Plural Commons Ventures

Our drive to realize Plural Commons is about enhancing the quality of the school experience, and about fulfilling our vision of a world made more hopeful because of the Greenhill community. Our Plural Commons Ventures constitute a multi-year plan that offers a sustained systematic approach to enhancing each person’s sense of belonging.
Reorganize the Office of Equity & Inclusion
what: OEI will reorganize to centralize hired personnel and create three advisory councils that represent school constituencies.
 
OEI Office Structure: The full-time Director and half-time Assistant Director will be joined by an additional half-time Assistant Director. The current Equity & Inclusion Coordinator structure was sunset summer 2021.
 
Advisory Councils:
  • The Student Inclusion Council will begin in the Upper School with 10 members – two representatives each from grades 9 and 10, and three representatives each from grades 11 and 12.
  • The Employee Inclusion Council will have up to 10 members – three representatives from the staff community, and at least one representative from each academic division.
  • The Family Inclusion Council will have 8 members; there will be one parent/guardian from each academic division and two members from the Board. There will also be two ex-officio members from the Parents’ Association Executive Board, the Equity & Inclusion Liaison Chair and Chair-Elect.
why: A centralized OEI office will enable the office to implement its program in a more nimble, strategic, and systematic way. Advisory councils will support and play an integral role in the work of the office by:
  • Serving as strategic thought partners for OEI
  • Acting as ambassadors for/from their institutional area
  • Assisting OEI with programmatic initiatives as needed.
Launch Date & Time Horizon: January 2021; 8 months
Partners: Head of School; Academic Division Heads; Student Leaders; Board of Trustees; Parents’ Association
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Regularly collect, analyze, and share data
what: Greenhill School will begin regularly gathering climate and culture data by using the NAIS Assessment of Inclusivity and Multiculturalism (AIM). The climate survey launched in 2021 across seven constituencies (students, faculty, staff, administrative leadership, families, alumni, and trustees), and this quantitative data will be used to construct focus groups for deeper engagement.
 
why: Data from the AIM study will serve to establish a school climate baseline that will be used to create an inclusion dashboard and trend analysis. The AIM self-study process will be given at regular intervals. Results will be used to refine current and future Plural Commons Initiatives.
 
Launch Date & Time Horizon: April 2021; 9 months
Partners: Senior Leadership Team; Greenhill community
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Set individual, departmental, and divisional inclusion goals
what: The Office of Equity & Inclusion (OEI) will lead the process of Inclusion Goal Setting for individual employees, departments, and divisions. Divisions and departments will set overarching inclusion goals that provide direction for members to craft individual inclusion goals. Ideally, all goals will be measurable, and achievable within a reasonable amount of time.
 
why: Establishing inclusion goals will facilitate a more strategically aligned community, which will further enhance our employee hiring and retention efforts.
 
Launch Date & Time Horizon: August 2021; ongoing
Partners: Senior Leadership Team; all employees
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Create gathering and learning opportunities @PluralCommons
what: The Office of Equity & Inclusion will intentionally create space @PluralCommons for:
  • Theme-based professional learning in the employee community;
  • Educational and relationship-building opportunities for families and the Board;
  • Platforms to engage with students at all grade levels on a regular basis.
why: Cultivating a sense of belonging in our ecosystem requires exposure to one another, combined with the courage and discipline to practice what we are learning in community. @PluralCommons will also be an essential vehicle for gathering feedback from students, employees, families, and the Board about their experience and sense of belonging.
 
Launch Date & Time Horizon: September 2021; ongoing
Partners: Inclusion Councils; Academic Division Heads; Senior Leadership Team
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Inspire a more equitable and inclusive academic experience
what: Greenhill will enhance its current curriculum and teaching methods to create a more equitable and inclusive academic experience. This work will be led by the Equity & Inclusion Director, academic leadership, and external consultants as a part of the larger curriculum alignment-project identified in the strategic plan. Work will include ensuring that students feel represented in the curriculum while understanding the wide variety of voices and perspectives that make up our world.
 
why: Greenhill School is alive academically, and it is essential that our academic experience be life-giving – suitably reflecting the world as it is while imagining the world as it could be. By defining academic excellence as fundamentally including diversity, we are adding to traditional measures, (like level of challenge or performance record), and preparing our students to thrive in an increasingly interconnected world.
 
Launch Date & Time Horizon: Fall 2021; 3-4 years
Partners: Academic Division Heads; Academic Director; Consultant
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Craft an Institutional Statement on Discourse
what: Greenhill School will create a Statement on Discourse that articulates our commitment to accountable discourse – the rigorous engagement of ideas that leads to constructive action. Accountable discourse invites conversation partners to wrestle with ideas, to ask questions, and to discern a meaningful, practical response to what was learned during the conversation.
 
why: Greenhill’s Statement on Discourse will aid in meeting our mission to help students lead lives of significance – to themselves and for others. This statement will give collective language to our commitment to foster a dynamic learning environment where diversity of thought and experience is encouraged.
 
Launch Date & Time Horizon: Spring 2022; 6 months
Partners: Communications; Academic Division Heads (or their designate); Academic Department Heads; Inclusion Councils
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Create a PK-12 inclusive leadership development program
what: Leading Difference: A PK-12 Inclusive Leadership Development Program is a leadership-based co-curricular program that:
  • begins in prekindergarten;
  • builds age-appropriate leadership skills; and
  • yields measurable outcomes through to grade 12.
All students will participate in the program by incorporating programmatic elements into the academic day and the formal curriculum where possible.
 
why: Twenty-first century leaders must lead in a fiercely dynamic, extraordinarily diverse, and remarkably interconnected world. The most successful leaders ahead will be those who understand difference as an asset.
 
Launch Date & Time Horizon: Fall 2022 (begin research and planning);
By June 2023 (creation of a pilot); By January 2025 (pilot launch and assessment);
From August 2025 (graduated full rollout)
Partners: Academic Division Heads; Director of Service Learning & Community Service; (Social Science) teachers across academic divisions; student leaders; selected parents/guardians and trustees; external leadership scholar(s)

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