Belonging

The children and school communities I have had the honor to serve have sought their rightful place in the larger educational landscape. Changes must be made to reinvent many aspects of an educational system that has been so punishing and has caused so much suffering to so many.

 

My journey to help all children belong has been guided by reading. For me, as a cisgender white male steeped in privilege that was hidden in plain sight by my own implicit biases, White Fragility by Robin D’Angelo was a gut-punch. As a grandparent, retired teacher, and former school head, I was stunned reading Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, touched by this powerful lesson on the difference between intention and impact, particularly considering the curricula we use in schools. Caste; The Origins of Our Discontent and The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson offered me a new way to understand race relations in the United States. These authors opened my eyes and my heart to history I was not taught and did not know, history that all Americans should know.

 

I am proud to serve on the Board of Trustees at Hawken, a remarkably innovative school with an authentic commitment to Fair Play. Our promise to “prepare students to navigate a complex and dynamic world with self-confidence and determination; embrace challenges with disciplined analysis and creativity; and engage others with empathy and integrity” requires sensitivity to challenges which may not be our own and determined efforts to personalize programs, promote belonging for students, and audit both our intentions and their impacts.  

 

This year, the Hawken Board of Trustees took a significant step forward in the journey toward justice and established a new standing board committee on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ).  The Committee supports the work of the DEIJ committees in each division guided by these 7 strategic objectives:

 

 

Scott Looney opened our first DEIJ Committee meeting last spring by focusing members’ attention on the critical value of every student attending Hawken feeling and being seen, heard, accepted and safe at school. Hence, he emphasized, the focus of DEIJ work throughout the school community is to promote and protect a sense of belonging for each student. Hawken’s commitment to “forward-focused preparation for the real world through the development of character and intellect” and to Fair Play require us to understand, accept and honor the many categories of human diversity as well as individual identity.

 

Our meeting featured a discussion of the norms that will guide our deliberative process. We agreed to lean into discomfort, take risks and make mistakes, suspend judgment of ourselves and others, value multiple perspectives, and honor confidentiality and impact. We considered our obligation as a board committee to coordinate closely with the DEIJ steering committee and the school’s leadership team represented by Kathy O’Neal and Garet Libbey. 

 

Garet led an insightful ‘Life Map’ activity in which each of us shared personal experiences and stories related to childhood, education, and growth opportunities. We were given moments for reflection followed by a discussion of where this path has led us.

 

While we had planned an ambitious agenda, it was so clear as we embarked on this exercise that each of us saw the importance of sharing early, formative life experiences and putative vulnerabilities that ultimately strengthened and deepened our resolve and resilience as adults and brought us to this work with generous hearts and open minds. The exercise fostered a sense of connection and belonging as we experienced as trustees what Scott Looney aspires to create for every student at Hawken: to be seen and heard and to feel a sense of belonging.

 

Where do schools fit in society’s journey toward DEIJ?

 

Traditional educational programs and institutions have contributed substantially to the racial, social, and economic disparities that have riven our society by not teaching the truth of American history. The myths that have pervaded American history textbooks and curricula and the critical stories that have been left untold have not built a solid framework on which to build an honest, equitable, and mutually respectful future.

As the adults in this school community work together to promote belonging, equity, and Fair Play for students, we look particularly to principles #1 and #10. Principle #1, which reads, “We truly know our students as individuals and learners,” is a critical step, because if students do not feel known for who they truly are, we cannot possibly create a comprehensive community of belonging. Perhaps equally important to this work is principle # 10, which reads, “We believe that to provide the most relevant education possible, our faculty and administrators must be learning continually about educational best practices, advances in technology, and developments in the world.” This means that we must accept the obligation to build and sustain a similar environment for adults at Hawken as well. Parents, teachers, staff, administrators, and volunteers can model how to lean into painful confrontations with history, engage in courageous conversations with one another, examine the meanings of responsibility and forgiveness, and practice both principles #1 and #10. We owe our students and all students nothing less.

 

- John E. Lewis