Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at ESA
I write to you today with an update and a couple of links. Ironically, or perhaps appropriately, this comes to you on a day where the differences that exist among the people of the United States have been highlighted for the world to see. At the beginning of last year, the Board of Trustees adopted a set of five strategic goals to guide our work over the next 3-5 years. One of those goals is the following:
- Continue building our Episcopal identity with an emphasis on a more substantive and diverse spiritual development program that has an eye toward producing ethical citizens with empathy in a diverse and complex world. Strengthen the ESA community with programs and policies that support diversity, equity and inclusion. Identify the intersections of these ideas and strengthen the links through the Center for Student Servant Leadership.
As part of that work, we have been promoting the ideas of civil discourse (which I wrote about last January), and as a starting point, our Board Diversity Committee, working with several of our faculty, presented a Statement of Diversity to the whole Board this fall that was unanimously adopted. It can be found on our website here. We, like many other schools around the country, are trying to strengthen the work we do around equity and inclusion. I recently presented a chapel talk about all of this to our Cade student body. I encourage you to take the time to watch this presentation; it lays these ideas out in a (hopefully) cohesive manner. It is about 20 minutes long, so I realize this represents a bit of a commitment! That is why I am including the link to the diversity, equity and inclusion page on our website for you to browse through in smaller chunks of time. The chapel talk outlines the inherent difficulty and the paradox of building a cohesive community that honors each individual. It is not something we can take for granted, and it is not something that will simply happen without our intentional work. But it is some of the most important work we can do. I cannot say it any better than the National Association of Episcopal Schools does in their Principles of Good Practice for Equity and Justice in Episcopal Schools.
- Dialogue, not monologue, fosters learning. The process of education involves give and take, concession and compromise, argument and debate: all products of the rich interchange which takes place when people of differing backgrounds and varied points of view come together and honor one another. Accordingly, Episcopal schools seek to thoughtfully balance their core identity as Christian institutions with an open and genuine hospitality that welcomes many voices and perspectives.
ESA has faced some of the same challenges that we are seeing across our country. There are many voices clamoring to be heard. Amid all of the chaos and the voices, I am reminded of a quote from Stephen Covey, “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” May we all do better at this! This is my New Year’s Resolution and hope for us all. Areté!
Episcopal School of Acadiana
Episcopal School of Acadiana is a private coeducational day school for students in grades PK3 through 12. Our mission is to instill in every student the habits of scholarship and honor.
Episcopal School of Acadiana (Lafayette Campus)
Episcopal School of Acadiana (Cade Campus)
ESA does not discriminate on the basis of physical disability, race, religion, gender, or national or ethnic origin.
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