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Strategic Plan 2011
Diversity and Community
Plan Goal #4: Prepare students to be successful and productive citizens of a global community.
Rationale
In an increasingly global society, students must be armed with knowledge of the world around them and skills to navigate familiar as well as new cultures that they encounter.
Strategies
- Schedule student assembly programs that focus on world religions and social identifiers including gender, race, socioeconomic status, religion.
- Conduct a school-wide curriculum review, with an emphasis on English and Social Studies, to increase attention to multicultural issues, global awareness, ethics and social justice.
- Create a Multicultural Department with a stipended Diversity Coordinator for each division to collaborate with other departments and support the implementation of multicultural content in the curriculum.
- Offer elective course offerings from this department and consider the establishment of a graduation requirement.
- Provide national and international service learning and travel opportunities for Middle and Upper School students.
Plan Goal #5: Increase the diversity of the faculty, staff and School Committee so that it reflects the diversity of the student body.
Rationale
The 2004 Strategic Plan set a goal to increase the population of students of color to 30% of the student body. The school has achieved and surpassed this goal. The diversity of faculty, staff and the School Committee does not match that of the student body. The diversity of the adults in the school community should reflect the diversity of students and their families.
Strategies
- Provide training for Ad Council and others involved in the hiring process on attracting, hiring and retaining faculty, administrators, coaches, and staff of diverse backgrounds.
- Develop opportunities for all faculty and staff to experience professional development and training in diversity.
- Expand initiatives to attract candidates of color to include parent outreach efforts, networking programs, and contact with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)
- Strive to include a person from a diverse background in every applicant finalist pool.
- Increase the efforts of the Governance Committee to recruit people of color to serve on the School Committee and ad hoc board committees.
- Consider the creation of an intern position in the Admissions Office for a person of color.
- Add the Director of Multicultural Affairs position to Ad Council.
Plan Goal #6: Promote a physically and emotionally safe community.
Rationale
The results of the 2009-10 Assessment in Inclusivity and Multiculturalism (AIM) survey at MFS reflected the need for all constituents to be more involved in promoting multiculturalism and inclusivity. Consistent with reported national trends, students and parents reported in the AIM survey that social aggression is a significant concern, particularly among Middle and Upper School students. Students, faculty and staff need additional training and support to safeguard the school community and to address student situations involving social aggression.
Strategies
- Institute a student peer leadership program in the Middle and Upper School.
- Schedule assembly programs, including student-run assemblies, which focus on social aggression, rumors, diversity, and cyber bullying.
- Utilize the Quaker education program, training in ethics, the implementation of the Owning Up curriculum, and other programs to assist all students, and especially students new to MFS in Middle and Upper School, in building a safe community and to set expectations for student behavior and interaction.
- Continue to provide training in student advising for counselors, advisors, deans, directors, coaches, teachers and staff.
- Provide professional development to train faculty and staff how and when to respond to social aggression.
- Make the school’s system of student discipline in response to instances of social aggression as transparent as possible.
Plan Goal #7: Build and support a diverse, vibrant and inclusive school community.
Rationale
Our curricular and extra-curricular programs can be used to foster greater school spirit among students, faculty, staff, parents and alumni. MFS seeks to encourage school-wide participation at events. Students should learn the importance of community and their responsibility as MFS community members. Faculty, staff, parents, alumni and trustees can model the behavior of informed, involved and active members of the school community.
Strategies
- Change the Upper School advisor system to create a closer connection between advisor and advisee.
- Create a task force to consider the ways in which the school could define and achieve excellence for one or more athletic teams. Possibilities could include summer sports camps, greater advertising/publicity, further opportunities for training, and extracurricular league teams.
- Promote greater school-wide school spirit. Continue to offer opportunities for all families to attend sporting, musical, and theater events. Communicate effectively about school-wide events, and encourage faculty, students, parents, and alumni to participate.
- Enhance and change the ways parents are educated about the school community. Consider creating a one-evening/multiple-topic night for parents with offerings on such topics as social aggression, technology, conflict resolution, and college guidance. Consider using transition evenings to discuss issues of community.
- Continue admissions efforts to attract students from diverse backgrounds, and consider ways to make the admissions process easier for non-English speaking parents.
- Encourage efforts to raise awareness of religious holidays and traditions and continue efforts to accommodate those religious holidays.
- Support affinity groups for parents of similar backgrounds and interests and establish a group open to all parents, which focuses on multicultural and diversity issues.
- Consider additional student affinity groups in Middle and Upper School, such as the current Martin Luther King Club, Gay Straight Alliance and Jewish Culture Club.
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