DEIB Statement
In June 2021, Carondelet adopted the following statement with unanimous approval by the board of trustees. This statement is intended to unify and align our community and stakeholders as well as illustrate what is important to us as an institution and to help guide our decision making, and accountability.
At Carondelet our unique spirit is guided by the tradition and legacy of our founders, the Sisters of St. Joseph, and our commitment to model our mission of unifying love. We remain steeped in the CSJ charism to move always toward love of God and love of neighbor without distinction, which serves as our mandate to provide a fully inclusive and equitable environment that fosters a more diverse community.
We are called to serve our dear neighbor without distinction, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, generational history, culture, socioeconomic class, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship status, political perspectives, geographic origin, and physical ability. Through understanding, engagement, and empowerment all community members can flourish and reach their full potential.
Advancing strategies for enhancing equity, diversity, and inclusion while combatting discrimination, racism, and injustice achieves and demonstrates our shared values of upholding dignity for all.
As an inclusive CSJ community, we are uniquely challenged to respond to the needs of the times. We recognize our shared values and responsibility to act for justice, human dignity, and combat racism and discrimination. By operating with high ethical standards we become the change we wish to see in our community.
We believe that diversity and social justice are fundamental components of educational excellence and the advancement of knowledge. Across our academic and athletic campuses we promote positive school climate, equity, and inclusive excellence through programming, events, training, policies, practices, and resources.
We challenge our educators, students, families, and alumnae to continue authentic conversations, examining our actions, and growing in our individual and community understanding. Recognizing that our voices and actions do matter, we must listen, educate ourselves, advocate on behalf of the marginalized, be open to and share the perspective of others, speak out, reflect on our own words and actions, and actively work toward systemic change.
Our commitment to create an environment that is physically, personally, spiritually, psychologically, and academically safe for all students and staff is long-term and requires collaboration.
We are all connected. What happens to one affects us all. We accomplish more together than apart.
Actions taken in fall 2020
Our commitment to these values is unwavering—across all of our work, inside and outside the classroom. They are central to our mission and impact. We know that having varied perspectives helps generate better ideas to solve the complex problems of a changing and increasingly diverse world.
We are infusing these values throughout our internal culture, systems, and practices and have recently taken the following deliberate steps:
- Discontinued our Parent Involvement Program (PIP) to alleviate the burdens of a mandated volunteer process for our families and create more authentic and participant- driven volunteerism on campus and within our community.
- Removed the work requirement for students receiving tuition assistance and introducing new opportunities for our entire student population to contribute to their school community through service.
-
Strengthened our ability to recruit and retain exemplary diverse faculty, staff, and leadership.
Introduced the Sisterhood Fund as a solution to bridge the gap between tuition and the experience of being fully immersed in the Carondelet sisterhood with the goal to offer funding assistance for school dances and events; spirit wear and athletic gear; junior rings; club participation, athletics or campus ministry immersions; and important basics like food from the Garaventa Cafe, school uniforms, and school supplies. - Disseminated an alumnae survey on DEI that generated nearly 800 responses to inform efforts to advance the movement.
- Hosted Listening Circles with faculty, staff, and students on the topic of racial injustice, particularly in response to instances this past summer.
- Devoted a significant portion of start-of-year preparation and professional development to DEI and our school community.
- Audited academic department curriculum with intent to diversify sourcing across subjects.
- Introduced plans for a student DEI Council to support the efforts of affinity groups and provide school-wide programming, service, and advocacy opportunities.
- Retained Director of Operations bringing extensive DEI experience and expertise in restorative practice training and promoting culturally responsive learning environments.
- Focused efforts at the annual Board of Trustees retreat on identifying needs and opportunities to partner with school leadership to enhance opportunities, representation, and resources toward DEI initiatives.
We aspire to achieve a lasting impact throughout our entire Carondelet community in service of the dear neighbor without distinction. As a result of our progress, we have changed the conversations we are having as an organization and paved the way for deeper, more lasting, and inclusive change. We will continue to view our progress through the same social justice lens that drives Carondelet’s efforts to ensure that our culture and behaviors reflect the just world we intend to create.