ADMIN & HR
Use the questions and example responses below as a guide to reflect on your program’s administration and human resources. Illustrations for this section are coming soon!
1. Does our school have a mission or values statement that clearly expresses a value in human diversity and differences?
2. Does our school have a mission or values statement that expresses a commitment to addressing injustice and supporting young children in being justice makers?
3. Does our family intake forms use gender-neutral words like "family members" instead of "mom and dad?" Are our forms inclusive of diverse family structures and flexible about the numbers of primary caregivers in a child's life?
4. Do our family intake forms allow parents/guardians to express their own and their child's gender in their own words, beyond binary F/M choices? Do our forms include opportunities for people to share their preferred names?
5. Is equity and diversity, including gender diversity, celebrated among teachers and staff and viewed as valuable in hiring decisions? At the same time, are teachers and staff conscious about not tokenizing members of marginalized identities?
6. How are HR practices are inclusive of gender diverse employees, and has administration taken care to put in place gender-inclusive policies?
7. Does our school provide professional development resources to support employee's continual learning and development, including ongoing education about gender diversity by people and/or organizations with this expertise?
8. Do administrators partner with teachers, families and children to develop individualized game plans for supporting transgender and gender expansive children, especially working to respect children's wishes around names, pronouns, whether or not a child is "out" to other children and faculty/staff, and other administrative and logistical factors?
9. Do program policies limit teacher's interactions with children based on the gender of the teacher?
Example
Everyone on our teaching staff helps children in the bathroom and is allowed to hold children in their lap. While the safety of our children is a priority, we recognize that limiting male and gender expansive teachers' interactions with children does not provide safety, whereas screening, training, mutual supervision and fostering a culture of consent do.