DEI: Questions for understanding the initiatives in our schools | The Editor | 3 Min Read

For the past month, there has been no shortage of material published on the ways in which independent schools are addressing the issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Some schools have even added social justice to the equation. Without a doubt, Intrepid Ed News columnists will also submit their views on what schools could or should do, just as columnists from the national media have expressed. Our mission is to assemble a network of educator voices that, collectively, will help our readers, educators and parents, sort out the complexities of the many educational challenges, and help them formulate, reinforce, or rethink their own views. As such, my role as editor is to raise important questions for conversation and debate, but not to take a position or influence the thinking of our readers. I will attend to my responsibilities on the issue of DEI initiatives at independent schools.

Let’s begin with a couple of propositions that some believe to be true, but certainly might be challenged. First, almost every school acts with the best of intentions for their communities, and second, independent schools, by virtue of their selective structure, create inherent institutional obstacles to the ideal DEI environment. Each…

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Joel Backon

Joel Backon has been the Editor of Intrepid Ed News since its inception in January 2021, responsible for all educator content on the website. He joined the OESIS Network, owner of Intrepid, in 2019 as Vice President. Joel spent much of his career at Choate Rosemary Hall (CT) where for 27 years he held founding roles in Information and Academic Technology, as well as being a classroom teacher, curriculum designer, coach, dorm head, and student adviser. Prior to Choate, Joel spent 15 years in the printing and publishing industry educating printers on how to maximize their strengths and minimize weaknesses. He has crusaded to achieve consensus on the question of why we educate kids in an effort to meet the learning needs of every student.