This bulletin is the fifth installment of a regular series of updates to our school community about the Mark Day School Board of Trustees. We wanted to take a moment to update you about the work the Board is doing to achieve one of the central goals of our Strategic Plan: to broaden and strengthen our community.
As a school, we believe that diversity, in its many dimensions, is a prerequisite for excellence. We define diversity to include a number of socially significant differences, including but not limited to race, gender, socioeconomic class, sexual orientation, and religious belief. But creating a diverse community is not enough; we must also create an inclusive environment that sustains that diversity and ensures that each member of the community feels included. The Board understands that we share responsibility for creating and nurturing this kind of inclusive community.
To that end, here is a brief summary of some of the specific ways that the Board uses the lens of diversity and inclusivity in our work together.
• The Board, like the Mark Day School faculty and staff, has worked with the VISIONS, Inc. multicultural consulting group to develop a common language and set of tools for us to use in our work together. A considerable portion of the 2016 Board Retreat centered on using VISIONS, Inc. tools to deepen our collective understanding of multiculturalism, and reaffirmed our belief that creating an inclusive community will promote academic excellence.
• The Board's Diversity and Inclusivity subcommittee (part of the larger Governance committee) oversees board professional development around issues of diversity and multiculturalism. We also work to ensure that the Board uses an equity lens as we work on strategic and long-term planning. This subcommittee includes trustees as well as a member of the school's faculty and administration: Fernanda Pernambuco, the Director of Cross-Cultural Partnerships and Community Engagement; Rhona Lovett, Director of Finance and Operations; Lisa Becker, first grade teacher, and Joe Harvey, Head of School. To support our own professional development, members of this subcommittee recently read and discussed Peggy McIntosh's "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." This is a wonderful essay for anyone interested in understanding racial equity.
• One recent addition to monthly Board meetings is short "cultural introductions" that allow individual board members to reflect on the factors that shape their identity, and on the way that their identity shapes their lives.
• Each of the Board's committees (the Advisory, Campaign Steering, Finance and Development, Governance, and Site committees) has its own set of diversity and inclusivity goals. Each committee Chair is asked to weave these issues into the group's work together, and each committee aims to have a diverse set of voices brought to the table during its discussions and decisions.
• The Finance and Development Committee ensures that the school is using its resources effectively to achieve its strategic plans, and must always keep diversity and inclusivity in mind. The Finance and Development committee has worked to support the school's commitment to its global programs, for example, and has also attempted to build and support socio-economic diversity through the creation and roll out of Indexed Tuition.
• The Site Committee, which works to ensure site permanence and make plans for campus advancements, has been working to ensure that the new Learning Commons includes inviting spaces that all kinds of students will feel comfortable in and will appeal to different kinds of learners.
• The Governance Committee, which is tasked with nominating and electing new trustees, is always seeking to make the Board representative of the diversity that exists in our community. We are committed to having a diverse set of skills and perspectives to bring to the deliberations involved in setting strategic policies and planning for the school's future.
The Mark Day School Board is committed to helping foster a diverse and equitable school community, and in the process, to institutionalize multicultural change. As we plan for the future and work to ensure that the school has both the financial and leadership resources that it needs to achieve its strategic plans, we use the lens of diversity and inclusivity to guide our deliberations and reaffirm our commitment to broadening and strengthening our community.
Members of the Board of Trustees
Shalu Saluja, President
David Anderman
Sharina Belani
Trent Boorman '03, Alumnus Trustee
Amie Dewane
Alexander Fraser
Louisa Ransom Gloger '92
Phil Gutierrez
Joe Harvey, Head of School
Robert Hee, Vice Chair
JT Herman, Treasurer
Dan Kalafatas, Assistant Treasurer
Andrew Kawahara
Tom Levine
Michelle Mulkey
Deborah Pannell, Faculty Trustee
Sam Parker
Stephanie Parker, PA President
Steve Polsky
Terry Powers
Carl Reichardt
Andrea Salmi, Trustee Emerita
Eileen Sheldon
Nicole Stanton
