Details
Posted: 09-Dec-22
Location: Seattle, Washington
Type: Full Time
Categories:
Diversity Coordinator
Required Education:
4 Year Degree
Mission Statement
Westside School prepares students for the world by challenging them to achieve academic success, and by connecting their human spirit and imagination to learning.
Vision
Westside School is recognized as West Seattle’s premier, accredited preschool through eighth grade independent school program. We help students develop essential skills for the 21st century, including conceptual thinking, communication, and cooperation. Our students thrive in the safe, caring, inclusive community environment Westside provides.
Diversity Statement
Westside School is committed to promoting inclusiveness, diversity, and cultural competence in its education, employment practices, school community, and governance. It views inclusiveness as a fundamental value, diversity as a key element, and cultural competence as a vital skill necessary to prepare students to participate in and contribute to a global society. Westside uses the term diversity broadly to encompass differences in the attributes of individuals, families, and communities.
Overview
Westside School educates children in preschool through 8th grade. Under the leadership of the current Head of School, Steve de Beer, the past five years represent a new era for the school, one marked by a renewed sense of community and commitment to the school’s values of joyful learning, high academic standards, confident learners, and a caring community. The school has emerged from the pandemic with record-breaking enrollment, an expanded program and facility, and a greater sense of shared purpose among all constituents.
Westside School, founded in 1981 has had a dynamic history in the last 10 years. After occupying 4 different buildings over the years, the school was excited to move into their forever home seven years ago. As the premier independent school in West Seattle that supports early learning through middle school, Westside is a community of families from the local area that seek a strong academic curriculum with an exemplary socio-emotional program that incorporates social justice standards. Currently in a phase of unprecedented growth, enrollment has increased by more than 20% and the student support team has increased by four people. Westside is eager to welcome their inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging to begin July 2023. Reporting to the Head of School and a member of the Educational Leadership Team, the incoming Director of DEB will be charged with cultivating a sense of belonging amongst faculty and staff, students, parents, and administrators. This individual will also continue on the work of diversity, equity, and belonging professional development following the work of a multi-year consultant focused on work with faculty.
Challenges and Opportunities
Working with the Educational Leadership Team to establish and define this new and not yet fully defined role for the inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity and Belonging;
- Shepherding the grassroots work developed across Westside to provide a strategic vision and develop institutional structures necessary for sustaining and advancing DEB goals in every phase of school life;
- Lead the strategic vision and implementation of the school’s diversity, inclusion, and belonging efforts while working in partnership with the Head of School;
- In collaboration with other members of the senior leadership team, lead recruitment and retention efforts with a focus on building and sustaining the diversity of the faculty and staff;
- Develop targeted professional development programs for faculty and staff to advance cultural competency and other diversity, equity, and belonging skills;
- Lead and support others in the organizational structure tasked with DEB work, including affinity groups, curriculum assessment, admissions, and development, and build a group of teacher leaders to support the full range of Westside’s present and future DEB initiatives;
- Collaborate with parents and caregivers on educational programs and serve as a resource for families to ensure that this vital constituency engages with school’s and their own DEB work.
Qualifications and Personal Attributes
- An orientation to think, lead, and act at both the strategic and operational levels and the ability to manage details and the larger picture;
- A highly relational and communicative diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging practitioner who is experienced and skilled in working with, supporting, and providing accountability for administrative colleagues, faculty, and staff and the gravitas and experience to work with parents and Board;
- A strong eye for talent and the ability to contribute to the recruitment and retention of a diverse and aligned faculty and staff;
- A team builder, educator, and mentor who calls individuals into the work, supports their development, and deploys them aligned to their strengths, roles, and responsibilities;
- A steady demeanor and the ability to maintain professional equilibrium and stand strong when navigating the challenging work facing diversity practitioners in schools;
- A deep appreciation for the development of young people and a desire to engage with students as a part of their work;
- A collaborative, confident, and humble leader with energy, a sense of humor, and a commitment to self-care.
Start Date: 7/1/2023
To Apply
Interested and qualified candidates are invited to contact the consultants in confidence. Candidates will ultimately need to submit the following materials as separate PDF documents:
- A cover letter expressing their interest position becoming the inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging at Westside School;
- A current résumé; and
- A list of five professional references with name, relationship, phone number, and email address of each (references will not be contacted without the candidate’s permission).
Seliat Dairo
Search Consultant
seliat.dairo@carneysandoe.com
Chaya Keefe
Search Consultant
chaya.keefe@carneysandoe.com
Qualifications and Personal Attributes
- An orientation to think, lead, and act at both the strategic and operational levels and the ability to manage details and the larger picture;
- A highly relational and communicative diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging practitioner who is experienced and skilled in working with, supporting, and providing accountability for administrative colleagues, faculty, and staff and the gravitas and experience to work with parents and Board;
- A strong eye for talent and the ability to contribute to the recruitment and retention of a diverse and aligned faculty and staff;
- A team builder, educator, and mentor who calls individuals into the work, supports their development, and deploys them aligned to their strengths, roles, and responsibilities;
- A steady demeanor and the ability to maintain professional equilibrium and stand strong when navigating the challenging work facing diversity practitioners in schools;
- A deep appreciation for the development of young people and a desire to engage with students as a part of their work;
- A collaborative, confident, and humble leader with energy, a sense of humor, and a commitment to self-care.
About Westside School
Westside School serves 400 students in preschool-eighth grade. In the fall 2015, Westside School moved to a permanent campus in the Arbor Heights neighborhood of West Seattle, which supports our mission and values as a progressive, academically rigorous, relationship rich, preschool through eighth grade school with the core values of Academic Excellence, Joyful Learning, and Creating Confident Learners in a Caring Community.
Connections working at Westside School