Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

 We stand together.

All members of our community unite in solidarity with support and love.

Our students understand and embrace the strength of community. We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion provide the catalysts for fostering mindsets that lead to educational and personal excellence. We recognize that diversity offers the most dynamic environment for students to thrive when inclusion and equity are at the heart of our efforts. Our goal is a celebration of the unique and varied contributions each of us makes to this community, rather than a tolerance of differences.

FH values and celebrates the diversity and inclusion that enriches our society through the customs, traditions, languages, and perspectives of people of different cultures, religions, races, genders, sexual orientations, ages, abilities, ethnicities, and socioeconomic groups.

At Far Hills, we strive to find a balance of empathy, understanding, and optimism in student learning and create a sense of responsibility and hope in their understanding of themselves as citizens of the world. Our daily expectation that the Far Hills community will be guided by the pillars of respect, responsibility, leadership, kindness, and honesty will serve the students well when exploring critical questions about our constantly changing and complex society. Our job as a community is to help children access these tools and skills and use them to be creative, compassionate, and responsible thinkers. We are committed to this work, and our mission of preparing students for success in the modern world. We stand with all members of our community in solidarity with support and love.

Together, we:

• Listen. We invite open communication with current students, parents, and alumni, many of whom have indicated their desire to share their concerns and stories and recommendations. 
• Understand. We continue to review opportunities for faculty and student training in cultural competency that can begin internally and be followed by external training during the school year, reflective of age appropriateness. 
• Reflect. We consider how can we ensure anti-bias curriculums for students so they learn to express themselves and their beliefs, to celebrate differences, and to recognize their connections to others in the world.
• Discuss. We provide opportunities for safe spaces where students are seen, valued, cared for, and respected. We allow students and parents to engage in age-appropriate conversations and discussions on diversity, equity, and inclusion topics. 
• Collaborate. We empower all constituencies with common language and practices to promote anti-bias concepts in order to create safe, respectful, and equitable classroom and school environments for all community members.

Our faculty and staff are committed to expanding our diversity, equity, and inclusion work. At Far Hills, we:

• train with The Glasgow Group
• participate in the Widening the Lens Conference
• participate in a wide variety of professional growth opportunities, including leadership participation in a peer discussion to be facilitated by Tiffany Taylor Smith on June 9, 2020 

Through self-reflection, discussion, and initiative, our students can challenge inequity and push each other to be more empathic and thoughtful. More than ever, we need young people who can think critically, debate thoughtfully, and question appropriately. Present-day issues have created the demand for researchers and scientists and the need for responsible activists and citizens committed to education and dialogue.

Far Hills students:

• participate in the Anti-Defamation League's No Place for Hate Initiative
• engage with a variety of assemblies that address a wide range of cultures
• participate in service-learning with non-profit organizations in the local community
• benefit from Advising Groups in Upper School to provide a safe space for questions and dialogue

While much is uncertain, we do know that part of the solution starts with education. To that end, see below for some age-appropriate resources that may support you and your family.

All ages

• Teaching Tolerance 
• Talking to Kids About Race
• How to Educate Your Children on Protests & Riots
• George Floyd. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. What Do We Tell Our Children? 
• Helping Kids Process Violence, Trauma, and Race in a World of Nonstop News
• How White Parents Can Use Media to Raise Anti-Racist Kids
• Beyond the Golden Rule
• Books for Children and Young Adults that have won the Coretta Scott King Book Award 
• The Conscious Kid
• The Conscious Kid on Instagram

Elementary age

• Teaching Young Children About Bias, Diversity, and Social Justice
• 20 Picture Books for 2020: Readings to Embrace Race, Provide Solace & Do Good
• Schomburg's Black Liberation List for Kids

Grades 6–12

• PBS.org
• Schomburg's Black Liberation List for Teens

Additional resources

• What does it mean to be anti-racist?
• Resources for White People to Learn and Talk about Race and Racism
• Georgia Zaiser's June 1, 2020 letter to the community
• Transgender Awareness Week

Far Hills faculty and staff are reading:

• Blindspot by Mahzarin Banaji
• Biased by Jennifer Eberhardt  
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson 
• Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century by Alice Wong
• New Kid by Jerry Craft
• Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X Kendi
• The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias by Dolly Chugh
• Waking Up White by Debby Irving 
• Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together In the Cafeteria by Beverly Daniel Tatum