Equity and Inclusion

Equity and inclusion are at the center of our work at Maret. Ensuring healthy school life requires ongoing dialogue, self-reflection, and action towards ever more inclusive and equitable practices and policies.

Over the years, our work has expanded in both breadth and depth as we constantly re-evaluate what it means to be conscientious equity practitioners. We believe that, while imperfect and sometimes stumbling, we must remain on the path toward building a stronger community and, ultimately, a better world.

Current Initiative—Combatting Racism

Events across the country, as well as stories within our own community, have called us to set higher standard of inclusion and engagement. In 2020-2021, Maret convened the Anti-Racism Task Force (ARTF), which produced a report and a series of recommendations to guide the School in combatting institutional racism. These recommendations are the foundation of the School’s most recent anti-racism initiatives.

The ARTF Report 2021

Through our listening groups, survey, and @blackatmaret, we heard the call for immediate and real action; in conjunction with SF-CESS, we have identified the areas where work needs to take place. Many of the plans we have going forward will take time to allow for proper training and protocols to ensure we do this work right and in a manner that is lasting. Actions on other recommendations will begin in the next few weeks while some changes are underway already. Making these plans optimal and bias-free will be an ongoing and continuous process, as we are constantly fighting the biases we all bring to the common space of Maret.

Read the Full Report

Anti-Racism Task Force 2020-2021

In addition to the standing Committee on Equity and Inclusion and the Board of Trustees' Committee on Education and Equity, the School convened a joint Board and faculty Anti-Racism Task Force (ARTF) in June 2020. The Task Force worked through February 2021, sharing a report with the Faculty and Board in February and with the wider community in March.

Task Force Co-Chairs
Ian Cameron	President of the Board of Trustees
Courtney Cothran-Fenner	Director of Equity and Inclusion
Task Force Members
Nina Candia	Assistant Director of US
Susan Epps	Assistant Head
David Hall	Trustee
Allie Levey	Director of College Counseling
Krystle Merchant	Director of Community Engagement
Clif Morgan	MPA Executive Committee
Lex Sant	Trustee
Sylvia White	Trustee
Ex-Officio
Marjo Talbott	Head of School

Task Force Consultants

Greg Peters and Camilla Greene, of the San Francisco Coalition of Essential Small Schools (SF-CESS), are well-known consultants who work with many schools to combat racism, prejudice, and hatred. Roughly a decade ago, they, along with Eliza Alexander and Holly Hinderlie, helped Maret create and facilitate Deepening the Discussion about Race, our week-long annual faculty training.

Initiatives in Progress

Student Voice

Overwhelmingly, student voice needs to be incorporated throughout a number of our systems and especially in the spaces that are measuring and evaluating equity at Maret. This will include representation on the Anti-Racism Advisory Council, meetings with the Committee on Equity & Inclusion, and a regular feedback cycle between the student body (beyond Student Council) and the school administration.

Committee for Equity & Inclusion

This leadership team (known as CEI) has actually been in place at Maret for several years. However, with the recommendations from the equity audit, this team of leaders will expand in size, increase its meeting frequency in order to keep urgent issues even more at the forefront, and review recommendations from the Anti-Racism Advisory Council in order to shape school policy on racial equity.

System for Reporting Racial Harm

This is how people in our community can report an instance of racial harm. This could lead to a restorative practice protocol.

Restorative Practices

This system (a series of small meeting protocols led by faculty facilitators trained in Restorative Practices) will be our way of doing deeper reparative emotional work with students and faculty who are involved in an incident of racial harm. Part of this work involves self-reflection, as well as “making it right.” This does not replace consequences but works in conjunction with consequences.

Systems Needing Anti-Racism Structures

This is a re-examination of our processes in order to make them racially equitable; these systems include the make-up of our leadership, our hiring practices, our evaluation of students, and our relationship-building between faculty and students. This also includes embedding even deeper anti-racist work into our Wellness curriculum, where our identity and equity education currently lives.

Ongoing Professional Development for Faculty

Faculty and, in particular, school leadership should deepen their anti-racist work. School leadership should also make their own work a transparent model for the rest of the faculty. We will regularly update our wider community about the anti-racist steps we are taking in terms of our professional development.

A Racial Reckoning

This would be a large-scale project to codify Maret’s racial narrative and to make it known. This project would: (1) encompass the history of the land upon which Maret sits; (2) acknowledge the Indigenous people and all those who have lived on the land, as well as the seminal leaders of Woodley home and the School; (3) research the legacy of their identities and the narratives over time from across the breadth of our community; (4) identify changes in school demographics, achievements, and evolution of policies; and (5) publicly acknowledge and take responsibility for racial harm. We have begun working with faculty and students of the Woodley Historical Society to begin to process how we would complete this.

Anti-Racism Advisory Council

This is a body of individuals in our community (students, faculty, families, and alumni) who will work to proactively prevent incidents of racial harm from happening through shared observations about racial equity in the community.

Read the Full Report

Additional Recommendations

Anti-Racist Expectations for Faculty

We must create a set of baseline expectations for faculty as anti-racist representatives of Maret. This would include such elements as hiring, advising, teaching, collaboration, and evaluation. This would be part of a comprehensive program to prevent racial harm.

Anti-Racist Curriculum for Families

The school should develop a framework for teaching anti-racist practices to the parent, guardian, and caregiver community so that they will be aligned. This would be another component of the program to prevent racial harm.

Across-Difference Affinity

In conjunction with individual racial identity work and racial identity work within affinity groups, there should be increased opportunities for across- difference work between affinity groups. This would also be a component of the program to prevent racial harm.

Black Student Leadership

A direct quotation from the consulting firm is that “Maret should disproportionately elevate Black student voices and leadership in areas that matter most, as this equity audit is in response to the reality of @blackatmaret.” This would be a part of our ongoing anti-racist leadership development, which includes student leadership.

Read the Full Report

Leadership

Office of Equity and Inclusion

Board Committee on Education and Equity

The Education and Equity Committee of the Board is responsible for ensuring that the School is building an equitable and inclusive learning community. This includes reviewing Maret’s educational programs to make sure that they are consistent with and meet the high standards of the mission of the School. The Committee also ensures that the Board has in place policies and procedures that promote the principles of equity and inclusion in general and within the academic and co-curricular programs at Maret. The Committee reports to the Board about the nature, direction, and needs of the School’s educational programs and helps cultivate an appreciation for the broad diversity of the School.

Committee Members
David Hall, Chair
Suzy George
Colin Stretch
Ted Stettinius
Victoria Wassmer
Beth Wilkinson
Courtney Cothran-Fenner, Director of Equity and Inclusion
Maria Lopez, Assistant Head of School: Curriculum Development

Committee on Equity and Inclusion (CEI)

The Work of the Committee

To be a forum in which equity issues in the community (i.e., parents, faculty, and students) are processed
To plan equity and inclusion programming in each division
To ensure substantive professional development related to equity and inclusion for Maret faculty
To provide programming for our parents on equity and inclusion
To support forums for open and sustained dialogue on equity and inclusion in the Maret community
To monitor the progress made on Strategic Directions
To work with the Anti-Racism Advisory Council in order to improve campus life
With the Board Committee on Education and Equity, to monitor the progress made on recommendations of the Anti-Racism Task Force

Committee Members
Nina Candia, Assistant Director of Upper School
Courtney Cothran-Fenner, Director of Equity and Inclusion
Jaime Estrada, Chair, World Languages
Dana Krein, Humanities Teacher
Jung Lee, Third Grade Teacher
Krystle Merchant, Director of Community Engagement
Dominic Redd, Director of Middle School
Patrick Scott, Director of Middle School Admission
Marjo Talbott, Head of School
Steven Tejada, Director of Upper School

Programs

Every year we have a full calendar of events, discussion groups, workshops. Together, we learn, grow, and take action to promote equity and inclusion in our school and in our communities.

Adult listening to student in the Mixed Forum

Girl sharing with a table at Mixed Forum

Student Programs

Faculty Programs

Community Programs

Community Learning

In addition to planned programming, professional development, and our work towards meeting institutional anti-racism goals, Maret remains responsive to issues as they arise in our community and in society at large. Below, we share resources on topics we have been addressing with students, faculty, and parents.

Name Microaggressions

We believe that what we are called matters; what we call others matters.

Understanding and Confronting Anti-Semitism

Our community stands against anti-Semitism and seeks to confront and end all forms of it.

End Violence Against Asians and Asian-Elders

Recent events underscore the urgency of disrupting hate and bias against Asians and Pacific Islanders.

Additional Resources

Anti-Racist Resources in Response to COVID Bigotry

Checking in on Family and Friends

In times of crisis that may affect a marginalized group of people, you may have a deep desire to check on your friends, acquaintances, or colleagues who share that group's identity. Here are a few things that are helpful to remember about how to have those conversations:

If a person does not want to engage in the conversation, you should respect their wishes and end the conversation. People are experiencing many emotions—anxiety, fear, hopelessness, rage, sadness, and unnameable feelings. Not everyone is in an emotional position to share or wants to share outside of racial affinity.
If a person does want to engage, listen attentively and wholeheartedly. Do not make the conversation about yourself or say, “Yeah, I can relate...” or “Something similar happened to me when…” Instead, sit in the discomfort of what is being shared with you. If the person trusts you enough to open up, you should be brave enough to listen to what they say.
If you are someone who is not from the marginalized group and want to talk about your feelings, historical racism, xenophobia, racial injustice, or any related topic, do not seek people from the identity group in crisis for this but do talk to other friends or adults whom you trust.