SCHOOL NEWS
COMMUNITY
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Landon hired its first-ever Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in 2018—a role filled by Joe Canty until this summer as he departed to become Head of School at Carolina International School (NC). While a national search for his replacement is ongoing, a broader group will now oversee this critical work for our community.
The Board of Trustees has established a DEI task force, led by trustee and parent Steve Jones, P’19 ’24, to steer the institution toward the fulfillment of our 2018 Strategic Plan in this area of school life. Additionally, three faculty/ staff members have stepped into new roles of divisional DEI coordinators, serving as leaders and divisional touchpoints, Lower School Art Teacher Megan Rains Mercado, Middle School Math Teacher Addison Hunt and Athletic Facilities Coordinator/Upper School Coach Charles Harley. In addition to helping us with this work on a divisional basis, they will also be participating on the newly formed Diversity and Community Committee, which is comprised of faculty and administrators from across the divisions, and which will serve as a school-wide forum for discussion and planning on DEI-related operational matters such as programming, employee goal setting, and professional development. The Board of Trustees task force has also retained Dr. Val Wise to serve as our consultant to conduct an equity audit to better understand the school’s current state of DEI and to
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guide our creation of a DEI action plan. Dr. Wise will collect and analyze data that include but are not limited to: a) the recruitment and retention of faculty, staff and students; b) school climate; and c) the relationship between DEI goals and the school’s strategic plan. Additionally, her firm will conduct focus group sessions and interviews with key stakeholders (e.g., faculty, staff, students, administrators, trustees, and alumni) in order to better understand key concerns. This project will culminate with a report that identifies a strategic and measurable implementation plan for integrating and synthesizing DEI goals seamlessly throughout the Landon School community. In addition to Dr. Wise’s work as well as community forums over the summer, curricular work and review by faculty, we continue to hold programming for students and our community during the school year designed to promote understanding of history, the current moment, and find common ground for action steps moving forward. Read more from members of our community devoted to this work.
