Supporting an Inclusive and Equitable School Community
“Lemonade Stand” by John Frank, age 6
In October of 2022, the Garden Gate Board of Directors voted to form a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee for the purpose of developing and implementing policies and practices that support an inclusive and equitable school community.
In 2023, the Board voted to adopt 2-tiered tuition model for 2023-24 school year (Equitable Tuition Model), supported by funds from the Couch Family Foundation, which will be carried over into the 2024-25 school year. Thanks to the grant from the Couch Family Foundation, we also entered into a partnership with Takiema Bunche-Smith as DEI consultant.
For over a year, we have been working with Takiema in the context of regular administrative meetings with Dawn, Leigh Ann and Takiema, as well as professional development sessions with Takiema and our full staff. We have explored our own personal biases and have begun to identify and explore the barriers to equity that exist within our organization. We have begun to establish anti-bias practices that extend to our direct work with children and will focus specifically on anti-bias education and curriculum in the upcoming school year.
One of our priorities has been to increase BIPOC representation in the leadership of the school. To this end we added two new members to the Board, Janice Frame (Community Member) and Josie Iadiccico (Alumni Student). We also increased diversity among our summer staff members in 2023 and 2024. We have worked with Deb Maher ACE MV ECE facilitator and with her help we have been able to reach new teachers entering the field on MV. Through this process, and supported by a grant from the Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation, we have been able to have two Portuguese speaking Brazilian educators working with us in Studio One during the 2023-24 school year.
We had the great privilege to finally meet with Takiema in person for the first time this week. She flew to the Vineyard for our 25th Anniversary Celebration and Art Show on Sunday, made herself available for a Meet & Greet with the Board, DEI Committee and interested parents, and then provided time and space for a mini staff retreat at an inspirational setting in West Tisbury.
Dawn Warner, Leigh Ann Yuen and Takiema Bunche-Smith
At its first meeting in January of 2023, our DEI Committee drafted the following Mission Statement:
It is the mission of Garden Gate’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee to provide a place where everyone in our community feels welcome and invited;
a place where best practice assures that all children feel heard, included and supported;
a place where the adults acknowledge cultural differences and accept and explore diversity with an open mind;
a place where our children and their adults feel safe enough to explore, uncover and call out their own biases and vulnerabilities, where these conversations are normalized and emotional wellbeing is prioritized;
a place that provides opportunities for children to better understand themselves and others and their relationships as part of a community, of the world and of humanity;
a place where our children with brown skin are seen and heard and not judged or stereotyped;
a place that acknowledges a changing world and the changing attitudes towards race and gender;
a school that recognizes the importance of talking with children about these big ideas when they are young, when they are building the foundations of their knowledge and understanding of the world;
a school that welcomes the world into the classroom, that acknowledges the importance of a curriculum that brings other narratives to light;
a school that provides a place-based education that acknowledges, appreciates and educates about the historical diversity of this place, our island community;
a school whose policies and procedures reflect a commitment to this mission;
a place for children and families that cultivates true joy - not happiness, but joy - that deep inner sense of supreme satisfaction and peace that comes from within one’s self
We believe the work we are doing with Takiema, as a staff, and with the DEI Committee is moving us toward our goals. During the 2024 Summer Program, we will be exploring curriculum that honors the land and the Wampanoag people who were/are the original stewards of this land. The 2024-25 School Year will focus on implementing an anti-racist curriculum, using children’s literature as the springboard for meaningful conversations. We will be sharing more through the upcoming school year through regular DEI newsletters and look forward to engaging parents in conversation at our monthly parent meetings.
Please let us know if you are interested in joining the DEI committee or would like to speak with us about this work.