related to their everyday experiences or just be their authentic selves. “[The BSU] has been a good space for us to just say what we’re feeling and get advice on anything if we need help,” said SDC officer Dina Ande, grade 10. The events of 2020, she said, were a major factor in her decision to be more active in combating racism in her communities. “I finally realized that it’s important that we discuss it, and I had these emotions built up that I didn’t really want to let out … but having the opportunity to let it out felt really nice.” Last year, the BSU and SDC co-organized an online event with University of Georgia professor Bettina Love, who holds a doctorate in educational policy studies and spoke on Black history and building a new society free of oppression.

One initiative of the DEI Committee has been Challenge Day, an optional all-day program where participants are led through activities designed to encourage peer support. The Challenge Day staff led the first one at Harker in February 2020 just before the pandemic, and the SDC has now taken the lead on this annual offering, holding the most recent one in September. This year the students, staff and faculty participating became peers in this social-emotional learning program, which included ice- breaking activities that involved singing, dancing, locking arms and – in a show of collective affection that had become rare during the COVID-19 pandemic – hugging. “Challenge Day inherently furthers diversity, equity and inclusivity initiatives because the program is designed to create an inclusive space for high school students and faculty,” said Iyer. “The program addressed deep topics such as racism, homophobia, ableism, hate and mental health, which not only bring awareness to these topics, but also starts conversations.”

Harker’s Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA) is one of the school’s most enduring advocacy groups, founded more than 20 years ago. It has been a driving force behind many efforts to benefit the school’s LGBTQ+ community, including the introduction of gender-neutral restrooms and the practice of stating one’s pronouns. In 2019, middle school students founded their own GSA, and one of its founding members, junior Aastha Mangla, is now co-president of the upper school GSA, along with junior Aniket Singh. The GSA continues to be a key resource for LGBTQ+ students, particularly those new to Harker. “When I came here, it was a nice way to learn all the LGBTQ+ tips and tricks at Harker,” said one member of the LGBTQ+ student community, who preferred not to be named. “Like where all the best gender-neutral restrooms are, how to talk with teachers about pronouns and that kind of thing.”

They also continue to regularly reach out to the greater community on topics relevant to LGBTQ+ students, including a popular panel of upper school students who speak at other campuses. “We found that [middle school students] learn a lot through that, and that has been a really meaningful experience,” said Singh.

Both Singh and Mangla agreed that one significant area of improvement has been the practice of making sure teachers use students’ proper pronouns, instituted recently at the behest of Harker administrators. “When I was a freshman, I didn’t see a lot of teachers give that survey asking for pronouns and names and whether you wanted your pronouns to be used in front of parents, teachers, faculty, etc.,” said Mangla. “But this year all my teachers asked for pronouns, which I find really heartening. I’m honestly really proud of the direction the community’s going in, and I think we’ve made lots of improvement.

Focusing on the Future
According to Yager, the hiring of a diversity director is in the works, along with the continuation of the existing diversity leadership and committees at each campus. “We are grateful for the dedication of our DEI leadership and the many hands that have gotten us this far,” said Yager. “l look forward to having a director in place to coordinate our efforts and help us deepen our impact.” Harker’s DEI Committee has been compiling suggestions on this the new position, which will hopefully be filled by the start of the 2022-23 school year. “We’ve done a lot of research and pulled from other director descriptions from other schools in our area and from across the country,” said Brown.

Though Harker’s DEI work may never truly be complete, those directly involved with the work have expressed happiness with the progress made so far. Williams, a middle school English teacher and DEI coordinator, is encouraged by the buy-in for DEI initiatives demonstrated by faculty and administration. “There have been some major steps over the last couple of years that really indicate Harker standing behind this vision of creating a school that is equitable and inclusive and diverse,” she said. Another indication is the growth of Harker’s DEI Committee. “There are two leaders on each campus now,” said Stinson. “There are things now that we didn’t have two years ago. That happened really fast. It’s really cool to see that.”

July 3, 2022Tags: DEI, Harker Magazine