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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice

 

DEIJ at DVFriends

 

Delaware Valley Friends School is committed to building and sustaining a learning community that respects and embraces diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ). As a school founded and rooted in the Quaker tradition, we believe everyone possesses an inner light and has inherent worth. Furthermore, we believe that the inclusion of diverse voices leads us to make wiser decisions and enriches the nature of our interactions. We nurture a safe and empowering environment that encourages and values individual expression and collaborative engagement.

 

We recognize our role and shared responsibility in striving to support our community of learners to champion change, eliminate bias, and advocate for the inclusion of and appreciation for all people, regardless of their cultural backgrounds and identities. We joyfully celebrate and are proud of our diverse identities which include (but are not limited to) learning profile, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, family structure, age, national origin, viewpoint, and ability. Our respect for diversity, equity, and inclusion is clear and abundant in our mission, our program, our outreach efforts, and our admission and hiring practices and procedures.

 

It is our aim to promote active participation, empathic understanding, and informed cultural awareness within and beyond the walls of our school.

 

DVFriends Diversity Statement | 2019

 
DEIJ Work at DVFriends
The DVFriends community engages in a variety of activities designed to support diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice inside and outside of our school walls. 
 

Our faculty and staff receive extensive training and professional development on the societal systems and how they shape how one sees and moves through the world. As well as helping our students develop critical thinking skills that help shape the lens through which students build an understanding of the world. 

 

Students play an important role in helping our community learn and connect across differences. The following affinity and student groups help to shape DEIJ student-centered programming and education at DVFriends. 

  • Belonging & Inclusion Group
  • Black Student Union (BSU)
  • Feminism Group
  • Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) (middle and upper school groups)
  • Middle School BIPOC Group
Parents/caregivers also play an important role in the DVfriends community and DEIJ. It is important for parents to have their own space to form a community based on shared identities and/or lived experiences. To support this connection DVFriends supports the following parent/caregivers affinity groups. 

 

BIPOC Affinity Group -- Parents/Caregivers of students who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)

 

Adoption Affinity Group -- Parent/Caregivers of families that have been touched by adoption, foster care, or kinship care in any form. 

 

LGBTQ+ Affinity Group -- Parents/Caregivers of students who identify as LGBTQ+ or they themselves identify as LGBTQ+.

The School shall not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, sexual identity, age, disability or marital status in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, athletic and other school-administered programs, or in hiring, use of volunteers or board membership. 
Please read our article "DVFriends is a Place of Belonging for Students with Learning Differences," which was previously featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer.