Diversity and Inclusion

List of 3 items.

• Response to Open Letter

  July 21, 2020
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  As the country mourns the death of civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis, who spoke at Tower Hill’s Forum during the 2000-2001 and 2008-2009 school years, we are called by his words to become “one country” and to “lay down the burdens of hate.” History has handed us all an opportunity to, once and for all, dismantle systems of injustice, racism and oppression that have plagued our country and communities.
  
  Tower Hill is taking action, and we continue to listen and to engage in meaningful conversations with alumni, current students and parents. We apologize to those among our school community who have experienced pain, not felt heard or suffered discrimination and injustice. We are heartbroken by your stories, and we must do better.
  
  We are fortunate to be engaged in productive conversation with several alumni who have offered an open letter to the school and extended community. We are reviewing the suggested action items with these alumni, sharing upcoming Social Justice Program plans and forming a Social Justice Task Force to ensure continued progress. We believe the ideas expressed in the open letter align with Tower Hill’s Commitments toward Social Justice shared recently with the school community.
  
  To summarize, these measures include:
  

  • Expanding diversity and anti-racist training for employees and trustees
  • Reinforcing accountability and ensuring support systems
  • Ensuring equity in hiring and compensation
  • Reviewing our curriculum
  • Focusing on admission and community outreach
  • Continually investing in our Social Justice Program

  Diversity and inclusivity enrich the educational experience and strengthen our overall community. Every student must feel comfortable, respected and safe, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation or social status. Culture change is hard work, but essential for healthy and vibrant schools. Tower Hill’s Strategic Plan includes building an engaged and diverse community as a core tenet, and our school culture has improved in a variety of ways. However, we will never rest on our laurels, especially in the area of racial equity and social justice. We cannot rest until our school community is a place where every student can leave at the end of the day with their full humanity intact.  
  
  In recent years, Tower Hill has selected a word for the year in order to focus our collective efforts as a school community. These words have included: Gratitude, Courage, Kindness, Integrity and Community, and this year’s word will be Unity. It seems fitting that we have alumni, parents, teachers and students who are united in this important work, as we together continue to improve Tower Hill. If you have experiences or feedback to share, please contact Director of Social Justice Dyann Connor (dconnor@towerhill.org) or Head of School Bessie Speers (bspeers@towerhill.org) directly or use this form. We also invite you to a series of Forums listed below. As the country honors the late John Lewis, we would do well to recognize that we all must take responsibility and unite to build a more just and equitable community.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  Elizabeth C. Speers
  Head of School
  
  Eric T. Johnson, M.D.
  Chair, Board of Trustees

• Commitments Toward Social Justice

  June 23, 2020
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  Over the last several weeks, we have engaged students, faculty, parents and alumni in discussion about social justice efforts in our country and at our school. We are proud of the progress Tower Hill has made in recent years, however, we have ongoing work to do.
  
  While Tower Hill does many things well, we have not done things perfectly and it is important to acknowledge that there have indeed been instances where we have caused pain. As individuals, we can all examine our personal biases and actions to help combat racism and inequity in our daily lives and in our communities. As an organization, Tower Hill will examine our institutional policies and systems to advance social justice in our school community. We must stand united in building a school culture that will never tolerate racism or injustice.
  
  To this end, Tower Hill stands committed to:
  
  Expanding diversity training  

  Tower Hill’s board of trustees, administration, faculty and staff will continue to participate in ongoing diversity and anti-racist training. The school will take a leadership position in facilitating local and regional social justice workshops and conferences, collaborating with other schools and organizations.
  
  Reinforcing accountability and ensuring support systems
  
Tower Hill’s administration will make sure lines of communication are clear and open so that students, faculty, parents and alumni can find individual and collective support, including voicing concerns that result in appropriate follow up.
  
  Ensuring equity in hiring and compensation 

  Tower Hill will be proactive and steadfast in hiring faculty of color, establishing a faculty fellow position that will be filled by an African American teacher. Our Director of Social Justice will continue to serve as Dean of Recruitment and Hiring, as we build a diverse pool of candidates during the hiring process. Faculty and staff will be trained in interviewing protocols and made aware of the role implicit bias can play in attracting, hiring and retaining faculty of color. In addition, Tower Hill will continue to review salary equity and retention success.
  
  Reviewing our curriculum
  Tower Hill will review curriculum in all three divisions to ensure diverse authors and perspectives in historical and contemporary content, providing students with opportunities to examine experiences both similar to and different from their own. 



   

  Focusing on admission and community outreach


  Tower Hill reaffirms our 2016 Strategic Plan objective to “build and engage a diverse and inclusive community.” This includes socio-economic diversity through continued investment in financial aid so that qualified students can attend Tower Hill. Meaningful academic and service learning opportunities through engaging with a broad external community will help Tower Hill to truly be a school of Wilmington and the world.
  
  Continually investing in our Social Justice Program
  Tower Hill’s Social Justice Program has expanded opportunities for students in all three divisions to learn about and discuss race, gender, religion, culture, sexual orientation, age and other aspects of identity. Equity and Inclusion Coordinators in each division will continue to work closely with the Director of Social Justice to foster dialogue, facilitate training, assess curriculum and educate students. Parent affinity groups supporting diversity (DISTINCT) and African American families (PAATH) will continue to support the school’s mission and goals in advancing social justice efforts at Tower Hill.
  
  As Bryan Stevenson, a civil rights lawyer and the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, said in this interview in The New Yorker, “We need to reckon with our history of racial injustice. I think everything we are seeing is a symptom of a larger disease. We have never honestly addressed all the damage that was done during the two and a half centuries that we enslaved Black people.” We can and must challenge our school community to be a kinder and more equitable place for all. Tower Hill stands firmly with our Black alumni, faculty, students and families, as we carry out our mission “to prepare students from diverse backgrounds for full and creative engagement with a dynamic world.”

   

  Sincerely,
  
  Elizabeth C. Speers

  Head of School
  
  Dyann Connor
  Director of Social Justice

   

  Eric T. Johnson, M.D.
  Chair, Board of Trustees

• Message from Head of School Bessie Speers

  June 1, 2020
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  This week our academic year will draw to a close, and we will do all we can to celebrate achievements, milestones and the Class of 2020. However, we would be doing ourselves and our school community a disservice not to acknowledge and reckon with the very real agony, pain and frustration that many of us are feeling right now. The horrific death of George Floyd and many other people of color before him has caused outrage in cities around our country, including Wilmington. People of color in our country experience threats of institutionalized racism and violence on a regular basis. We must do better as a country, and all of us are called to be part of the solution.
  
  There is no place for hate, discrimination or bigotry of any kind. As we stand as one Tower Hill community, we must pay great attention to our “moral arc.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reassured us that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice;” we must ensure a shorter arc, as our humanity depends on it.
  
  Tower Hill is and must continue to be a school of Wilmington and the world. When our community, country and the world are in pain, our school community is too. We must unite, act as one community and be clear in our conviction to oppose racism and bigotry. Our community values call us to commit to excellence, and right now this means supporting one another, listening instead of judging, and acting from a place of love and compassion.
   
  Tower Hill's mission to “prepare students from diverse backgrounds for full and creative engagement with a dynamic world” is our collective hope and could not be more important. Embedded within our school’s mission and front and center as a core tenet of our Strategic Plan is Tower Hill’s commitment to building an engaged and diverse community. We will not waver and are fully committed to being an inclusive community. To this end, our students, faculty and staff will continue to grow and learn more about diversity, equity and inclusion through curriculum, professional development and effective programming. There will always be work to do in this realm, and to this end, we must maintain a perpetual posture of humility and thirst for understanding.
  
  The words of Dr. Rev. Pauli Murray ring true and can bring us hope: “As an American I inherit the magnificent tradition of an endless march toward freedom and toward the dignity of all mankind.” As educators, we have an important role to play in this magnificent tradition, ensuring that our students understand theirs, because as a country the magnificence of this tradition has not yet been fully realized.
  
  It is important to me that we provide our students, families and one another support right now. We may worry about what to say or not to say, however, conversation and connection are part of the answer. Director of Social Justice Dyann Connor and her team are offering ways for students and faculty to connect this week, as well as some resources for teachers about engaging in difficult but necessary conversations. Let’s all commit to doing our part in creating a shorter “arc” and more “magnificent tradition.”

   

  Elizabeth C. Speers
  Head of School