Racial Equity
& Accountability

We understand that social justice is at once a process and a goal requiring both the capacity to envision the world we wish to see and the conviction and commitment to build it.

At Nueva, our vision for that future world is rooted in the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who boldly declared, “Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.”

This concept of the Beloved Community frames all of our equity and inclusion work at Nueva as we seek to make the changes—individual, institutional, and ideological—we need to fully embody Dr. King’s vision of a world “tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.”

Our institutional commitment to anti-racism is an extension of the work of building the Beloved Community. Considering the profound ways in which we are interconnected also requires us to examine in what ways we inhibit, deny, or break those connections due to our perpetuation of multiple systems of oppression. This examination of ourselves is both painful and powerful as we peel back the layers of pedagogy, practice, systems, and structures that have enabled some students to thrive and other students to struggle. That struggle manifests in multiple ways—from a sense of isolation to not seeing oneself reflected in the curriculum to microaggressions and outright discrimination—and is deeply impactful on the social, emotional, and psychological health of our students and faculty of color.

As we continue on this path and process of quantitative and qualitative change, we find ourselves grappling with profound questions of purpose and praxis:

How do we create an abiding sense of belonging for every member of our community?
How do we decenter whiteness in favor of the rich and varied complexity of our multiracial and multicultural community?
How do we respond to harm while embracing the capacity of each of us to transform?

Our work for years to come is to find our way to the answers of these questions.

As Maya Angelou said, 'Do the best you can until you know better. And once you know better, do better.'

The spirit of her words describes Nueva’s iterative approach perfectly—we investigate and change accordingly. Clearly, now that we see the pernicious effects of racism within our community, it is the Nueva way to do better.

– Lee Fertig, Head of School

Our Community in Action

Anti-racism at Nueva

Our Nueva community—faculty, staff, students, parents, and alumni—is working collectively to take concrete actions toward being an anti-racist institution. Like organizations all over the United States, we have been complicit in regards to issues of systemic oppression. We know that we have critical work to do. We are committed to being an anti-racist organization—one in which we all develop a comprehensive understanding of how racism and oppression operate—and to dismantling racism within Nueva and in our larger community.

Click on the images below to learn more.

The Task Force on Racial Equity and Accountability

The Nueva Board of Trustees has created a task force to help elevate the school’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)–with a specific focus on the Black community. The task force is working alongside the Nueva Social Justice and Equity Team, as well as administration, faculty and staff, students, the Nueva Parents’ Association, the African American Affinity group, the board of trustees, and others.

Our Foundation

Grounded in Nueva’s vision, mission, and cultural values, the task force laid a generative foundation for an inclusive and equitable community across key themes, including awareness; governance and leadership; access and opportunity; support, and accountability. The task force evaluated our progress toward the DEI commitments made in the current strategic plan and lay the groundwork for related commitments in the next strategic plan. While school leadership focused on the implementation of immediate operational changes, the work of the task force focused on long-term, structural recommendations that are designed to create cultural and systematic change. The group continued to work to acknowledge and heal the wounds from the past and ensure that moving forward, each member of our community has a true sense of belonging.

Guiding Principles

Nueva’s Vision is to boldly reimagine a model for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion by exploring innovative and systematic initiatives that dismantle structural racism and create an anti-racist culture in which all members of our community feel treasured, honored, and respected.

The Nueva Way We are optimists. The Nueva community faces challenges with a sense of creativity, collaboration, and opportunity. In learning by doing and learning by caring, we develop ambitious and uniquely “Nueva” paths of progress.

Objectives

The task force will assume an advisory role with specific goals to:

Enhance awareness to understand, acknowledge, and heal
Increase access and opportunity to harness the strength in diversity
Facilitate a culture of inclusion to ensure each of us has a true sense of belonging
Endorse through bold leadership to sustain systemic, long-term change
Hold ourselves accountable to measure our efficacy and impact over time

Specific metrics to track progress on these fronts will be developed.