Gnu Stories Podcast | Episode 3: Where Do We Go From Here? The SSFS Diversity Audit One Year Later

LISTEN:  As we near the year mark of the SSFS Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Audit publication, hear from Rodney Glasgow (former Head of School), David Hickson (Assistant Head of School), Nicole Lee (Interim Director of DEI), Candice Ashton, (Clerk of the All-School Diversity Committee) and Julie Méndez, (Co-Clerk of the Audit Oversight Committee) about where we've been and where we're going to ensure the school becomes a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive place.

Read a transcript of the discussion below:

Rodney Glasgow (Head of SSFS): Welcome, everybody. It's good to be here especially but this particular group of folks and today's topic is around diversity, equity, and inclusion at Sandy Spring Friends School. And the group we've called here--David Hickson, our Assistant Head of School, Candace Ashton Clerk of All-School Diversity Committee, Julie Méndez, the Co-Clerk of our Audit Oversight Committee, and Nicole Lee, our, Interim Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. And in those four roles, you foUr folks are really huge puzzle pieces in moving the School forward on strategic initiatives around the DEI...  A word that goes around all the time [at SSFS] is the 'audit': --"What did the audit say," "The audit [is telling us this..."

For folks who are just coming in, what was this diversity audit? And how did the school end up deciding, at that time, this is what we needed to do to move the ball forward?

David Hickson (Assistant Head of School): So a couple of years ago, among conversations between... the Board of Trustees and the Head of School, and administration, we were looking at.. how do we get a better handle on where we are as a school in terms of our diversity efforts. The School had done an assessment several years ago... [in] 2012. And, at that time, we had said, we wanted to follow up on that again and do a new assessment in a couple of years. And it didn't happen as quickly as people thought... but there was a desire to do this. And I think some voices within the community were saying, "what are we doing about diversity, equity, and inclusion, and how are we assessing our success with our efforts?" And so that led to a formal decision to do a diversity audit.

The School looked at a couple of different models for doing that, and decided pretty quickly we wanted to bring in an outside consultant in order to help guide us through that and so we hired an outside consultant who turned out to be Rodney Glasgow, to help us with that-- Glasgow group-- not just Rodney, but Rodney and people through the Glasgow Group to help walk us through an audit. They worked with us to design the audit and to implement it; to be the outside voices to come into the community and listen to the voices in the community to get...an accurate read on what people were saying and feeling and seeing. That resulted in a report. The report included a bunch of recommendations for the School. [SSFS] essentially took all of the recommendations from the report, and turn those into the action plan items. And, I think there were 21 of them originally, and through discussions in our community saying, "does this look complete?" we expanded that list that now includes 26 items on that plan. And so when people talk about the action plan, it's directly from the recommendations from the audit.

Julie Méndez (Co-Clerk of Audit Oversight Committee): To jump back a little bit into the beginning process, and how the audit first came to be... So I was fortunate to be in conversations early on about DEI and Sandy Spring Friends School with former Head of school, Tom Gibian, David Hickson, and former Head of Lower School, Brenda Crawley. And through these conversations, we talked a lot around how will the School address these issues, and part of the conversation was around, "how we do fix it?" But, I think one of the things that we recognize is that we didn't know what we were trying to fix. We needed to take some time to really assess, "what are the challenges that we face? And how do we work to overcome them in ways that make sense in ways that actually create lasting change."

In addition to understanding that we needed to define the issue before we could tackle it, we also recognize that we were a small group and that if this was going to truly work, we needed to have other voices in the community be a part of this process and deciding how best to move the process along. And simultaneously, as we were looking to find a consultant to work with to do the audit process, we were also seeking to find community members who could be a part of the process and that includes students, parents, alumni, board members, faculty, and staff from all divisions and departments. That was a process we went through with the Glasgow Group. And...

Julie: I actually want to bring it back to you, Rodney. Interestingly enough.. as David mentioned, you are part of the side of the process as a consultant to the Glasgow Group, and you were charged with leading the audit process. So can you talk a little bit about that experience?

Rodney: Yes, it was memorable and fateful. [laugh] I would say both of those things. You know, what I loved about the audit that we did with Sandy Springs Friends, was there was student representation on the audit committee. And so it spoke right there to what I have come to know even deeper is just the role and relevance of student voice to everything that we do. There was intentionality about... we wanted to look at every constituency and so every single alum, for whom we had contact info, got an invitation to be part of the audit... Every trustee all employees, every middle and upper school student, and so we really got a 360 snapshot of the school through that.

And it was refreshing to also watch the group, I think that was the Audit Steering Committee, but that group of folks that came together really work through, "what do we want to know about the school?" And the other piece was the resonance that happened when the results came back. And people sat with that. I think I saw two things. I saw a group of people who were really surprised at some of the things that came through the audit, and a group of people who were like, "..and we need to get to work on fixing this." Right? But there was definitely a moment of shock.

And I think that is not unique to Sandy Spring Friends... It's like a fish in the water, you're swimming in the water. And so you can't really test the pH the same way someone else can. And so I think it highlighted some things that the School really needed to look at, and that the School really did and continues to look at. And on that piece, probably the conversation that we have not had yet is, "What is really resonating right now from that audit?" You know, that was the audit was delivered a year ago.

Rodney: And so as we look at a year later, what's what are we still sitting but from this audit that's compelling us to continue to work? Because I will tell folks, I mean, the audit takes place at every meeting, everyone goes back to that data and what that data said about school culture in practice, but what's still resonating?

Candice (Clerk of the Audit Oversight Committee): For me, looking at the results of the audit, the thing that resonated most was sort of the commonality of the experience across racial or ethnic lines, right seem to be a sense amongst the non-white community of some otherization, a sense of ways in which you weren't able to fully show up as your whole self. And whether that was through discipline--which has been a big one, the sort of day to day classroom discipline--or reflections of yourself or your child in the faculty or in the curriculum. For me, it was an eye-opener. You know, I'm moving deeply immersed in the workings of the Upper School Black community. ...I hear about those things most often. But for me, I was a little bit taken aback about the commonality of the experience. But also, [it] let me know that we needed to invest in these changes. You know, that sort of, "I'm not crazy. It's not just me, and now we need to do something about it."

Rodney: Yeah, some of those major findings from the audit...inequity in the discipline process, inequity sometimes in the delivery of resources for student needs, especially around financial pieces, looking at the boarding program and how we take even better care of our international students and their needs and recognize those as different from the domestic population, and there was some great.. concrete pieces to that and Nicole is sort of a man-or WO-manifestation of that. In that, probably recommendation number one was the creation of a position Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that could help to plow the way to some of these initiatives.

Rodney: And so, Nicole is with us in an interim capacity as another sort of plowing the way for our permanent director...Nicole, you sat this summer with alums, parents, current students, faculty, and you've also read the audit. And so as you're looking at that audit, and hearing the current voices of Sandy Spring Friends School, what's resonating with you about where we are in this work?

Nicole (Interim Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion): Well, a couple of things. I was really impressed. As someone who works in diversity, equity, and inclusion, I see a lot of "audits." And this particular audit was so thorough, very well done, the voices of all different constituencies were brought to bear. And, that's one of the things that impressed me about Sandy Spring Friends School, is this willingness to read it and process it--even with the shock--to accept that this is something that we have to prioritize and continue to prioritize. There are some schools that they get information back, and they have that shock, and they stick in the shock for a long time. And not a lot changes. And so, for me, I found that much of what was in the audit was also echoed in what we saw on social media this summer, what we heard from alum, what we heard from students, concerns with parents, but I will say that the tone was really hopeful. It was critical, but there was also hope, and that hope doesn't lie with one person. It really lies in an understanding that the School is willing to invest the resources to invest the time in the change.

And so while so much of these things that the audit talks about are big issues --discipline is a huge issue--this is not just a Sandy Spring Friend School issue. Discipline, we know, as it relates to racial inequity is the biggest issue in education right now. ..And so we are not immune from it, but also, we are making some of the most important steps to change that, which is we're aware of what's happening. We also, now the audit, have an analysis. We continue to ask questions. But the thing that really resonates with me, and I know from working with this team for a bit, we are committed to centering the voices that have not been heard in this process before. And we will spend the time. And even stretch ourselves personally, to really be able to hear what is being said. And I think that that is going to make in the long run, all the difference.

Rodney: Such an important point, because the audit had that survey that went out to so many, and then also around the focus groups that pulled specific groups together. Because a lot of times when you do a general survey, marginalized voices can get even more marginalized because they don't have the numbers for their data to resonate. So the commitment of the school to do [these focus groups --we must have done 12 or 13 different focus groups--also augment the results of the audit. And so you're right. There's a richness and a depth to the experience of it. 

Rodney: Julie, I'm looking at you, because I'm thinking about as Co-Clerk of the Audit Oversight Committee, you're looking all the time at the findings of the audit and the School's progress on those findings. What would you say were the top findings, and what would you say are the ones the School is... actively working on or have our eyes on right now?

Julie: So as a community, Sandy Spring Friends School spent a lot of time trying to prioritize the action items with the intent of making sure that...you know, David mentioned we had 21 action items to start and then ended up with 26. And the reason that that came to be was because once the audit was published, we knew that our work wasn't done and we knew that as the Audit Steering Committee and then the Audit Oversight Committee, that we needed to go into the community and not only share the findings of the audit, but listen to see if the action items identified still resonated with the community, what priority they wanted to give those particular action items, and if there was anything still left to add. And we walked away with a clear sense of some of the top pieces... Now, this was all in a pre-COVID world. And so a lot of what we had anticipated on prioritizing shifted from that, as well as a number of changes in the School, but I think our first priority and our first realization was that we didn't have a Nicole, we didn't have a Director of DEI. And while we were all committed to the work, there was no one steering the ship, and that poses some challenges when you're trying to get it to be a priority for everyone. It's [a question of] who's bringing the focus back into this work?

And I think having Nicole and having both the All-School Diversity Committee, as well as the Audit Oversight Committee working together, we'll help the whole community focus on the action items. And we'll keep those working on addressing the action items accountable. It also means that those who are working on each action item will receive the support they need to be successful in addressing both the issues found in the audit and that have been brought to light since the audit. I would say another piece is around what Candice was saying earlier, around voices being heard and feeling like... "not only ...can [I] stand in the knowledge that what I said is a true experience, but I know that because the story that I'm sharing is reflected in other people's stories." ...And, so it's finding ways to continue to provide opportunities for people to share their stories so that as these action items bubbled to the top, whether it be around discipline or anything else, we can go, "Okay, is this still resonating with the community? Is this the right solution? It's kind of that constant testing of here's what I hear. Here's what we see in the action items, but let me test to see if this is the right response to that issue that's being brought forth."

Candice: I think, too one of the... I don't know if this is necessarily an unintended outcome, as much as maybe it was unexpected for me, is what I do hear more of, and I think Nicole, you might see this as well, is that students and faculty [are] feeling more empowered by the audit, and the way in which the School is taking the results seriously and making movement on the results. So you know, even amongst the marginalized communities, there are always kids who are out front. And then there are kids who are sort of suffering in silence, right? And there is a willingness from those quieter voices, to speak up in ways that they maybe wouldn't have or were afraid to in the past. So they're feeling heard, and they're feeling like we care as a community. And so they're more willing to be courageous and honest about their experiences.

Rodney: That it's the one of the big parts of the audit was around not just the giving out of discipline, but but creating a culture where more students felt empowered to come forward and say this is what's happening, and can we do something about it? And so I love what you're saying is just knowing that the School was interested in hearing about it has empowered folks. And now we're kind of in the watch-and-see, right? Because now they told us, and it's..."what are you gonna do with what I told you say?" And I think we saw a lot of that with the Blackat... Instagram. And you know, some of those folks who were saying, "how is it going to be different for the next generation of alums than it was for me?" And I want to talk a minute about that. Because I know that when you're dealing with alums, you're dealing with folks from 1961, all the way forward, right?

Rodney: And so for some folks who've been disconnected from the School for a while, the fact that we were doing Affinity Groups, so holding "Alum of Color" discussion, there was a bit of a discomfort --and I know Candice, you're integral with Nicole and others in this affinity group work at Sandy Spring Friends School--I wonder if you'll speak to the value of affinity groups and why we do them. Because I suppose if you look at them, you would think, "this feels like segregation. It feels antithetical to this inclusivity that we're trying to have."

Candice:...I've been involved in both the Black Student affinity groups, since I got here. And then also, as of last year in the Upper School, we launched an Affinity Group Oversight committee that I'm co-clerking with an eye on expanding our affinity group offerings, that more students have a place to go. And it's a place to go where you can be your full self where you can sort of rest I think it's important to be with people who can share that common experience, I think both as a way to refill the well, to rejuvenate yourself for the rest of the week or the rest of the day, but also to problem solve, right? It offers a real opportunity to be with people who have had a similar experience and maybe they have handled in one way that worked well and they can give that to you. It's sort of like when you go home, and you take off your work clothes and you just relax in your house, right? That's what affinity groups provide.  You've left the office or the classroom for the day.

I was reading, Bell Hooks, "Teaching to Transgress." And she talks about how we always ask students to show up and be vulnerable in these educational spaces. One, not only are we oftentimes not willing to be vulnerable ourselves as adults, but we often misuse that vulnerability. And so a lot of times kids are reluctant to be vulnerable and affinity groups are a space where they can be vulnerable.

Nicole: I think one of the important things about the pushback that we received is that some of that pushback to affinity groups is actually rooted in some good-faith beliefs that I think now we know have been debunked. So when we think about our country post the 1950s-1960s civil rights movement, during the move towards integration, the idea of colorblindness was not only considered  "good", but it was hip it was progressive. That's how you express that you were anti-racist. And the beliefs that go along with colorblindness is this notion that we all need the same things, right? Because we're working towards equality. So everyone needs the same thing. And then if we provide these integrated spaces, then of course everyone's going to feel safe. Everyone's going to feel loved. Everyone's going to feel wanted. And we pass that on, right? So many of us learned from our parents this idea of, "we don't see race, we don't look at race," even as like little children are saying, "Mommy, I see that that person looks different." There like  "Don't say that. Don't say that. Nobody is different. We're all the same," right? Those platitudes don't look work on our little ones, and they actually don't work on the human brain.

We all know that we're having different experiences based upon identity, particularly when we think about race. We know that our students are having different experiences based upon race. And yes, systemically, we do have some issues in our society that we need to handle. There's certainly issues within our institution we need to be thinking about. But the way to handle that is not to say, "Oh, no, everyone's going to get the same thing. So everything will be fine. It's actually to recognize that that is not the reality." And when affinity groups do is they allow for moments where people can sit with folks that they know--as Candice was saying--have these common experiences, and perhaps some solutions to provide, but to say, "this is a space where you can fully show how it feels in the world to be this or that identity."

I think one of the important things about the pushback that we received is it's some of that pushback to Affinity [Groups.] And the truth of the matter is, affinity groups actually do make community stronger, because it allows for those voices that often we don't hear to come to the fore, and for us to ameliorate some of the challenges they face without that, and we have a situation like we've seen that in many institutions, particularly schools, where people really had potentially innocently--but also, potentially just nefariously-- had "no idea" that there were any "racial issues" at our School.

Truth of the matter is Sandy Spring Friends School was not in that situation. We knew that there were issues and we're handling them, we also know that we're going to affirm and uplift what has been working. And so it is a shift, it is a shift for a lot of people to think about how it is that uplifting identity in this way is important. But we know all the research is in, and not like new research. Old research, frankly, shows us that this is really important process for our students, but it's actually important for adults as well.

David: I think that's one of the important benefits of the audit that I see is that there's been an interest in forming affinity groups among faculty and staff and among our parents over a long period of time, but it's also an idea that's been resisted for some of the ideas that reasons that Nicole just described. But the audit is provided a new energy to those efforts among faculty and staff to make space for affinity groups to form among faculty and staff, and also some parent leadership now around this to make those opportunities available for parents and guardians as well.

Rodney: And David, I'm looking at you for the long term view of the School, and also for the school's Quaker mission. And so how does this work align with Quakerism? One of the things I saw in the audit, I think part of the shot was, given what our values are as a School and given our connection to Quakerism, which has such deep connections to justice, how could we be a part of what this audit is suggesting? Right? How could we be part of creating inequity? And then also, what do we use from our Quaker practices to resolve that inequity? So I wonder if you'll talk a little bit about what's the role of Quakerism in this discussion?

David: Well, I think if one looks at the core values of Quakerism, I think they were entirely consistent with the efforts of the diversity audit and the follow-up efforts. Just thinking about the notion of continuing revelation alone, we are continuing to learn as a community about how to do this better. I think it's common for progressive communities, particularly those that are predominantly white, as Sandy Spring has been, for us to think that we're doing a good job of this, we want to do the right thing. And so, therefore, we're, you know, we don't have those problems here, or we have less of those problems here than maybe in some other organizations or other communities.

And I think one of the things about the diversity audit is that it kind of reminded us, or opened our eyes to the fact as a community that, no, we're not immune to these issues, even though there may be the best of intentions, that doesn't mean that... we always have the knowledge, or the vision, or the experiences that we need, or the understanding experiences that we need in order to really be moving forward on this as effectively as we could be. And so the diversity audit was really, I think, good at bringing forth those voices that tend to be marginalized even in our community and saying, "Hey, we have things to work on." I think the diversity audit I think has really been an incredible catalyst in that.

Julie: I think also being connected to Quaker values.. and as David said, you know, it's easy to go and look at that and go, "Oh, well, we are progressive, it is in the SPICES. right? Equality is right there and who we are." It's also easy to go,"we are better than." "When I look at another school, I know that we're doing better in this category." And what the audit requires us to do is to not look outward and say, "Who are we better than?" But to look inward and go, "How can we be better?" And I think that ultimately helps us to put us in alignment with our Quaker values in a way that matches a progressive method. Right? To think about how do we be better than we were yesterday, than we are today? How can we improve so that that there is true equality, that there is to equity, and to use your word, Rodney, to bring belonging into the school and to make it a place of belonging?

Julie: I'm actually going to flip the question then to you, Rodney--you speak a lot about DEI and the B, right? belonging as a part of [DEI]. Can you share what it means to belong,and how a school can create a place of belonging?

Rodney: So belonging to me is different than inclusion. And inclusion is kind of the word we've been riding the wave of for a while now, and inclusion is a great concept. I'm not suggesting that inclusion is somehow not enough--although perhaps it isn't. [laughter] But inclusion means I've been invited to the party, inclusion means I feel like people opened the door and welcomed me in.. But to be included, implies that you don't have a sense of ownership, right? ...No one welcomes you into your own home. If you belong, then you are by default, included. And in addition, you feel a sense of empowerment and a sense of agency over what happens in the space and what happens to you in the space. belonging is a co-creation in the way that inclusion is an invitation. And so I've been pushing our School and many others to say, "what are you doing about belonging?" And as an independent school alum myself, right, I know what it's like to go to a school and you feel comfortable there. In some ways you feel at home there, you spend an awful lot of time there, people include you. But when you walk around, do you feel like this is my school in the same way that the white wealthy students sitting next to you feels like it's their school, and it was their father's school and their father's school before them. And that's what belonging is really about. Right, that agency piece and I think that's what the audit uncovered for us was, you've got an incredibly diverse one of the most diverse campuses in this entire region. And, we feel included in certain ways, but I do not feel like when I am wronged there's a sense of justice on the level that I would like there to be. I do not feel like people assume that I may need something different and then go out of their way to discover what that is, and to give it to me. Those feelings of belonging and I think... so that's different and deeper. And so I've been pushing us towards that and pushing us to be really a leader--locally, regionally and nationally--and focusing on belonging. When you focus on belonging, you shift away from making people feel good to--what are the policies, practices, and procedures we need to put in place that lets people know, feel, and trust that we've got a system that's going to take care of you? Right? That's, that's different than we've all read this book together and now we understand your experience. Right? Because the call is, "and now what are you going to do? What are you going to change? What systemic piece is going to be different, so that I feel more like I've got a home here?"

Rodney: Insert Nicole, because I'm wondering, Nicole, a big piece of this DEI role that you have is really creating this sense of belonging. Why do you think it's, I'm assuming you think it's important, that we have this role? 

Nicole: I think so, I think so.

Rodney:  But why do you think in our school--and in any school, right, because you can hear that refrain of "well, we don't want to put this all on Nicole, this isn't just Nicole's work. This should be everyone's work. " So how do we honor the role of the diversity director? And how is that different from, "now these are Nicole's problems to solve and we can all go back to one and our business?"

Nicole: I think that's a really important question because I have had people say, "Well, whew! Now you're here, so it's all going to be great." And I appreciate that as a human, it's nice to be welcomed. But I also know from doing this work for several years--of diversity, equity and inclusion and belonging--it's really essential for us to see this work as our work. That each and every one of us need to be taking that mantle that DEI lense, and saying on all of the situations...how could this be more equitable? Are we being inclusive? is there that feeling of belonging? I also know that it's really important within the leadership of any institution, and particularly of schools, that there be someone who is holding that mantle up at all times. Again, we live in a society that is not equitable, that is not inclusive, and whether or not we may want to create these safe bubbles. What we also know is, none of our institutions go on impacted, if you will, by what's going on in our society. So, I think that it is important to have a person who is kind of looking at the entire institution through that diversity, equity, and inclusion lens--looking at, you know...frankly, not just, "are people not well-meaning in this area?" It's often I very rarely find in most institutions that I work with, that people are for the majority, attempting to be inequitable. Attempting to exclude...but we know that's what's happening.

Sometimes it is policies and procedures. Sometimes it's logistical. We just have not thought about these different issues that we have through a lot of different identities. We have not thought like, "how will this feel for LGBTQ plus students and staff and faculty? How will this feel for black students?" I get into conversations often when it comes to folks will saying, "well, we don't want to be involved in politics, or you know, we don't want to bring current events into our school." And yet we have populations in our school that are deeply affected, often by the current events that are happening. And so keeping that kind of wide lens, if you will, on the school, and from this perspective of diversity, equity, and inclusion are some of our highest values. I think it's really important to have someone to give that support. ...Personally, I see my role as a support to the school in this area. You all already have claimed the space. Right?Rodney has claimed the space from the time I heard him talk about going to Sandy Spring Friends School, [he] claimed the space of wanting it to be a leader in belonging, wanting it to being a leader in DEI. So that's who you said you want to be. I see myself kind of as the support the midwife of it, if you will. You're doing the heavy lifting. I'm really helping to support and give frames and give suggestions as to how we can get there.--Maybe like a coach, a little bit.

So I do think that that's important. I often hear people say, Oh, well, it's everyone's work. So we shouldn't have one person. My next question is, okay, if it's everyone's work, what support is in place so everyone can do the work well? ...Sometimes I don't like the answer, I get back support in this area is so important. When people don't have support they, unfortunately, become really disenchanted with the whole idea of DEI. Both of those who have determined it's really important for their own belonging, and also those who have to give up a little bit of privilege in order to make sure that we are really [an] inclusive community that cares about belonging? So I'm excited for the work. I'm excited to be here in the supportive role.

Rodney: Well, we've covered a lot of ground, I think the question that I'd like us to end with is, given the urgency of this moment, there's so much going on nationally around all the issues we've been talking about. And we were good to have gotten out ahead of that. So some people ask the question of, "you were doing this audit What happened? What was it in response to?" And I always say, no, this was proactive, they will definitely things going on. There's always things going on, but we will not be reacting. We were trying to get out ahead of climate and culture. And now I think we're bearing the fruits of that... I'm telling you, schools now are scrambling to do these audits...And it takes as we've seen, a year to do the audit and a couple of years to implement. There's no quick fix to that.

Rodney: So, as we're wrapping up, when we look back two or three years from now, and the life of that audit is sort of done, and it's time to do the next audit, what do you want to say for sure it came out of this one? I think we checked a big one-off with our Director of Diversity, right? Like we could check that off that is done and will be done. What are the other items that we need to have done in this audit? 

David: One of the things that we have not yet systematically approached from the diversity audit is taking a comprehensive look at our curriculum. We always have the little challenges as a Quaker school and as a [preschool]-12 school with curriculum anyway with the three division structure, but I think we really need a comprehensive look at our curriculum and how DEI-focus manifests itself through our curriculum, or doesn't express itself through our curriculum. And so I'm hoping that three years from now we will have figured out a way to do that, and a mechanism for doing that effectively. And then the other thing which we've started to take some baby steps on, but really need to take some bigger steps on is around data collection... How do we know where our challenges are unless we have ways of having some metrics on that? And again, we started to look at that. But it's it's kind of a whole big piece that we we haven't really tackled systematically yet we need to do because it's part of the lens through which we know what kind of progress we're making. 

Nicole: I completely agree with the two that David raised, I think they're very important, I would add on just almost a visionary piece, which is I'm really hoping that what we have is a community where each and every adult-- be it a parent, faculty member or a staff member or administrator--knows and feels confident that they are able to learn and be able to express what they understand about inclusion and belonging to each and every student that they work with, and frankly, with each other. Because so much of this is about, for me, is about right relationship. And when I look at the intentions of folks at Sandy Spring Friends School, we intend to be in right relationship with each other. I think what I want to see in the next two or three years is our skill level, our ability to know how to navigate those tough moments that challenge those right relationships, that were ready and prepared for that and feel confident in that.

Candice: I think for me, I would say maybe not necessarily like a specific action item. But I do know, usually when we were talking about DEI, we're talking about the SPICES, right, everyone goes straight to equality. And for me, I think what I would love is an understanding that it's actually more about integrity and community than it is about equality. That if we're looking to the Quaker testimonies, it is having integrity and how we treat the kids, having integrity and how we treat each other. And being in a true community with each other. That's what this work is about--developing a community where everyone feels confident and safe to be themselves but also to make mistakes. That kids understand that their mistakes are not fatal, regardless of who they are. And that's not about equality, that is about integrity and community. And I think for me, that is what an understanding I would love to have come out of this audit work.

Julie: For me, there are two pieces one is accountability, both structures for but also, "how do we keep ourselves accountable? How do we keep ourselves aware of where we're at in the process... in doing our own work. " The other piece that I think connects to our SPICES is, frankly, just that we are in a unique position in which who we are as a Quaker school, and who we -want- to be align really well with DEI work and if we can weave the two together if we can be a place that doesn't see them as separate but sees them as one and the same and the only way to be successful at being a Quaker school is to do this work and to do it well and to create a place of belonging. I think if we can walk away from this audit knowing that the work is never done, but striving to always make sure that those two are woven together, that we will be at a great place. And we will continue to be working towards making sure that we are our best selves.

Rodney: No, I love that. And I'm sitting here thinking, removing the option would probably be the biggest step forward we could take that would encompass all of what you're saying, which is when we evaluate our faculty and staff, there should be a part of that is how are you educating yourself and moving us and yourself forward in this world? That's not an option.

When we look at what do we want our students to know when they leave our lower school to go to our middle school and our middle school for upper school and our upper school for the world beyond--what do they need to know about this? What do they need to have grappled with? And even for our parents, it might not an option for you to understand why we do this work,and what it is, and how you can support it at home. So I think--and I say this about the industry of independent schools--for a while this work was optional, and it was left to those who either had it by role or had it by desire. But now, it truly needs to be everyone's work for the sustainability of the school, but also because at the heart, the school exists to do right by children. And you can't do right by children if you don't understand these pieces.

And so, I'm glad for all the work that we're doing glad to be doing it with this group of people in this place. And through that--leading and showing just by our own example and our own work--the possibilities of when you get over the shock, get over that we didn't intend to, get over the "well, there's so much other things going on," and just jump in and do the work, right... and that we've continued to move this work forward in the midst of a leadership transition, in the midst of a pandemic-- virtually and in person. Right. The school has never wavered on [the fact that] we're moving in this direction, despite any and everything, and I think we will continue that.
 

---

(Note: the synopsis has been updated to reflect a change in leadership at SSFS, noting Dr. Rodney Glasgow as the former Head of the School. This recording took place under his leadership at SSFS from 2020-2024.)