Equity and Justice

Pine Cobble School is committed to equity and justice. Indeed, we have made this a core priority in our five-year strategic plan. This work is critically important — for all of our students, for our institution, and for the world that our students will someday lead.

Among our efforts:

• Our IDEA (Inclusiveness, Diversity, Equity, and Action) committee is dedicated to examining and deepening inclusiveness and equity in both our community and curricula. 
• We have made a commitment to amplifying historically marginalized voices in all aspects of our curriculum, especially in literature, history, social studies, and the arts. Our intellectual inquiry increasingly reflects and considers broad perspectives and cultures.
• Because the arts are such a powerful way to explore different narratives and reflect meaningfully on issues of equity and justice, we take full advantage of the area’s rich cultural resources. We bring students to museums and other cultural institutions to explore works by artists from marginalized communities. Wherever possible, we bring visiting lecturers to campus to explore these ideas with our children.
• Through exercises inside and outside the classroom, we actively teach our students two related ideas: first, that their individual voice matters, and second, that their individual perspective is informed by their unique experience in the world, of which there are many. Paradoxically, the more students feel heard, the better able they are to listen to others.
• We teach students to listen to one another, thoughtfully and respectfully.
• All of our faculty and staff receive ongoing training in implicit bias — a subject that we discuss frequently and thoughtfully. We also promote ongoing continuing education around issues of diversity and equity via faculty inservice days.
• As we do this work, we use our character pillars — like respect, compassion, and honesty — as our guides. We try to be honest about the limitations of our own perspective, aware of the experiences that have shaped us, and responsible/ courageous to embrace these conversations, even when they are uncomfortable.