Current status
1. We honor diverse literature and music at our daily morning meeting.
- Teachers often choose stories from cultures other than our own.
- Teachers have given presentations about important events and heroes in history of Civil Rights in America.
- Wednesdays are specifically devoted to music from around the world.
- K-2 classes history curriculum rotates for three years:
- Ancient Egypt
- The Middle Ages
- Louisiana, including a study of the Native Peoples who settled here before the Europeans arrived
- 3-4 history curriculum rotates for two years:
- Ancient Asia, including India, China, and Japan
- Ancient Greece and Rome
- 5th Grade Humanities curriculum ties together geography (both physical and cultural), reading, and writing. The focus is primarily on Africa, North and South America, and Europe.
- PMK (Afternoon Kindergarten) includes a portion called Global Studies. Students learn about the countries by considering food, clothing, religion, arts and crafts, music, and language. Counties typically include: Mexico, India, South Africa, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, and Egypt.
- Foreign language begins in pre-K, and includes cultural lessons as well as language.
- Fu Ying visits each class weekly with lessons about Chinese culture and language.
- Teachers support authentic experiences for students by seeking out experts and natives and inviting them to the classrooms.
- Our Lower School library collection is extensive, and the librarians are conscious of ordering and displaying multicultural books.
- Our classrooms have extensive collections as well, and teachers are sensitive to featuring books about other cultures and underrepresented populations.
5. The “Culture of the School” supports diversity.
- Expectations for inclusion and tolerance are a strong part of the school’s culture and philosophy. The first rule new students learn in Lower School is “You can’t say ‘You can’t play’ at Country Day.”
- The sense of community is strong. Teachers know children across the divisions. Students from preschool to 12th grade know each other and are expected to treat each other with kindness and respect.
- All students are treated as individuals. Differences are regarded as a normal part of being a person. Our students are accustomed to being treated as individuals in terms of their academics, and this philosophy carries over into cultural differences being accepted as well. (A teacher described this as “We love on everyone.”)
- We have a welcoming faculty.
- Religious holidays from different religions are discussed in classrooms and Morning Meeting.
- Cultural differences are celebrated by learning about customs from other cultures.
- Music for the Winter Caroling includes songs in French and Spanish, and songs celebrating Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
- Newsletters keep parents informed about what is going on in the classrooms and specifically what their children are learning. Parents see the details of what is being taught.
- Teachers are open to parent ideas and concerns.
9. Specific programs support new students from diverse backgrounds.
10. New families are paired with veteran families (“Buddies”) to help new students and parents to feel welcomed and comfortable.
11. We have veteran parents who have facilitated the comfort of new under-represented parents to share concerns they may have.
12. Accommodations have been made to include physically disabled children.
13. Admissions works very hard to expand our diversity, including socioeconomic diversity as well as ethnic background and culture.
