Seventh Year at Town School for Boys

I was thrilled to return to Town School for Boys for the 7th year, fostering a culture of belonging!

This three-day consultation was an incredible journey working across various student grade levels, parents, and the Board.

Students

We have designed a rotation that allows me to meet with all student homerooms in a two-year rotation. This year, I engaged with second and third graders around defining diversity and belonging. Belonging is a Town core value so students are quite familiar with the concept. I also appreciated the insightful discussions with the fifth and sixth graders around stereotypes and identity-based jokes. Finally, I connected with the student of color affinity groups in grades 5th-7th, learning about their experiences, and integrating their perspectives into advisory lessons, curriculum, assemblies, and other meaningful learning opportunties.

Parent Education

The parent-school partnership is critical to fostering belonging in a school. During our workshop, I shared insights regarding belonging trends in independent schools, specifically in lower and middle schools. Then, we brainstormed strategies, leveraging a belonging case study, to empower parents with specific language and tactics to navigate belonging challenges.

Board

I had the privilege of convening the Town Board Diversity and Inclusion subcommittee, synthesizing content and insights from this consultation, connecting learnings to over 7 years of data from previous consultation, sharing trends and best practices, and brainstorming implications to inform a comprehensive belonging approach.

I love establishing long-term relationships with school clients and participating in the learning and evolution of students. As I worked with the current Town seventh-grade boys, they recalled exercises, videos, insights, and case studies from fifth and third grade. When I discussed belonging with the second graders, they recalled, with impressive detail, the Sesame Street video that we watched together in kindergarten or the song that I sang a few years ago as part of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.

I must also confess that the Town boys are quite witty. Every year there is one comment that stands out-- and this year is no exception. During my discussion with the fifth grade, we were brainstorming the myriad of ways that individuals can be diverse. One student named hair, and the class proceeded to name all type of hair- braids, short hair, blond hair, red hair, etc. One student, as he looked directly at me, reminded the class that, "Bald is beautiful!" Smart student!

I look forward to Year 8 partnering with Town School. Many thanks, in particular, to Lorri Hamilton Durbin, Flora Mugambi-Mutunga , and Jennifer Liu for their sustained leadership and partnership in this critical work.