SEEDs of change
in social justice education ‘Energizing’ professional development program sows hope for growth
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n the winter of 2019, Mayfield’s diversity practitioners, Cassandra Gonzales and Sarah Briuer Boland, signed up for intensive leadership training with the National SEED Project, a professional development program that Head of School Kate Morin has described as “transformative.” They planned to spend two weeks in the Bay Area the following summer immersed in conversations and workshops with other educators about justice, diversity, equity and inclusion (JDEI) issues. But the summer of 2020 brought forth many pivots and perspective shifts. The SEED organizers couldn’t have anticipated the pandemic, which moved all the in-person training onto Zoom. And SEED participants couldn’t have predicted the social and racial justice movements that would find new momentum and capture nationwide attention, highlighting the urgent relevance of their work. The National SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) Project was established in 1987 to promote institutional and societal change by creating “conversational communities” around social justice inside schools and organizations. The idea is that SEED-trained leaders facilitate a series of probing and insightful discussions—on challenging and sensitive subjects—with small groups of their peers. Ms. Gonzales, Mayfield’s Interim Director of JDEI, explains the way the program is designed: “It’s called SEED because you’re planting these seeds, and then they’re growing, and then they’re starting other SEED groups, until the whole community is having these transformational conversations.”
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And she sees direct benefits for Mayfield students. “Students benefit from faculty and staff members participating in SEED because it makes our community a more just and welcoming place,” she says. “Understanding the links between personal experiences and structures of oppression allow for our community to examine how we can support all students in all aspects of the school.” So, in the fall of 2020, Mayfield’s first SEED cohort of 15 faculty and staff members embarked on a year-long JDEI training together. Ms. Briuer Boland, Mayfield’s JDEI Coordinator, admits that she and Ms. Gonzales were both worried that “one more Zoom meeting would be kind of onerous” for faculty and staff already facing the demands of this uniquely challenging year. But the reaction was quite the opposite. “Being in a space of 15 people who came from 15 different life stories, people that I care about and respect— that changed everything,” says veteran mathematics instructor Melissa Tighe. She saw how these diverse perspectives created the kind of vibrant, thought-provoking discussions that inspire creative problem-solving. The possibilities clearly set her brain alight as Mayfield’s Director of Innovation and Community Partnerships. “I want more spaces where different groups of people—they have to be from different perspectives—get brought together and given a common thing to chew on,” says Mrs. Tighe. “That transforms you.” Mayfield’s SEED meetings happened on the first Monday of each month and tackled a broad range of topics relating to seeing and being seen, race and gender messaging, the limits and segments of self-knowledge. A meeting usually
involved lecture, discussion, engaging in reading materials and video content, and often creating art around the relevant topic. Participants were probed to ask, what makes an environment a safe “nest” versus a restrictive “cage”? Where are the “mirrors” where you see your culture and the “windows” where you perceive others? Colleagues came to understand “intersecting identities” in themselves and those around them. The complexity of these topics sometimes unearthed deep and forgotten wounds, but in spite of this heavy lift, almost every SEED member affirmed that this work was “energizing.” Director of Library Services Ann Pibel found the SEED program to be a natural extension of Mayfield’s Holy Child goals, one that was perfectly aligned with the “incarnational theology” of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. As the head of Mayfield’s Mission Effectiveness Committee (MEC), Ms. Pibel was intricately involved in the school’s periodic re-evaluation and recommitment to the Holy Child educational mission in 2019. This deep dive, which involves objective institutional reflection and goalsetting, set a target of expanding JDEI professional development opportunities for staff. “Everyone here made a commitment to [SEED],” said Ms. Pibel. “I think it was brilliant.” When it comes to unraveling systematic messaging and unconscious biases, Ms. Gonzales and Ms. Briuer Boland are acutely aware that a single program, even one as lauded as SEED, is not a quick fix. “SEED can’t be the only tool,” says Ms. Gonzales. “But it’s a useful tool.” And much of that comes down to the fact that it’s not a
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