Diversity is the one true thing we have in common. Celebrate it every day.

Author unknown

Building and supporting a welcoming and inclusive community is a top priority for our school. In fact, leading in diversity, multiculturalism, and inclusion (DMI) is one of four key components of our strategic plan because these issues are central to the education of our students. We wish to be a community that reflects the world around us; a community that not only respects diversity but desires it, whether that diversity is racial, economic, gender, religious or any other form; a community that goes beyond tolerating our differences to embracing them. Through this, our learning community will be enriched greatly, personal and educational development of all students will be enhanced, and we will provide our students with the cultural competency necessary to live in today’s wonderfully varied and global world.

DMI efforts at Buckley are collaborative and include both organic and planned programs. Our efforts include the perspective of board, faculty and parent committees help guide us, and we often call upon students and alumni to illuminate our discussions. Our co-directors of multiculturalism and inclusion, Yocelin Gonzalez and Ralinda Watts, are resources for our entire community. Much of our multicultural work happens in our classrooms and by our students, through our curriculum and school events, and in student affinity groups and clubs, such as the Lower School’s Culture Club.

Goals

• create a community at Buckley where everyone, regardless of their ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or socio-economic status, feels welcome and all students can thrive;
• help our students develop skills for living in a diverse community;
• ensure that the diversity of our students, our Los Angeles community, and our world is honored and celebrated in classrooms, curricula and in our many extra-curricular programs;
• provide educational opportunities centered on multiculturalism and inclusion for all members of the Buckley community
• recruit and support a diverse student and faculty body.

Recent and Relevant

• We kicked off the 2012-2013 school year with nationally recognized expert Dr. Steven Jones who held a faculty session as well as a workshop for approximately 100 student leaders just before classes started.  Last year Dr. Jones  led multiple DMI sessions Buckley faculty and staff, as well as a parent educational session and a presentation to the Parents’ Association. 
• Middle School students participated in Encompass, a program designed to help them think about how words and behavior can hurt others.
• All Lower School teachers participated in a workshop on how to integrate the National Association of Independent Schools 17 cultural identifiers into their everyday lessons plans.
• Middle School students took part in discussions on recent hate crimes in the San Fernando Valley and the lyrics of Lady Gaga’s “Born this Way.”
• The student-led Diversity Coffeehouse celebrated difference through performing arts.
• This summer, 5 administrators and teachers attended The Equity Collaborative Conference in Washington D.C.