{"id":91663,"date":"2020-12-15T21:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/english-brentwood-school-leads-independent-k-12-schools-with-racial-equity-and-inclusion-initiative\/"},"modified":"2020-12-15T22:03:02","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T02:03:02","slug":"brentwood-school-lidera-iniciativa-de-inclusion-y-equidad-entre-escuelas-independientes-con-grados-kinder-a-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/brentwood-school-lidera-iniciativa-de-inclusion-y-equidad-entre-escuelas-independientes-con-grados-kinder-a-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Brentwood School Leads Independent K-12 Schools with Racial Equity and Inclusion Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\"><![CDATA[\n\/* Style Definitions *\/\nspan.prnews_span\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\na.prnews_a\n{\ncolor:blue;\n}\nli.prnews_li\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\np.prnews_p\n{\nfont-size:0.62em;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\nmargin:0in;\n}\n]]><\/style>\n<div class=\"xn-content\">\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">LOS ANGELES<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-chron\">Dec. 14, 2020<\/span> \/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE\/ &#8212; On <span class=\"xn-chron\">Monday, December 14<\/span>, Brentwood School (BWS), a private K-12, kicked off a year-long diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiative with an online keynote event. The project includes multiple segments: community forums; surveys of students, staff, parents\/guardians and alumni experiences; dialogue sessions; a curriculum review; and DEI consulting. It will culminate in a multiyear strategic plan that includes new staff training, accountability systems, and further initiatives at the <span class=\"xn-location\">Southern California<\/span> independent school.<\/p>\n<div id=\"prni_dvprnejpg3266left\" style=\"WIDTH: 100%; TEXT-ALIGN: left\" dir=\"ltr\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"prnejpg3266left\" title=\" \" border=\"0\" alt=\" \" align=\"middle\" imagelabel=\"General\" src=\"https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/1385268\/SchoolSeal_Logo.jpg\"\/><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;We want Brentwood to be a place of safety, equity, and respect for every single student,&#8221; <span class=\"xn-person\">Brentwood Head<\/span> of School Dr. <span class=\"xn-person\">Michael Riera<\/span> said, &#8220;Where our differences can make us better and where all feel welcome.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This summer, with a national backdrop of racial justice activism, momentum for change at Brentwood School accelerated. Social media postings from alumni and families via #NoBlackoutBrentwood, active engagement from the school&#8217;s Black Family Association, and an open letter to the school evolved into on-campus dialogue and action. In the last five years especially, private U.S. schools like Brentwood have experienced DEI flashpoints where a bias event spilled into social media, often going viral and creating demand for change.<\/p>\n<p>The Brentwood School initiative&#8217;s first phase will gather the perspectives and experiences of students, parents and guardians, faculty, staff, and alumni. It will also assess Brentwood&#8217;s social environment, curricula, communication practices, and disciplinary policies. Based on analysis of this data, the second phase will create a multi-year strategic plan to improve the experiences of all students, faculty and staff in a manner that is informed by data, evidence, and social science in this area. That plan will begin implementation in fall of 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Brentwood&#8217;s initiative represents another major step to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at the highly regarded independent school. &#8220;This project is a direct response to DEI-related concerns and calls to action that have been raised by members of the Brentwood School community,&#8221; Riera said.<\/p>\n<p>Previously launched DEI initiatives include creating a full-time Director of Equity and Inclusion position in 2016, adding a full-time Assistant Director of DEI in 2019, DEI-focused professional development, increased financial support for families with demonstrated need, successful hires of diverse staff and faculty, and DEI specialists embedded in each school division.<\/p>\n<p>Said <span class=\"xn-person\">Brian Lee<\/span>, Chair of the Brentwood School Board, &#8220;From a board perspective, we want Brentwood School to be a strategic leader in this work. This initiative is an important next step for our entire community, and we are excited for the journey that will follow.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This summer, Brentwood&#8217;s board commissioned a new DEI committee to help advance their work and to ensure successful integration of this new initiative with existing DEI efforts taking place at the school. Co-chaired by <span class=\"xn-person\">Erica Lockhart<\/span>, a Brentwood School alumna and parent of past Brentwood School students, and <span class=\"xn-person\">Walter Delph<\/span>, a current parent to Brentwood School students, this committee considered 19 diversity consultant proposals, eventually choosing The Center for Strategic Diversity Leadership and Social Innovation (CSDLSI), of <span class=\"xn-location\">Atlanta, Georgia<\/span> to spearhead the initiative. Founded in 2009 by award-winning diversity pioneer and author of the best-selling books <i>Strategic Diversity Leadership<\/i> and <i>The Chief Diversity Officer<\/i> <u><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3012236-1&amp;h=2899863864&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fsecureservercdn.net%2F198.71.233.51%2Fff1.ca3.myftpupload.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2FDAW_MediaKit_061717.pdf&amp;a=Dr.+Damon+A.+Williams\" rel=\"nofollow\">Dr. <span class=\"xn-person\">Damon A. Williams<\/span><\/a><\/u>, the Center brings a diverse team of seasoned educational and DEI professionals to the project.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Williams previously served as Senior Vice President for Youth Development and Educational Achievement for the Boys &amp; Girls Clubs of America, and Associate Vice Chancellor for DEI at the <span class=\"xn-org\">University of Wisconsin-Madison<\/span>. He noted, &#8220;We look forward to partnering with Dr. Riera, with Director of Equity and Inclusion Dr. <span class=\"xn-person\">Trina Moore-Southall<\/span>, and with the entire Brentwood community of students, families, faculty, staff, board, and administrators to create an environment that is inclusive and excellent for all.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Updates on the initiative&#8217;s progress will be publicly accessible on the Brentwood School website, at <u><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3012236-1&amp;h=1347744045&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bwscampus.com%2F&amp;a=www.bwscampus.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.bwscampus.com<\/a><\/u>. For more information about CSDLSI, please visit <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3012236-1&amp;h=1669898998&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fdrdamonawilliams.com%2F&amp;a=https%3A%2F%2FDrDamonAWilliams.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/DrDamonAWilliams.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Contact Information:<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li><span class=\"xn-person\">Shirley Blake<\/span>, Director of Communications, 310-889-2708, <u><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"mailto:sblake@bwscampus.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">sblake@bwscampus.com<\/a><\/u> <\/li>\n<li><span class=\"xn-person\">Gennifer Yoshimaru<\/span>, Assistant Head of School, 310-889-2752, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"mailto:gyoshimaru@BWScampus.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">gyoshimaru@BWScampus.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<div id=\"prni_dvprnejpg56a7left\" style=\"WIDTH: 100%; TEXT-ALIGN: left\" dir=\"ltr\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"prnejpg56a7left\" title=\" \" border=\"0\" alt=\" \" align=\"middle\" imagelabel=\"General\" src=\"https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/1385267\/LogoNEW_Logo.jpg\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Logo &#8211; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3012236-1&amp;h=3780407856&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F1385268%2FSchoolSeal_Logo.jpg&amp;a=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F1385268%2FSchoolSeal_Logo.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/1385268\/SchoolSeal_Logo.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Logo &#8211;\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/c212.net\/c\/link\/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3012236-1&amp;h=2101987032&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F1385267%2FLogoNEW_Logo.jpg&amp;a=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F1385267%2FLogoNEW_Logo.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/1385267\/LogoNEW_Logo.jpg<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>SOURCE  Brentwood School<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"xn-content\">\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">LOS ANGELES<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-chron\">Dec. 14, 2020<\/span> \/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE\/ &#8212; On <span class=\"xn-chron\">Monday, December 14<\/span>, Brentwood School (BWS), a private K-12, kicked off a year-long diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiative with an online keynote event. The project includes multiple segments: community forums; surveys of students, staff, parents\/guardians and alumni experiences; dialogue sessions; a curriculum review; and DEI consulting. It will culminate in a multiyear strategic plan that includes&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":91664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-educacion"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}