Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism (IDEA) are at the heart of School-within-School @ Goding. These values promote growth and reflection, foster a sense of empathy and tolerance, bring about awareness and new perspectives, and enable students to take pride in their unique qualities, while feeling included in a larger community.
SWS affirms that centering IDEA in our recruitment, operations, and connections is essential to achieving our mission to support and develop our students’ potential. We affirm that a social justice framework is required in order to dismantle structural barriers to equitable achievement. We affirm that pursuing this work is the responsibility of all members of our community.
We seek to foster a school culture that cultivates open minds, recognizes commonalities, and honors differences. We seek to create a school environment where people of every ability, age, ethnicity, family structure, gender identity, immigration status, nationality, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and socio-economic background feel fully welcome, valued, included, and able to thrive and engage with their entire selves. We aspire to ensure that these characteristics do not predict differences in success. In fact, we believe that success is a direct result of a rich diversity of backgrounds and experiences.
We commit to investing the time, space, and resources to provide supportive structures and pedagogy for our parents, educators, students, and staff to explore and engage with issues and topics related to IDEA within the school community. We commit to promoting and celebrating diversity, equity, and multiculturalism through a variety of mechanisms including school-wide gatherings, cultural events, workshops, staff/parent training, and community conversations. We commit to developing concrete and measurable goals related to expanding IDEA — actively engaging all members of the school community, providing clear avenues to contribute input and feedback, and being transparent and accountable to the community in our pursuit of and progress towards these goals.
To learn more about, and sign up to participate in, the work of the SWS IDEA Working Groups for Staff and Families, visit https://www.swsidea.org