Adapted from an email message from Tom Gibian, sent to all faculty/staff before a called Meeting for Business to continue discussions begun during our Professional Development Day. Marilyn Gilmore and Jen Cort led the diversity training workshops for all SSFS faculty/staff on Oct. 20, 2o14. You can find out more about the diversity training online: http://www.ssfs.org/about/diversity/index.aspx
Martin Luther King said that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. Our job as educators is to lean into the arc—to push it closer to where it wants to go. This is why I believe so strongly in the diversity work that we are doing at Sandy Spring Friends School. We can be a place where each child and each adult in our community is encouraged to be the very best person that they can be. That their Great Natural Talent is recognized, celebrated and shared. That every day is a mix it up day. That the connections that we make with each other and with our students reveal the Light that we share and, at the same time, that our differences enrich our lives and deepen our understanding.
We do what we do because Friends schools can change the world. This afternoon we will continue to learn from the sharing of perspectives both familiar and different. Our work together will continue, most immediately in our focus on improving diversity in our hiring. We are committed to continuing diversity-related conversations with the respect that is the coin of our realm.
Thank you for giving your time to refresh our individual and collective understanding of how our lives can speak to greater equality.