Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Park’s diverse community enables all students to have the transformational experience of interacting with peers and adults who have varied perspectives and come from different backgrounds.
At Park, diversity is valued, varied personal qualities, talents, and learning styles are appreciated, and the lives of all are enriched by the shared experience. We seek students and teachers with a variety of backgrounds and talents. We work to build a strong sense of community among people from many different cultural heritages, races, family configurations, financial means, and life experiences. Individual strengths and learning styles are actively affirmed in each classroom. Students learn to think critically and to respect differing viewpoints. Through our curriculum and special events, we celebrate many cultural traditions and diverse perspectives. Just as important, we emphasize our common ground and the shared values of life at Park and in the world beyond. By promoting cultural competency across grade levels through age-appropriate activities and exercises, we cultivate academic, social, and emotional growth to prepare students to be responsible citizens of the world.
At Park, we stimulate children’s character development in a community that values trust, honesty, fairness, cooperation, and sensitivity. We teach students to reach outside themselves, to be inclusive, and to respect the dignity of others. In an increasingly complex world, Park strives to maintain and reinforce these core values.
The DEI Implementation Plan
On September 29, 2020, The Park School Board of Trustees approved and endorsed Park’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Implementation Plan, the result of a yearlong collaboration amongst trustees, administrators, employees, and families. The DEIIP is grounded in the findings of the 2018 National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Quantitative Assessment of Inclusion and Multiculturalism and the 2019 Diversity Directions Qualitative Assessment of School Climate for Multiculturalism and Inclusion. An active, living document, the Plan seeks to guide the School community as it seeks to meet its values and commitments with action and accountability.
Our DEI Team
Diversity Beliefs and Aspirations
Multicultural education at Park means nurturing a belief in the dignity of each individual and teaching students to understand diverse perspectives, the importance of historical viewpoint, and the existence of individual and group bias. Students are encouraged to learn to question and critique the variety of beliefs and interpretations they encounter within the curriculum, the School, and the wider community. Park aims to prepare students to participate responsibly as citizens of a global community that struggles with issues of truth, justice, and equality.
Philosophy of Multicultural Education at Park
Multicultural education at Park means nurturing a belief in the dignity of each individual and teaching students to understand diverse perspectives, the importance of historical viewpoint, and the existence of individual and group bias. Students are encouraged to learn to question and critique the variety of beliefs and interpretations they encounter within the curriculum, the School, and the wider community. Park aims to prepare students to participate responsibly as citizens of a global community that struggles with issues of truth, justice, and equality.
By the Numbers
42%
Students of color
22%
of students receive financial aid
($4.2 million in grants)
37%
of families have 1+
parent born outside the US
DEI News
In his spring column, Head of School Scott Young describes how The SPARK Campaign is fundamentally different from the typical fundraising campaign. With Park’s community values and commitment to DEI, the campaign’s inclusivity promise means that no member of the Park community has more or less access or information about SPARK’s vision or possibilities. Read more.
First graders are getting the message that their voices have a big impact on the world around them. As they explore a unit on speaking up, they are joyfully celebrating differences of identity. Read more.
Alile Eldridge, Park’s Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion reflects on her first few months at Park and the important DEI work underway in 2021-22. Read more.
The Park Parents’ Association DEI Committee and Speakers Series Committee co-sponsored a virtual speaking event with Dr. Christia Brown in February. In her presentation, Dr. Brown presented several ideas for promote gender equity and form positive gender identity in children. Read more.
This fall, Park again invited parents to participate in the national SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) project, designed to connect participants in conversational communities to drive personal, institutional, and societal change toward social justice. Read more.
Affinity groups provide an essential opportunity for people within the community to come together to talk about common experiences, raise questions and develop solutions, support each other, and together find ways to negotiate the larger community space we all share. Read more.
Non-Discrimination Notice
In accordance with the requirements of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended, The Park School will not discriminate against any individual on the basis of disability, including but not limited to its application process and admissions decisions. The Park School will not impose or apply eligibility criteria that screen out or tend to screen out individuals with disabilities from fully and equally enjoying any of its goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations, unless such criteria can be shown to be necessary for the provision of the those benefits being offered. The Park School will make reasonable modifications to its policies, practices, or procedures when such modifications are necessary to access its goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations to individuals with disabilities, unless the modifications would constitute a fundamental alteration.