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Belonging at JTD: The Work of the Inclusion & Diversity Team

By Caitlin Kramer, Jessica Scott, and Julia Guy
The John Thomas Dye School is committed to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB). Our Inclusion and Diversity Team (IDT) at John Thomas Dye is made up of three faculty/staff members who are passionate about DEIB work at our school. The team intentionally represents employees with various identities who are in different departments at JTD. Members participate in three year cycles to allow for new voices to be heard and equitable participation from those interested in serving. The team is also available to faculty and staff who have individual questions or concerns connected to this DEIB work.
IDT has at least one representative on the JTD Collective, the group that coordinates DEIB work for students, employees, and the broader community, and its members participate in various professional development opportunities throughout the year. This year, all three members attended the Pollyanna Conference at Harvard-Westlake. Caitlin Kramer, an IDT member, also attended the Jewish Federation Los Angeles’s Educational Leaders Summit. 

One of IDT's goals is to foster a sense of belonging among faculty and staff by providing helpful DEIB resources and creating spaces for meaningful DEIB discussions with peers. This gives our colleagues opportunities to be informed, along with feeling personally heard and professionally confident when teaching about these topics. For example, during our January IDT meeting, faculty shared plans about how Black History Month would be celebrated in classrooms, received a preview of the All School Assembly, and collaborated to ensure topics were appropriately covered throughout grade levels. An IDT newsletter is sent out each month, which includes book recommendations for classroom read-alouds, adult reads, articles, podcasts, and more. 

Affinity spaces for faculty and staff are also led by IDT members. This includes BIPOC and Jewish affinity spaces, in addition to an AWARE (A White Anti-Racist Educator) learning group. An LGBTQIA+ affinity space is also held and led by a volunteer faculty member. Just as faculty and staff are able to come together during our general IDT meetings, these groups create safe spaces for individuals with shared identities to connect by sharing experiences and resources. Prioritizing this time and space ultimately contributes to a more inclusive and supportive work environment for all faculty and staff. 

During the school year, some of our faculty/staff meetings are also led by IDT to further DEIB work. At the beginning of the year, the current team gave a presentation about how religious holidays, such as Yom Kippur and Ramadan, can be approached as educators at JTD. 

When our faculty and staff feel supported in engaging with DEIB topics, it empowers students to feel they can be their authentic selves. This is crucial because the more our students’ identities are fully embraced, the more our students will actively embrace learning at JTD.

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The John Thomas Dye School


11414 Chalon Road
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Phone: (310) 476-2811
The John Thomas Dye School admits students of any race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national and ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs.

Located In Los Angeles, CA, John Thomas Dye is an independent school for grades K-6. Students benefit from a challenging academic program, fine arts, competitive athletics, and a wide selection of extracurricular activities.