Equity at our Core

As Director of Equity and Inclusion and as a black female in America, it felt right in my core—no pun intended—to add Equity to our list of Core Values this year. I am entering my 7th year at Brimmer, and I have been in the world of independent schools since I was 3 years old. In my elementary school in northern New Jersey, we had, similar to Brimmer’s Core Values, the “4 Cs” of Courtesy, Cooperation, Consideration, and Compassion. Here at Brimmer, we’ve had Kindness, Respect, Responsibility, and Honesty as our Core Values for years.

I suspect that for my alma mater and here at Brimmer, equity has always been a given. Of course, we’re equitable. Everyone is welcome. We value diversity. I certainly believe that this has always been our intent, as it has been for hundreds of schools just like ours across the country. Over the years, we have done some good diversity work. But have we always really been equitable? Have we always truly embraced the range of experiences, cultures, and values that we invite onto our campus?

After a series of racially-charged deaths highlighted in the media this past winter and spring—those of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd—the Leadership Team at Brimmer stepped back and saw we were falling short in our mission to practice equity. With genuine enthusiasm, we invite an incredibly diverse group of new students and families into our community each fall, and our students thrive academically. But the experience of each student’s personal journey through our halls is critically important. We must value and celebrate the uniqueness that each student brings to our community every day.

To that end, we have added Equity to our Core Values. We are committed to developing a deeper understanding and daily practice of equity in every interaction we have on campus. Even when we get it right, we must teach our students how to practice it outside of Brimmer. We are reminded too often that equity, though valued here, is not embraced consistently in the communities around us. We have recently seen that in the news that the officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor, an unarmed Black woman, in her home in March will not be charged with any crimes directly related to her death.  Breonna is one of a long list of individuals simply living within a marginalized community, killed for no reason with no justice brought to those responsible.

The best thing we can do for our students is to provide an environment in which they feel safe, heard, protected, and celebrated for who they are and for what they bring with them to Brimmer every day and to teach them to do the same for others as they navigate the world. This is why we now have Equity at our Core.