At Burgundy we endeavor to start every year with activities that help us learn about and integrate the diverse backgrounds and cultures of our student body. The overall goal is to make every student feel welcomed and comfortable enough to learn.

This year we began our work with an all community goal articulated by our 11 member Faculty and Staff Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee that reads as follows:

Our goal this year is to create an honest, authentic community where people feel safe to be themselves, feel known and respected, so we can learn and grow together.

We began action towards this goal during opening workdays with activities for faculty at the Cove that facilitated a process of sharing who we truly are, the various cultural, racial and ethnic communities we belong to (mothers, women of color, first generation, etc.). We focused on the impact of belonging to these communities on who we are as people, our roles at school as student-centered professionals, and as colleagues to each other. Using our own activity as a template we designed opening processes with each class to encourage deeper sharing by each student. We then reimagined our Opening Back to Burgundy Barbecue, transforming it into the Taste of Burgundy, a community event where the culinary cultures we bring from home could mingle with each other into a unique blend, the food reflecting the blending of our many cultures and communities comprising Burgundy Farm Country Day School.

As a progressive school we have always wholeheartedly embraced the fact that children learn most deeply when they feel truly known and when we accept and celebrate the diversity of voices brought to the table by each of them. Brain research has confirmed the power of really knowing each learner, and we feel this is the job of each educator. This imperative also demands that we understand our own feelings and biases about cultural differences, because science tells us that everyone has unconscious biases. Using the guidance from our faculty, this summer we read Culturally Responsive Teaching & THE BRAIN by Zaretta Hammond, and we are moving forward this year with a deepened sense of commitment to engage and know all aspects of ourselves, of each student and each family. This means understanding and celebrating the varied cultures represented in our student body and programming accordingly. We invite each Burgundy family on this journey with us. As the year progresses, look out for opportunities to join us in learning about and celebrating the various ethnic, racial and cultural backgrounds that make up this community. And as always we welcome any ideas you have to support this work for all of us.