All work stems from the school’s commitment to advance diversity as part of the fundamental fabric of the Burroughs experience and to prepare students for the increasingly diverse and globally oriented world of the 21st century.

Our current efforts focus on implementation of a strategic plan for diversity and inclusivity through multicultural and global education. The plan was developed by an ad hoc arm of the Board of Trustees Committee on Diversity, composed of parents, alumni and faculty. The two-year-old plan serves as an internal working document for continuing progress through 2010.

The plan identifies seven major goals as well as detailed action steps and implementation schedules. The goals are:

• To ensure the integration of diversity, inclusivity and multicultural/global education in curriculum design.
• To improve faculty and staff recruitment and support programs so that more potential applicants of color are attracted to, considered for and hired for teaching and administrative positions.
• To provide more staff and faculty professional development opportunities in diversity and multicultural/global education.
• To provide more opportunities for students to learn about and demonstrate skills and sensitivity which will serve them in an increasingly globally oriented world.
• To develop a critical mass of diverse families—representing all ethnicities, religions and socioeconomic classes—who are involved in and support Burroughs’ diversity, inclusivity and multicultural/global efforts.
• To create a campus that physically and visually demonstrates a diverse, inclusive, multicultural/global, liberal arts focus.
• To evaluate, operationally, the progress of its efforts.

This plan provides broader vision, greater structure and more coordination to our work, but all of it derives from more than a decade of commitment on the part of the faculty and administration, the Board of Trustees, our students and our parents.

In step with the National Association of Independent Schools and the Independent Schools Association of the Central States models, Burroughs began with education and awareness, is building toward capacity and accountability, with the goal of full integration and institutionalization. Here are some of the highlights of this journey:

Faculty/Administration

A threshold decision was made by the administration in 1997 when it established the position of Diversity Coordinator. This decision concretized the administration’s commitment to diversity and provided bona fide resources. Four years later that position was expanded to Director of Diversity & Multicultural Education and a second faculty member was appointed Diversity Coordinator.

But the job did not belong to just one "office." For more than five years, Burroughs has been working with Healing Our Nation (HON), a national organization recognized for its in-depth programs for overcoming prejudice, to train our faculty. HON offers educational workshops that facilitate knowledge (and self-knowledge) and tools to deal with institutionalized prejudices like racism, sexism and anti-Semitism. More than half of our faculty has participated in the training, many at multiple levels, and a number of teachers can now provide in-house training for interested peers, students and parents. Many teachers who have not received training from HON have received equivalent training elsewhere.

In addition to their regular teaching assignments, nine faculty members have assumed responsibility for various student programs falling under the “diversity” umbrella. This involves not only working with specific student interest groups but also helping those groups develop assembly presentations and symposiums which benefit the entire community.

Our faculty members also contribute to the local and national dialogue. They attend and lead conferences such as NAIS’s annual People of Color Conference and the ISACS Diversity Summit. They participate on the ISACS Equity Committee and the Independent Schools of St. Louis Diversity Committee. In the last several years,  we have opened several of Burroughs' diversity programs to area public/private school communities.

Board of Trustees

The Board established a Committee on Diversity in 1998, again signaling from the highest level that diversity efforts would not be left to chance. The committee has been resolute in ensuring that “diversity” at Burroughs is not just a concern of diverse constituencies at the school—that it is a far broader endeavor, the benefits and responsibilities of which extend to students, parents, alumni, faculty and staff.

The committee has relied on a broad range of input, from the efforts and experiences of peer schools and assessments by independent consultants to parent focus groups and faculty retreats.

Based on the priorities that emerged, the Board formed several subcommittees, including a panel focused on religion and another on programming:

• The Religion Subcommittee, like its parent, first assessed general perceptions within the parent body. After several months of discussion and deliberation, the panel made several concrete recommendations, all of which were approved by the Board of Trustees and implemented by the administration. Those recommendations ranged from continuing the school’s Christmas program as a valued tradition to closing school when Rosh Hashanah and/or Yom Kippur fall within the school week to suggesting that a senior elective in comparative religions be added to the curriculum.
• The Programming Subcommittee has played an active role in expanding awareness and engagement in diversity efforts, including establishing “Bridges” interracial dialogue parent groups, sponsoring a roundtable on diversity in corporate life, collaborating with our admissions office to offer a reception for families of color who are considering Burroughs for their children, sponsoring a year-end JBS African American family dinner and hosting a wide range of programs for our students, faculty and parents. Recent programs include a fireside chat with Frankie Muse Freeman, a presentation by a JBS faculty member on her summer trip across Africa to evaluate HIV prevention and education and leading a discussion of the PBS documentary "Race: The Power of an Illusion" for students, faculty and parents.

While recognition is not the goal, Burroughs has been acknowledged for its leadership in diversity and sought out as a venue for important programming, including

• 2000  Burroughs hosted NCCJ Building an Inclusive  Community Workshop
• 2001  Department of Justice recognized Burroughs' diversity efforts as aggressive, innovative and comprehensive
• 2004  NAIS requested Burroughs participation in pilot Assessment of Inclusivity and Multiculturalism
• 2007 Burroughs hosted FOCUS St. Louis and KETC-Channel 9's "Black, White & Green: Community Conversations"
• 2008 Burroughs hosted the Rev. Samuel "Billy" Kyles, a civil rights leader and a personal friend and witness to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination