St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School thrives on a diverse culture made up of many different races, ethnicities, sexualities, and religions. Our school wouldn’t be the same without our diverse backgrounds and cultures, but with the new executive orders from our government, will our school’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) values change?
The U.S. government recently issued an executive order to remove all DEI from various workplace environments, businesses, and schools. The White House published an official statement regarding the dismantling of DEI on January 20, the same day President Trump was sworn into office; “The public release of these (DEI) plans demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination. That ends today. Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great.”
On January 29, President Trump signed an executive order that makes it difficult to teach and be involved in diverse atmospheres at school and at work places. Executive Order 14190, “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” makes it especially hard for teachers to teach about gender and critical race theory. Teachers may feel restricted in teaching about these broad topics, and students may feel restricted in expressing their true selves in the classroom. These executive orders aim at DEI in public sectors, which leaves private employers (for instance, our school) hesitant on how to move forward with their DEI programs. This isn’t just happening within private grad schools, though. Private universities like Harvard and Columbia are battling with the Trump administration as well, and Harvard is even suing the administration over these new rules.
According to the law firm Holland & Knight, the Trump administration is not only trying to “end DEI within the federal government, but also extend such action to any and all private companies that provide any services, irrespective of to what extent (e.g) 1 percent of all the private company’s activities or revenue,) either directly to the federal government or to others as a result of receiving government grant(s).” Holland & Knight explain how the executive orders could soon be installed into private institutions and workplaces, which could be a major issue to our SSSAS community.
The question is, how does this play out in our school? According to Mrs. Adams, the Head of the Upper School, “We do not receive any federal funding, or any state funding, so the executive orders currently do not apply to St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes.” Meaning the changes happening in our government won’t affect how our DEIB program is run at our school.
Some might get confused on what DEI goals really include. “People immediately see DEI and they think race and ethnicity, right? But it really involves so much more,” said Mrs. Davis, the Director of Institutional Equity and Diversity at St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School. An assumption often made by people about the DEI program is that minorities get advantages that are unfair. But, the goal of DEI is to make sure that everyone gets the equitable opportunities. Mrs. Davis explains that “There’s a lot that goes into programming around the DEIB work that we do here, and it’s really all about making sure that the student experience is equitable. It involves making sure that kids get whatever they need to be successful.” This means that our DEIB program not only just focuses on race and ethnicity background, but also students with learning disabilities, or a part of the LGBTQ+ community who need extra support. An example of what this looks like at our school is our academic center or even advisory.
There are so many aspects to the DEIB program, and one thing that SSSAS endeavors is making sure everyone feels belonged in this community. One thing that makes our school different is that we add the “B” to DEIB. That “B” stands for belonging. Mrs. Adams recalled that “To live out our mission of honoring every person as a child of God in a caring community is really what our DEIB program is all about, and making sure that we have equitable experiences for everyone in this community.”
