About

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Friends Community School is committed to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive educational community.

"The more we can do to teach our community to be truly anti-racist and non-discriminatory--and to recognize and correct it when they or others make mistakes--the sooner we will help transform our society into one that is truly inclusive, equitable, and just."
- Diversity Minute from the Board of Trustees September 14, 2020

Ways We Do Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work at FCS

The following initiatives are informed by the work of our Board, Faculty, and Student Diversity Committees.
Throughout each year we host student-led events that celebrate the diversity of our community. These include experiences like the African American Read-In and our Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Day celebration, which are both coordinated by our Student Diversity Committee.
Since 2019 the FCS Board of Trustees, Staff and Faculty have received professional development led by the Glasgow Group, which specializes in "providing skills, tools, and experiences through a lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion that enhance and deepen schools', organizations', and individuals' capacity for transformation."

DIVERSITY/INCLUSION STATEMENT

Friends Community School is dedicated to fostering an equitable and inclusive educational environment that affirms the dignity of all people. As a Quaker school, we believe there is that of God in every person and strive to be a place where all people feel a strong sense of belonging. We value and celebrate the diversity of our community in terms of race and ethnicity, culture, ability, religion, gender identity and expression, sexuality, family form, socioeconomic status, and all their intersections.

The FCS community is committed to:

Empowering students, faculty, staff, and our whole community to advocate for themselves and each other.
Centering historically marginalized people.
Teaching loving and responsible ways of being in community across differences.
Integrating a pedagogy of social justice throughout all aspects of school life.
Dismantling systems of exclusion, inequity, and oppression.
Inspiring students to express pride, confidence, and healthy self-esteem without denying the value and dignity of other people.
Learning from our mistakes.

Through these commitments, our students will learn to identify and address injustices, develop their vision of a caring and just community, and position themselves to be builders of a better future.

Approved by the Board of Trustees 12/12/2022

List of 1 news stories.

Diversity Minute from the FCS Board of Trustees

The FCS Board of Trustees would like to communicate the following Minute on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Friends Community School which was adopted by the Board on September 14, 2020.

Recent events have made the systemic racism and inequities inherent in our society glaringly clear. Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) have been subject to police brutality and all manner of economic and structural racism for generations. This has led to health, employment, and housing circumstances that are resulting in BIPOC being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. As the summer of protest and civil unrest has brought these facts to the forefront of our national conscience, we clearly see that we must change. We have learned that, as a society, we must collectively work to eradicate racism and build a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive society.
Read More

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion News

Amazing Peace: FCS Students Receive Maya Angelou Quarters

In March of 2022 every FCS student and staff member went home with a brand new Maya Angelou quarter. The quarters were a gift from June Confer, a lifelong supporter of the school and admirer of the poet. She explained that the idea to share these quarters with FCS came to her almost as soon as the new design was announced. “I thought, well, a quarter isn’t very much, but it is a reminder of the creativity, grit, and love that Maya Angelou’s work speaks to me. And it is a thank you for the gift that diversity brings to the school.”
Interview with Shouvik Mondle

Soo Young Chrisfield, our Lower School music teacher, recorded an interview with Indian American opera singer, Shouvik Mondle that she shared with her classes this month and we are sharing with the community here. Shouvik Mondle is the first Indian to break into the opera and musical theatre. He is the first person of color to sing the title role of Phantom of the Opera. He lists about 50 opera roles and 35 musical theatre roles on his resume.
Learning about the Immigrant Experience

For the past several weeks 5th graders have been studying the story of immigration in the United States both through a collection of classroom texts and through interviews they’ve conducted with family and friends. Last Thursday they had the opportunity to visit with high schoolers in the Mi Refugio program who shared their experience coming to the country with little more than the clothes on their backs.
Middle School Advisories Create a Collaborative AAPI Presentation

Co-Coordinators of the Middle School advisory program Lisa Woodward and Brighid Willson have spent the year creating timely programming for students. In the month of May, that led to a deep dive into the lives of influential Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. “Students made slides about different people and their contributions to American culture,” Brighid explained. Each advisory focused on a particular industry or art form and you can view this collection of their work here.
Our Library has Grown!

Thanks to donations, recommendations, and new purchases the FCS Library now features many more books by Asian American and Pacific Islander authors and illustrators. You may request any of these books (and many others) about AAPI heritage, culture, or history from our school librarian Carol MacAdam to sign out to your student. Please look up the books in the online catalog at: http://tinyurl.com/fcslib and send your requests to Carol. Happy reading!
The Me You Cannot See

Delilah is brave around cicadas. Indra can speak Hindi. Sarai loves giraffes. Ellie likes purple. Kiran’s favorite food is gummy worms. Braxton’s favorite animal is a jaguar. When school started in September, all FCS Kindergarteners knew about each other was what they could see on the outside. But after a few months of sharing their likes and dislikes, adventures, and dreams a much fuller picture of their lives is emerging.
Black History Month Door Decorating Competition

The 8th Grade Diversity and Spiritual Life Committee relaunched the FCS Black History Month door decorating competition this February. Each class was assigned a theme, and throughout the month they learned about important Black historic figures and decorated their doors with what they learned. Through colored paper, biographies, and creativity students and teachers made their doors shine.

1 OF 7

Shauna Brown Leung

Shauna is our Director of Equity, Inclusion and Community Life. In this role she works with the Head of School, Board of Trustees, the faculty, staff, students, and families to advance FCS’s commitment, policies, and practices in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Messages to the FCS Community

Located in College Park, MD, Friends Community School is a progressive Quaker K-8 day school, founded on the belief that every child is a valued member of our community. We offer a challenging curriculum imbued with strong values of equality, integrity, community, environmental stewardship, simplicity and peaceful conflict resolution, rooted in our Quaker heritage.