• What readings, lectures, conversations, and activities resonated? What new learning occurred? 

• Why was this learning so powerful? How does this new learning affect me? How is it informating my perspectives on leadership and who I want to be as a leader? 

• How am I beginning to make sense of what I'm learning, and how will it inform my entry plan and internship goals? How do I want colleagues to view me, and what proactive steps will I take to get there?

• What have I read that helps me think about this? Are there links between theory and practice?

*****

It is near the end of a long afternoon on the last Saturday of a hot and humid August. As I fight the fatigue of the day, I attune myself to two speakers—one a Black woman, the other a Latino male—sharing with us the importance and meaning of Ohio State University Professor of Educational Administration Muhammad Khalifa's seminal text, Culturally Responsive School Leadership. Like their presenters before them, they barrel through slides in their presentation, bombarding a cadre of over-caffeinated and overwhelmed teacher-leaders with a dizzying array of words and phrases that seem cacophonous.

A hand not far from me raises. The person to whom it belongs is called upon to share his idea. “I appreciate what you all are doing, and I appreciate the information that you're sharing,” the voice begins. Chairs and bodies turn to face Evan, whose tenor as he asks the question can be defined as equal parts curiosity with conviction. “What I'm curious to know is what good DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] work does when every single one of my students is Black and brown. I guess what my question is, is, ‘How much does this actually get at the problem within the system of education and the massive inequality in it?’” Dissatisfied with the answer he receives, Evan acknowledges that his question was not answered and, in his words, “100% of my students are socioeconomically disadvantaged. Five students in your classroom are Black? Five kids in my school of 1,000 students are white. My kids are not getting enough food to eat. My kids are getting shot.”

Evan said the quiet part out loud.

I am the product of public, parochial, and private school education. However, for the past decade, I have worked solely in independent schools. Over the past five to six years, though, I have wrestled with this exact question: How can we as independent school leaders champion equity, inclusion, and belonging when the mere existence of our institutions—both the schools themselves and the system at large—perpetuates the inequity, the injustice, that exists in this nation?

I wrestle with this question all the time, and at Barrie School, those challenges are heightened. At Barrie, we buck trends seen in independent schools, while others nevertheless hold up. For instance, minoritized students and families comprise the majority of our population. However, faculty and staff demographics do not mirror that racial and ethnic diversity enough. According to our Director of Finance and Operations, $2.4 million of our approximate $10 million (~24%) in revenue goes to financial aid so that 1 in 2 students can afford a Barrie education. However, to help offset operating costs, Barrie eats into its endowment each year. As a result, although Barrie breaks even each year, it does so by running a deficit in its long-term financial sustainability. 

As far as student culture goes, the students have been described both in group meetings and in passing as miserable, discourteous, lethargic, even downright rude. Colleagues like Sam Polk chalk up student behaviors to the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic that disrupted education for three years. Meanwhile, other teachers, both white and nonwhite, attribute the students' attitudes to a kind of entitlement that comes with attending an independent school. Sam has expressed his frustration with his colleagues for not understanding the racialized and even racist underpinnings of these descriptions of our students. Meanwhile, other colleagues have expressed their consternation with how Sam and Ah-Young Song have “coddled,” in their words, the students and have not done anything about what they say is the “real” problem in front of them: Students who do not wish to be here and show it. My role, then, as DEI Director has been to address—and potentially solve—this dilemma. As I navigate my second year not only at this school but also in leadership in general, I find myself asking large questions about systems at Barrie: Which need sustenance, which need reform, and which need abolition? To that end, on the recommendation of my Head of School, I drafted an entry plan and spent my first year embarking on a listening and learning tour, acquainting myself with our faculty, staff, students, and families in a whole host of contexts. 

In his question and its subsequent contextualization, Evan brought up the tension between what leadership experts Ronald Heifetz et al. (2009) call technical and adaptive challenges. Technical challenges, such as frequent student tardiness, “have known solutions that can be implemented by current know-how. They can be resolved through the application of authoritative expertise and through the organization's current structures, procedures, and ways of doing things” (p. 7). Meanwhile, an adaptive challenge requires “changes in people's priorities, beliefs, habits, and loyalties” (p. 7). Put another way, technical challenges are short-term and immediate, needing no more than two or three sets of hands. By contrast, adaptive challenges need all hands on deck, tapping into the collective wisdom of our esteemed colleagues to effect positive change within the institution. 

My work at Barrie seems to strike a delicate balance between technical and adaptive challenges. More important still is that my work as both Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and member of the senior leadership (also known at Barrie as Heads) team identifies and tackles the latter most of the time, but is simultaneously perceived, even understood, as solely the former: I am there to offer one-hour training workshops, do cultural programming, and, for some, write policies longer than some legal documents. As a result, I feel compelled to explain to my colleagues that my work is not either/or but both/and. First is the both/and of responsibility: It is not solely my duty to do this work; it befalls all of us to learn and unlearn the habits of mind that shape the learning experiences of our most vulnerable students. Second is the both/and of senior leader and DEI Director: At times, I might have to think like a school administrator and consider larger ramifications about my work. For instance, I might not champion certain political causes publicly because doing so will jeopardize Barrie School's tax-exempt status. Lastly is the both/and of challenges: Some need a quick fix (sometimes for that moment), while others need careful, critical consideration before anything could be done. I will do all I can to ensure I can communicate this duality to everyone and ensure that I am not failing our students or perpetuating inequity. Instead, I will do everything in my power to ensure that we all can report to work each day so that we can shape the next generation of leaders to tackle the challenges of an ever-complicated future.

Reference

Heifetz, R. A., Linsky, M., & Grashow, A. (2009). “The Theory Behind the Practice.” In The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World (pp. 1–28). Harvard Business Review Press.