Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Statement

Hathaway Brown is committed to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning community through admission policies, hiring practices, professional development, curricular and extracurricular programming, and school culture.

The representation and full engagement of the diverse points of view of individuals with varied life experiences is a source of strength and wisdom that enriches the learning environment and fuels innovation and growth, particularly as students are prepared for lives of strong character, public service, and leadership.

Hathaway Brown respects and affirms the dignity and worth of each member of our community. These values of diversity, equity, and inclusion are rooted in our mission; motto, We Learn Not For School But For Life; and our Community Agreement. And it is our expectation that all those affiliated with the institution uphold and demonstrate these shared values both in spirit and in practice at all times.

DEI Statement updated and approved by Hathaway Brown Board of Trustees, May 2018

Community Agreement

To create a community of trust, respect, and partnership in fulfilling HB's mission of educating girls, all students, parents, faculty, staff, administrators, and trustees are expected to honor these commitments to our core values.

View the Community Agreement.

Gender Philosophy

Hathaway Brown will support enrolled students or applicants who are assigned female at birth, who may be questioning their gender identity, and who feel they belong in our community dedicated to girls and women.

Read the gender philosophy .

Equity in Curriculum

Across Divisions

Teachers across all subjects are cognizant to include lessons that offer meaningful and authentic ways for each student to see themselves within what they are studying and to learn about others in a bias-free way. Hathaway Brown's curriculum has:

Windows — students learn about cultures and perspectives that are different from their own.
Mirrors — students see themselves in the classroom and throughout the curriculum in a multifaceted and nuanced way.
Sliding Doors — students engage in experiential learning that enables them to interact with others authentically and respectfully

Primary School

In the Primary School, teachers help girls create an understanding of their identity. As they understand more about themselves, they are better able to see, understand, and appreciate the similarities and differences between themselves and their classmates.

Primary School teachers also incorporate DEI into their classroom curricula. Shared resources are accessible around topics including race and ethnicity, appearance, wealth and poverty, family, gender, and identity. Shared resouces include:

vocabulary lists
read-aloud lists
essential questions/discussion prompts
lesson ideas and
supplemental materials.

Students also receive explicit lessons around diversity topics during morning meetings, designated social-emotional learning lesson times, or meetings between student Book Buddies. The lessons are also taught in Social Studies and Storyline units, since many of these topics come up naturally when students learn about history and the human experience.

Middle & Upper School

Particularly in the Middle School, faculty work closely with the local branch of Facing History and Ourselves, the Anti-Defamation League, and also utilize resources from Teaching Tolerance.

Upon graduation, Hathaway Brown students have developed a deep appreciation for and understanding of diversity as a source of strength and wisdom that enriches environments and fuels innovation, particularly as one prepares for a life of strong character, public service, and leadership.

Inclusive & Representative

Teachers ensure students have the opportunity to see their identity in an empowered way, beyond trauma, by presenting students diverse ideas, historical perspectives, and voices.

Primary School students learn about heritage months, notable people throughout history who represent a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, and valued character traits such as respect and kindness.

As Middle and Upper School students are increasingly aware of their identity, they become empowered and have the opportunity to join identity-based affinity and student groups.

Social-Emotional Learning

Teachers in each division build capacity and find new ways to teach equity literacy skills as part of HB's Social-Emotional Learning model. Skills, which are also components of the Community Agreement, include:

listening and engaging
self-awareness and self-regulation
facilitation
mediation and
facing racial and equity issues while managing stress and anxiety

Learning Opportunities

Character Education

Topics related to diversity and multiculturalism, such as family structure, race/ethnicity, wealth/poverty, and appearance are explored during classroom social skills lessons.
Regular announcements and presentations allow students to engage and share in the diverse identities of their peers.
In Primary School assemblies, students learn upcoming cultural holidays , including the history, who celebrates, and customs and traditions observed. Assemblies often combine visual elements, such as demonstrations, photographs, or video, along with discussion, music, and dance.

Identity-Based Advisory Programming

Middle School advisors create grade-level specific programming to facilitate age-appropriate conversations about identity, culture, celebrations, and holidays.

By providing a small group setting within the larger community, the Middle School advisor groups foster camaraderie, respect, learning to work well with anyone in the HB community, and appreciation for each individual's talents.

Social Justice & Equity

Upper School students interested in social justice and equity work are encouraged to engage in the Fellowship in Equity and Action. Students apply their knowledge to real-life problems and gain experience in the nonprofit sector, the teaching profession, and/or community organizing.

This fellowship gets girls comfortable with their identities and knowledgeable about other

races
ethnicities
economic classes
experiences and
perspectives

Equity and Action Fellows are also engaged with the Greater Cleveland community through leadership opportunities, hands-on service, international immersion experiences, and Service Learning classes.

Library

The Hathaway Brown Department of Library Services curates the collection to reflect the identities and experiences of students here and now. Students can find books

with strong Black characters without a focus on racism or slavery
with strong Jewish characters without a focus on the holocaust or World War II
about Muslim girls
about Asian girls
about LGBTQ relationships and identities

Books are organized by genre to help students browse by their interests. However, unlike genre labels on book spines, incorporating identity labels could possibly share private information. In response, the librarians developed identity-based reading lists. The lists are accessible digitally and on bookmarks issued to affinity groups and available in the library.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Work

Student Experience

Affinity Groups

Hathaway Brown is committed to providing opportunities for authentic connection and sisterhood. Prime, Middle, and Upper School students have opportunities to engage in affinity groups for race, religion, social activism, and much more to gather and explore their identity.

In addition, diversity liaisons and school counselors collaborate to integrate, inform, and expand mutual, coordinated programming and services, ensuring the health and well-being of each student.

Student Survey

The student and faculty life committee of the board of trustees developed a survey for Upper School students to better understand:

what it means to thrive at HB and
ways to create a community and educational experience where every girl thrives

The survey is continuously used to evolve programming, policies, and culture. For example, students expressed the importance of understanding individual identity and how identity fits into the HB community. These perspectives prompted a curriculum change; the TRUST course, which was an elective, is now a mandatory freshmen experience.

Discipline Process

Hathaway Brown is ensuring the school’s discipline process is just, equitable, and seeks to restore community by building in a sense of re-belonging.

The discipline process must represent a learning environment, set clear expectations and be free of unconscious and racial bias. The board of trustees’ student and faculty life committee completed an in-depth analysis of discipline policies and processes and regularly audits the process to ensure it aligns with the school’s mission, DEI-B statement and Community Agreement.

Understanding the Experiences of Girls of Color in Girls' Schools

Adjunct assistant professor and co-director of the Independent School Teaching Residency at the University of Pennsylvania Dr. Charlotte Jacobs invited Hathaway Brown School to participate in her research titled "Understanding the Experiences of Girls of Color in Girls' Schools Pilot Study."

Hathaway Brown continues to partner with Dr. Jacobs and the University of Pennsylvania, as part of the university's Independent School Fellowship Program. This partnership supports HB's racially marginalized students and expands BIPOC representation in faculty.

Diversity Liaisons

The director of diversity, equity, and student life and the team of Early Childhood, Primary School, Middle School, and Upper School diversity liaisons coordinate efforts to create a multicultural and inclusive learning community with a focus on professional support for faculty/staff and the student/family experience.

Hathaway Brown's innovative liaison model has been shared as a best practice with hundreds of NAIS conference attendees. The liaison structure provides the HB community with expertise and knowledge of the developmental and cultural needs of the constituents in each division.

Responsibilities:

facilitate activities and dialogue for faculty, staff, and administrators to increase their awareness of how to connect with individuals across cultures, and experiences
identify and strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion programming to promote respect and combat discrimination and inequity within divisions
understand the diverse needs, initiatives, and programs within divisions
serve on the divisional Admission committees to promote equity in access to diverse groups of students
are involved in the hiring process by interviewing every candidate to assess cultural competency

Professional Development

Faculty & Staff

Every HB faculty and staff member, no matter their program or department, plays an equal role in shaping the Hathaway Brown experience. As such, faculty and staff strive to embody the school's motto, to learn not for school but for life, especially in diversity, equity, and inclusion work.

HB faculty and staff are required to engage in diversity training supported and guided by the director of diversity, equity, and student life and the division diversity liaisons. The various training modules offer tools for engaging with competency in a multicultural environment and are foundational to the HB employee experience.

Board of Trustees

As the board of trustees engages in their fiduciary, governance, and strategic responsibilities, they do so with a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens. The governance committee integrates regular training as part of board meetings and trustee responsibilities.

This has created an atmosphere of growth and opportunity for diversity, equity, and inclusion work, including the development of a DEI statement and the Community Agreement, among other achievements.

Representation for Trustees

The board also is creating a profile to identify what qualities, characteristics, and perspectives current trustees have. This profile will aid in recruiting diverse trustees with a variety of identities.

Community

Faculty, staff, students, and members of the board of trustees have attended the annual People of Color Conference and Student Diversity Leadership Conference, hosted by the National Association of Independent Schools, for more than 20 years.

Hiring

Recruitment

Faculty and staff should reflect the diversity of the student body — race, religion, geography, gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. To recruit diverse faculty and staff members, Hathaway Brown:

partners with NEMNET, Strategenius, and other minority hiring firms
assesses various ways to advertise job openings

Interviewing

Implicit bias training is required for each HB employee involved in the interviewing, selection, and hiring process. Clear criteria for each job and a skills assessment strategy are articulated in the schools hiring handbook and determined before hiring commences.

Diversity liaisons are always included on the hiring committee and are a key part of the hiring process. They ask each candidate specific diversity, equity, and inclusion questions to assess cultural competency and to ensure a uniform process across divisions and departments.

Retention

The retention of faculty of color is a priority. It's imperative that members of the HB community create an environment of belonging. The director of diversity, equity and student life explores ways to support HB's current BIPOC and White ally employees, such as affinity groups, book chats, and counseling circles. Additionally, employee contracts and manuals reflect DEI-B priorities.

Admission

Process Audit

The Admission team collects and analyzes enrollment and retention data, and set goals aligned with the school’s mission, DEI-B statement, and strategic plan.

An admission audit, from first contact with prospective families to onboarding new students, helps to identify unintentional bias that might prevent families from enrolling or impede on the school’s sense of belonging.

Eliminating Barriers

Added Algebra I to the ninth grade required courses to eliminate a barrier to access for higher level math courses for freshman new to HB.

Alumnae

Parents

DEI Voices

Contacts

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Defining Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Diversity is the representation of all varied identities and differences (race, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, tribe, caste, socio-economic status, thinking and communication styles, etc.) collectively and as individuals. We seek to proactively engage, understand, and draw on a variety of perspectives. We believe that the solution to the problems we hope to address can be found by affirming our similarities, as well as by finding value in our differences.

Equity seeks to ensure fair treatment, equality of opportunity, and fairness in access to information and resources for all. We believe this is only possible in an environment that is built on respect and dignity.

Inclusion builds a culture of belonging by actively inviting the contribution and participation of all people. We believe every person’s voice adds value, and we strive to create balance in the face of power differences. We believe that no one person can or should be called upon to represent an entire community.