In the summer of 2020, ASH launched the Think Tank on Race, Diversity and Privilege, a collaborative critical thinking and reflection project in which many of our staff have participated over the course of the last year. Considering this month’s theme of ‘hearing and valuing every voice’, we revisited the Think Tanks position paper describing their inquiry processes with a set of recommendations, which were an outcome of deep self-examination and reflection.

Ms. Laskowski, one of the co-leaders of this think tank explained how this group initially approached working on these very important issues of race, diversity and privilege. They “assembled during the summer of 2020 to explore and address issues of equity at American School of The Hague. In consideration of the broad and sometimes disparate ways that issues of diversity and privilege manifest and are experienced in our community, the Race, Diversity and Privilege think tank identified four core areas for more specific study and divided into smaller sub focus groups: 1/ Race; 2/Gender & Sexuality; 3/ Mental Health & Disability; and, 4/ Home Languages.”

Each of these four sub groups then met and worked together to contribute guiding statements and recommendations that were put forward in the think tank’s position paper. They also included a summary on their process and methodology, what guided them and resources they found valuable in establishing their statements and recommendations. Below we are highlighting the statements and some of the recommendations of each sub-group. Stay tuned next school year, when we dive deeper into each of the sub-focus areas and hear more from the think tank participants who have put in so much hard work.

1/ Race
The guiding statement from this group in the position paper states, “ASH strives to implement policy, procedures, and curriculum that intentionally reflect the racial and ethnic diversity within and beyond our community, and that fosters safe, respectful, informed dialog in matters of racial identity, history, and experience.” This group tailored their recommendations to different members in our community, such as students, staff and recruitment. These included the broad goal to “equip staff with the language, history, perspective, and strategies needed for safe, respectful, productive dialog on race, both as colleagues and as teachers.” And at the student level, looking at a “curricular review at all levels to determine strengths and gaps in addressing social identity, diversity of perspectives, and respectful dialog.”      

2/ Gender and Sexuality
This group’s guiding statement reads: “Through our work in the Gender and Sexuality subgroup of the Race, Diversity and Privilege think tank, we determined that it is essential to establish and nurture an equitable school climate that is overtly welcoming and inclusive of LGBTQ+ students, faculty and staff.”  They also identified crucial areas where they could make specific recommendations for actionable change such as school policies, physical spaces, activities, hiring and recruitment, professional development, community experience, curriculum and content, and reporting/addressing microaggressions. Within these areas, some of the recommendations involved conducting audits and investigations into the experience of the ASH community, ensuring that policies and action plans are in place to meet the moment and explicitly define the school’s position on these important subject matters.

3/ Mental Health & Disability
“Ensure that ASH lives up to its mission: values every person, removing barriers, moving beyond integration to move towards a truly inclusion community in which we honor every voice. Recognizing that the inclusion program at ASH is in its infancy, we need to be responsible for creating a community of belonging. It is imperative that faculty and staff embed inclusive practices into their relationships and teaching,” reads the guiding statement from this group. One of their recommendations moving forward involves drafting and formalizing concrete procedural safeguards for students and families, with an emphasis on all stakeholders being involved in this process, to ensure any conflicts are acknowledged and incorporated into these safeguards.

4/ Home Language
In the position paper, this sub group identified their guiding beliefs as follows: “We recognize that it is a child's human right to use their home language at school. We understand that teachers, parents and students need education around how best to use home language(s) as well as English to benefit the learning process.” And, “we believe that multilingualism can be a powerful agent to increase understanding and connection between different people and groups, and therefore contribute to a better world.” They also identified recommendations based on key areas around our ASH community. These proposals included how to collaborate with families, ongoing professional development opportunities, and reexamining curriculum content to increase representation of the world's cultural population. 

A key conclusion that is made in this think tank’s position paper is that, “a key to embracing diversity is recognizing its inherent value. Our recommendations focus on developing understanding, fostering empathy and positively enriching the experience for all community members.” We look forward to delving deeper into each of these sub-focus areas, so please do keep an eye out for this in the coming school year 2021-2022.

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