Events & Announcements
November 3, 2021
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
IDEA Public Schools was founded on the radical belief in the unlimited potential of all students and has a long history of democratizing excellent education.
With this in mind, we continue to be committed to a mission of “College for ALL children,” ensuring more students from low-income backgrounds, students who would be the first generation in their families to attend college, and students who come from groups historically underrepresented in higher education have access to realizing their dreams by first completing their college degree on the path to becoming the future leaders of tomorrow.
To achieve our mission, we commit to be a diverse, equitable, inclusive and anti-racist organization, where we honor and include the voices, values, and beliefs of all our students, staff, alumni, families, and community members. This is essential to students’ academic, social, and collective growth, as well as to achieving equity and social justice across our schools, our organization, and our communities.
To realize this vision, we work collectively to increase our cultural competency and capacity to productively engage across all lines of difference. This allows us to identify, disrupt, and rebuild more equitable policies and practices for all our students, families, and staff. We recognize and are committed to the continuous learning necessary to be an organization that strengthens diversity, uplifts equity, and honors inclusion.
We believe the following to be true...
Diversity
The presence of different types of people from a wide range of cultures and identities, and with different perspectives and experiences that include, but are not limited to, the following: race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, language, socioeconomic background, physical and cognitive ability, religion and political affiliations.
Example in action
We create an environment where students and staff members of all backgrounds are made to feel welcome and encouraged to succeed.
equity
The process of driving for equally high outcomes for all by equitably distributing our resources and ensuring that barriers such as biased policies or practices that prevent equal opportunities for historically underserved or underrepresented groups to achieve fairness and realize their potential do not exist in our organization.
Example in action
We continually assess policies and practices and ensure the allocation of financial and human resources based upon fairness and confirm that all students and schools get what they need to be successful.
Inclusion
The process of intentionally putting diversity into action by creating an environment of involvement, respect, and belongingness — where the richness of ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives are harnessed to create value.
Example in action
Holding diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings for our staff to foster deeper understanding of these issues in alignment to our organization-wide anti-racist and anti-bias commitment towards action.
Anti-Racism and Anti-Bias
At IDEA we recognize that racism, bias, and privilege exist in society. We are committed to an organizational culture that promotes awareness, kindness, and inclusivity for our students and staff, and supports their path to positively impact our broader society. We are committed to recognizing the impact of racism and privilege, and commit as an organization to have equitable practices, policies, and structures.
What this will look like in practice:
CONTINUALLY EXAMINING mindsets, behaviors, and structures by engaging in ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings to build awareness, knowledge, and skills and engage in open discourse.
CHALLENGING the status quo and continuously examining our actions to ensure we do not have practices, policies, and systems that may contribute to inequities.
ADDRESSING the inequities that exist in our schools through acknowledging the broader social and historical context of the communities we serve and sharing power through inviting our students, families, and staff to be a part of the decision-making process in our schools.
ADVOCATING for our students and families by publicly engaging on issues that affect them and the communities we serve.
CULTIVATING an environment of deep belonging by prioritizing relationship, understanding the strengths and assets of the communities we serve, and embedding those
strengths and assets into our schools through living out our core values.
ONGOING learning and development to close any gaps between our commitments and where we are currently, which requires humility to grow, adjust, and change—even if it’s uncomfortable.
Download Commitment Statement:
Commitment Statement (English)
Commitment Statement (Español)
