ICS Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Irvington Community School’s mission, vision, and belief statements necessitate our entire school leadership and staff’s unified commitment to DEI work. For example, two of our belief statements are as follows; “children learn best when they feel safe and have a sense of belonging,” and “all children have the potential to be successful learners and members of society.” Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work is the means to turn those beliefs into reality for the students we serve. With a shared commitment must come a shared understanding of what Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion means to Irvington Community Schools:
Diversity: Psychological, physical, and social differences that occur among any and all individuals, such as race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, economic class, age, gender, sexual orientation, mental and physical ability, and learning styles. A diverse group, community or organization, is one in which a variety of social and cultural characteristics exist. (The National Multicultural Institute)
Equity: An understanding that members of the Irvington Community Schools’ learning community come to us with all manners of advantages and disadvantages. In order for all to have access to opportunities that provide successful outcomes, the layers of structures and supports need to be differentiated.
Inclusion: The state in which all members of the Irvington Community School’s learning community feel valued, invited, given voice, respected, supported, and have a sense of belonging.
With this shared understanding and shared commitment to DEI work, the Irvington Community School Board of Governors offers their support for the school leadership’s on-going action planning to address priority areas of refinement identified through the Beloved Communities Equity Audit:
1. All students, staff, and families, across demographics and identities, self-report a high sense of belonging in our school community.
2. Attract a diverse faculty/staff and Board of Governors who are representative of the students we serve.