Country Day has long been committed to supporting and advancing an equitable and diverse campus, with the goal of fostering an environment in which all members feel appreciated, respected, safe, and prepared to be successful within and beyond our community. Our school is dedicated to creating a campus that is reflective and inclusive of the broader Sacramento region, one of the nation’s most diverse communities.
At Country Day we celebrate difference — of race, culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, points of view, among others — and we seek to provide a school environment that recognizes difference as our strength and of value to us all. Our guiding principle is that authentic learning thrives when we all discover, create, and collaborate within a diverse and supportive community.
Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance (IDEA) Committee
Sacramento Country Day School’s IDEA Committee educates our community to foster an environment in which all members feel appreciated, respected, safe, and prepared to be successful in a diverse world.
As an advisory committee of faculty, administrators, and parents, the Diversity Committee meets monthly to discuss a wide variety of issues of concern to the community, including ways to support the students, faculty, and families at SCDS. The Diversity Committee helped to start our Helping Hands partnership with the Rulindo Schools in Rwanda.
Since its founding in 2000, the successes of the Diversity Committee have included the following:
- organizing workshops for faculty professional development, including the “World of Difference” full-day diversity training for faculty and staff
- sponsoring assemblies and student activities in conjunction with the World Languages and Music Departments, such as World Cultures Day and Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations
- establishing the lunchtime movie series and Leadership Luncheon presentations with support from the Matthews Library staff and High School students and faculty
- supporting Helping Hands: the SCDS-Rulindo Partnership with the Rulindo Schools in Rwanda
- publishing diversity newsletters and sharing information in the Highlights newsletter
- providing faculty with curriculum and resource materials via divisional meetings, newsletters, emails, and displays
For more information or to share an idea or concern, please contact the chair by email at diversity@saccds.org
Faculty and Staff of Color Affinity Group
Sacramento Country Day’s Faculty and Staff Affinity Group provides a safe space for community building, networking, and varied support opportunities for people, who, by virtue of their race or ethnicity, comprise a form of diversity termed “people of color” in independent schools. This affinity group serves as an affirming, revitalizing, and energizing space for people whose histories as well as contemporary cultural dynamics gives us a different experience of an independent school community.
We encourage this affinity group to be recognized as different from a diversity committee. The purpose of the affinity group is to help people of color on campus better understand their roles of advancing Sacramento Country Day School’s equity, justice, and inclusion around racial and ethnic identity. Our meeting space offers a safe environment where these conversations can happen effectively.