What does a semester of diversity, equity, and inclusion work look like, on and off campus?

As Commonwealth’s Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Lisa Palmero can attest, much of it happens, as it must, behind the scenes: Serving on committees for hiring, student life, disciplinary issues, and communications. Easing the transition for ninth-grade students and families. Advising affinity groups and individual students. (Lisa does all of the above.)

But the fall 2022 semester at Commonwealth seemed to overflow with events and other particularly visible reminders of the ongoing work of DEI—some of it joy filled, some of it challenging, some centered on training today’s Commonwealth students, some geared toward recruiting the next generation. Keep reading to catch up…

Coffee Chat

Fall planning starts long before the school year, like when Jackie Robinson P’24 approached Lisa in the spring of 2022 about organizing casual conversations for other Commonwealth parents and guardians to discuss DEI matters. He knew from experience just how powerful such spaces could be. After planning with school and Family Association leaders over the summer, Jackie and Lisa held their first Commonwealth Coffee Chat in early October, welcoming parents for an evening of storytelling and breaking bread (well, cookies). 

“[Coffee Chat] is really just a parent and a DEI practitioner who want to help get parents together,” Lisa says. “Jackie and I both explained that it was a space for parents and guardians to grow and learn together. And that in order to do that, we had to first establish friendship and trust,” laying a foundation that will allow “courageous conversations” to happen at future Coffee Chats and far beyond Commonwealth’s walls. With Lisa and Jackie facilitating the conversations, “folks showed up very willing to share stories and to connect with other families.”

“I say this repeatedly, but DEI is rooted in relationships. Real relationships. Period,” Lisa says. The plan for the second Coffee Chat (in early 2023) also centers relationship building and includes some pre-meeting reading and watching, so families can reflect on managing stress, recognizing trauma, developing racial literacy, and holding respectful conversations within a Deaf cultural context. 

 

 

Portraits of Pride

A little bit of rain couldn’t keep Commonwealth students, teachers, and staff from visiting the inaugural Portraits of Pride installation on Boston Common. Computer science teacher Matt Singer joined Lisa in leading a cadre of students and staff for the lunchtime walk, commemorating LGBTQ+ History Month. “The group was really small and intimate. We got to talk about which [portraits] drew us in, why we found them interesting, which ones surprised us,” Lisa says. “It was really nice to just spend some time with students and colleagues.”

The large-scale photography exhibit “celebrated the rich history of Boston’s LGBTQ+ community and the many contributions of the area’s LGBTQ+ leaders have made to the advancement of LGBTQ+ rights in Massachusetts and beyond,” say event organizers. Students seemed particularly delighted to learn about the exhibit and take advantage of Boston as an extension of their classrooms.

Hutchins Center Honors

To refuel and inspire students—as well as connect them with the issues, people, and causes they care and are curious about—Lisa, with co-chaperone Gena Rodriguez, Commonwealth’s Director of College Counseling, brought eleven students to the 2022 Hutchins Center Honors ceremony at Harvard. The evening included readings from W.E.B. Du Bois and gospel music by Harvard’s Kuumba Singers. The heart of the ceremony, however, was the awarding of the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal, awarded to individuals in the U.S. and across the globe in recognition of their contributions to African and African American culture. This year’s honorees included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Laverne Cox, Agnes Gund, Raymond J. McGuire, Deval L. Patrick, and Betye Saar.

AISNE DEI Conference

October was a time of training, starting with Lisa’s attending the annual AISNE Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Conference, along with Commonwealth’s Director of Communications, Jessica Tomer. Hosted by the Association of Independent Schools in New England, the sold-out conference gathered 550 DEI professionals and other leaders from more than 100 area schools, as they explored how DEI can and must be woven into every facet of independent schooling, “from student life to the business office, from academics to human resources.”

Lisa took a three-pronged approach to the conference, she says. “The first part was just building connection,” meeting many colleagues in person for the first time after years of Zooming. Her second conference priority was digging into imposter syndrome, identifying it in both adults and teenagers, and learning how to support and counsel people experiencing it. In a session with health and wellness practitioner Amy Patel from Phillips Academy Andover, Lisa “learned a lot about what other schools are doing,” which dovetailed with her third conference goal: exploring new ways of gathering information about families and demographics. “There are so many different ways a school can gather information and tell stories that one has to begin by asking why we are gathering this information and how it will serve or support whatever purpose we need it for.”

Social Justice Leadership Institute

October’s DEI trainings ended with the Social Justice Leadership Institute, an interactive overnight retreat for independent high-school students interested in youth activism and passionate about taking action for racial, gender, economic, and queer justice. Commonwealth’s four student participants gained an expanded understanding of how systems of race, class, gender, and sexuality impact them and their peers; a set of organizing tools to address varied facets of racism, classism, and sexism in their communities; and access to a larger network of social justice leaders within independent schools.

“The Institute, in [students’] words, went above and beyond what they had expected,” Lisa says, “because they not only connected with other students but also found new ways to describe what it is they knew but didn't yet know how to explain,” such as specific ways biases persist over time and permeate institutional, societal, and individual mental structures, as well as everyday interaction patterns. 

“It's crucial for students—and colleagues, too—to remember that there's something else outside of Commonwealth,” Lisa says. “I'm especially proud of the students who are leading and supporting each other and showing up [in affinity groups]. I think they're powerful spaces. And I know that they support that sense of belonging that students need, particularly for the groups that are historically underrepresented in independent schools.” 

 

 

Diversity Day

Students co-founded Commonwealth’s Diversity Day more than a decade ago, and the event has remained a pillar of the school’s DEI programming ever since, a “day for community and conversation” and an intentional break from our usual routine to focus on social justice issues as a school. 

This year, Lisa opted to hold the event in mid-November, rather than its usual spring slot, to take advantage of the relative newness in the air: students are still getting to know each other, community foundations are still being formed, and energy levels are still high. “It's difficult to ask people to push their boundaries and leave their comfort zones when they're tired,” Lisa says, “so the start of the year was ideal.” 

Building on feedback from last year’s Diversity Day, the November 2022 event encouraged our community to explore the head (thinking and understanding), heart (emotions and motivations), and hands (behaviors and resources) of DEI, through workshops pitched, planned, and led by students, faculty, and staff. “There were students and colleagues who were holding space and having conversations in ways that they hadn't before,” Lisa says. “I think that was the biggest triumph.” (Second-biggest triumph might’ve been the day’s Family Food Festival; students, faculty, and staff brought in bite-sized snacks that represented their heritage, turning lunchtime into a smash-hit smorgasbord.)

The plethora of workshop options included “Representation in the Historical Archive,” “A Look at Medical Discrimination,” and “The Beauty of Islam” (meet co-leader Hanna ’25 here). Supporting workshop leaders in the planning process, Lisa reminded them: “You can say, ‘I don't know the answer to that, or this is all the research I know,’ and that's okay, because DEI is about learning. There's always something new to learn.” As long as we approach uncertainty with curiosity and “go into the work saying, ‘I want to try,’ what more can we ask for?”

Students also requested a keynote speaker who could talk about challenging real-world experiences. “That's what made me think of Deacon Arthur Miller,” says Lisa. “He's a force.” Deacon Miller opened Diversity Day by sharing his experiences as a Black person growing up on the South Side of Chicago in the 1940s and 1950s. This included memories of his childhood friend and schoolmate, Emmett Till, whose murder was a catalyzing experience in Deacon Miller’s life. 

Throughout his speech, as invigorating as any sermon, Deacon Miller highlighted the legacy of prejudice and “-isms” in America and emphasized that now is the time for young people to take the lead in social justice work. “I just thought he was incredibly compassionate and kind,” Lisa says. “I thought he would connect with our students really well. And he did.” Their thunderous standing ovation made that much clear. 

Community Outreach

By the end of the fall semester, the admissions process reaches its zenith, with prospective students and families preparing for application deadlines early in the new year. As the newest member of Commonwealth’s Admissions Committee and Dive In team, Lisa both guides those families through the process and supports the school’s efforts to expand access to students historically marginalized by independent schools. Relationship building is core to this work as well, and Lisa has been fostering Commonwealth’s connections with local middle schools and community organizations, such as United South End Settlements, KIPP Academy Boston, and Mother Caroline Academy.

“I really see it as long-term partnership between schools,” built by questioning the status quo and making adjustments based on what we learn, Lisa says. “How can I, and how can we as a school, help families who may not know about Commonwealth learn more and see us as an option? What can we be doing to support families who are considering us? There are so many good things that we're already doing; it's about figuring out what we can do differently.”

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