Tamarack Waldorf’s Anti-Racism Statement
Tamarack Waldorf School values the spirit of community. We recognize each person as a whole human being and a unique individual. We value the diversity of our community and believe that each member should experience equity and inclusion. We strive to engage all community members and create a culture of purposeful activity and joy, and support their inner development and growth. We value healthy relationships that thrive through collaboration and shared responsibility and a vibrant partnership between family and home. We value a Waldorf curriculum that meets each developmental stage as children grow, providing the right experience at the appropriate time and a continually evolving curriculum that meets all of our students.
Studying the works of Rudolf Steiner upon which our pedagogy is based, we are faced with statements and beliefs that are racist and do not align with our school values. The statements that assess race as an indicator of the evolution of spiritual development are incorrect and harmful as well as in contradiction with the respect for each individual that is so important to our work in Waldorf education. We also stand behind the statement from AWSNA (Association of Waldorf Schools of North America) that can be found below.
Tamarack Waldorf School is continually striving towards understanding and implementing current best practices relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion. By engaging in reflective practices that allow us to collectively grow and learn as a community, we reject practices and ideas that are discriminatory. We commit to redeveloping curriculum that de-centers Eurocentric narratives and reimagines Waldorf curriculum and traditions to be more inclusive of different cultures, backgrounds, histories, and lived experiences. We believe that offering students reflections of themselves within the curriculum, as well as windows into unfamiliar perspectives, contributes to positive and compassionate learning experiences.
Tamarack Waldorf School has taken up a number of initiatives to support these commitments and propel our DEI work forward, beyond the social and curricular work being taken up by classroom teachers each day. In the summer of 2021, three Tamarack faculty members took part in a leadership training to become SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) facilitators. Together, they are bringing these workshops to Tamarack faculty and staff. Each seminar is centered around different social justice issues, offering reflective exercises and conversations in which participants examine how their own lived experiences shape their perspectives. The purpose of these seminars is to work against racism and other systems of oppression through dismantling white supremacy conditioning by exploring and understanding our own stories and experiences.
In addition to our work with SEED, a working group, called IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access), has been formed to support and facilitate this work within the school. This group meets weekly to discuss and respond to diversity, equity, and inclusion matters and to collaboratively work to support Tamarack in offering equitable, accessible, and inclusive Waldorf education to our school community.
Tamarack Waldorf School is also taking part in the NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) AIM (Assessment of Inclusion and Multiculturalism) Equity Audit to help us understand our current strengths and needs, showing us what further actions must be taken.
The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA), Tamarack Waldorf School’s accrediting body, has published the following statement pertaining to DEI work within the Waldorf education movement as a whole. Tamarack Waldorf School stands behind this statement and supports AWSNA’s work in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion work within Waldorf schools. Click here to read AWSNA’s full statement of equity and racial justice.
IDEA Working Group
IDEA has been formed to support and facilitate anti-racist work within Tamarack. This group meets weekly to discuss and respond to diversity, equity, and inclusion matters and to collaboratively work to support Tamarack in offering equitable, accessible, and inclusive Waldorf education to our school community.
Mission: IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) drives necessary and lasting change towards a welcoming, inclusive, and just community for all through honest reflection, critical discourse, and courageous action.
Value Statement: We are dedicated to upholding a community culture that values all people, regardless of age, ethnicity, race, color, abilities, religion, socioeconomic status, culture, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, and/or any other distinguishing characteristic or trait.
Vision Statement: To be an equitable and inclusive place of learning, courage, and growth by serving the whole school community through active antiracism and social justice work.
AIM: Assessment of Multiculturalism and Inclusion
In 2021-2022, the Tamarack community (Faculty, Staff, Parents, Students, Alum, Board Members, and others) were asked to participate in a two-tiered assessment of how Tamarack Waldorf School has met the needs of our unique and diverse population.
Here is a summary of what has occurred over the 2022-2023 school year and what we hope to accomplish in the future. This information was shared at our Spring 2023 All-School Meeting.
SEED
Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity SM (SEED)
What is SEED?
Long-term Equity and Diversity workshops for faculty, staff and community
Faculty and staff are completing over 25 hours of workshops in the 2021-22 School Year
Works to foster connections and relationships through reflection and sharing
Nurtures awareness of the participants place in societal systems, so that they can feel responsibility for these systems
Encourages self-reflection and promotes education to help participants work to achieve institutional social justice
For more information: https://nationalseedproject.org/
