A Call for Change

In recent weeks, our school life has exploded into a whirlwind of hurt and conflict. The bubble many of us have been living in for years has been struck down as we discover the seeds sown by centuries of hurt beginning to surface. A series of recent social media posts have highlighted the problems of racism, homophobia and discriminatory biases at our school and people are calling for change, a call which the school must answer to.

We, as Phocus, decided to sit down with Mrs Reed to learn about the process of change that the school is taking to tackle these issues.Transparency is the key to accountability, so in order to ensure that no empty promises are made, this article will help to outline the process of transformation that our school hopes to continuously strive towards.

The leadership of ISCT had started discussing ideas of transformation before the events of last term, but this process was prioritised and accelerated as the urgency of the situation was revealed. The first step to beginning this process, as highlighted by Deputy Principal, Mrs Reed, is to listen to each other. In October, ISCT has been focussed on gathering information about the issues in our school community through discussions and surveys to students, staff and alumni. In the initial week of the month, a survey was sent out to all high school students, compiled from sections of the University of Michigan’s Campus Climate Survey on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. This survey focused on how the student body felt within the school, concentrating on whether students felt valued, respected and able to express themselves at ISCT and whether they felt that the issues of diversity, equity and inclusion were talked about enough. The anonymous results of this survey were put towards a panel of staff and students, including members of the Student Leadership Forum representatives, in order to analyse the feelings of the student body and discuss ways in which ISCT could change to make it a truly diverse and inclusive school community.

Many ideas were generated by these discussions, with students suggesting concepts such as pronoun badges, additions to religious studies and an introduction of a diversity portfolio. The process of implementing these ideas will be done through the election of two passionate students who will form part of a task team made up of a small group of staff, students, parents and alumni. This team will write up a Transformation and Diversity Policy, including clarity on the school’s responsibilities in situations of discrimination and how to address these problems. Once this policy has been written it will be submitted to the school leadership to be passed.

The next phase of this process will be the act of implementing this policy and putting forward other suggested changes for the school’s leadership to consider. In order to continuously strive for this change, a transformation and diversity plan will continue to be drawn up, to highlight key issues in the school and how to tackle them. As the plan develops it will be evaluated and the effectiveness of the implemented changes will be discussed.

   * * * * * * * *

As a person who has not had the horrors of discrimination inflicted upon me, I used to think that change was not necessary. I made the mistake of thinking that a diverse school meant a school with little discriminatory biases, but listening to the people around me has shown me that this is not true. It is not enough for an environment to include people from a range of different backgrounds; diversity must be celebrated and not just accepted.

Listening to others can give everyone a chance to truly reflect, but it is up to the privileged to educate themselves. This process of transformation is a long and ongoing one; it requires a great amount of continued dedication, implementation and, sometimes pain. No matter how long it takes, this change is necessary and must be followed. In the words of Mrs Reed, “We’ll know we are successful when the students say we are. When we know that everyone feels safe, celebrated and that they belong.”

By Caitlin