Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

LWHS routinely sends students, faculty, and staff to external conferences, institutes, and other learning opportunities offered by the following organizations: The National Association of Independent Schools; The Privilege Institute;The National LGBTQ Task Force; People of Color in Independent Schools (POCIS); The Center for Spiritual & Ethical Education; and the California Teacher Development Collaborative (CATDC), to name a few. Conference attendees are then called to collaborate with community leaders, our public purpose partners, as well as other guest experts, to organize our annual Sam Mihara Days of Justice conference (SMDoJ). SMDoJ is an internal conference honoring the legacy and activism of LWHS alumnus Sam Mihara who, after being incarcerated during World War II at the Heart Mountain, Wyoming prison camp, became a rocket scientist and a nationally-recognized speaker on the topic of mass injustice in the U.S. Each year's SMDOJ theme is decided upon via community listening sessions and based on DEI needs/issues present both within and beyond our campus community.

The LWHS Anti-Hate Speech Policy (AHSP) is a public denouncement of the use of hate speech*, derogatory language, and any identity-based slur in any context—academic or non-academic at Lick-Wilmerding High School. The policy outlines a tiered process of accountability that leverages Restorative Justice Practices in instances where hate speech is used. The policy extends across the entire school community and must be observed in both academic and non-academic contexts, on and off campus. It applies to any extracurricular or off-campus LWHS events, or in any context in which an LWHS community member is or can be perceived as representing the LWHS community.

LWHS recognizes that in everyday speech, some communities have reclaimed certain terms, language, or otherwise harmful epithets. To this end, the policy should not be leveraged to police the experience, bodies, or tongues of minoritized community members who are attempting to discuss and navigate their experiences of oppression and resistance.

*For the purposes of this policy, Hate Speech is defined as any use of language that violates a community member’s sense of dignity as it relates to their core identifiers:  race, color, religion (creed), sex, gender (identity or expression), sexual orientation, age, national origin (ancestry), and/or disability.

Born from a 2020 student body movement in response to the limited engagement of students with non-White histories, beyond what was then deficit narratives in the Social Sciences and Humanities, LWHS has committed to the development of a semester-long Ethnic Studies Frosh graduation course launching in the 2026-2027 school year. The course will join a larger Ethnic Studies program that will integrate Ethnic Studies content and pedagogy throughout academic disciplines and integrate existing EIB programs and partnerships.

For the 2025-2026 school year, an Ethnic Studies Committee, a diverse team of 3-5 faculty-staff and 4-5 students, is co-creating a vision, mission, and values for LWHS' Ethnic Studies  program, reviewing existing curricula, and designing the semester-long course that will begin in August 2026. This course builds on the current Frosh Identity & Belonging curriculum and integrates our Public Purpose Program mission. The Committee will also work with school leadership to engage key stakeholders—including the Board, administration, faculty, students, and families—throughout the curriculum design process and rollout of the course and larger Ethnic Studies program.

This policy was written to support and advance the inclusion and belonging of transgender and gender expansive students in our school community. Informed by California law and transgender inclusion best practices, our policy addresses areas which include, but are not limited to, the use of chosen names, correct pronoun usage, student information system updates, inclusion in Athletics, on overnight trips, facility use and access, as well as community guidance on how to support folx in the social transition process.

The Restorative Practices Working Group, founded in the 2020-2021 academic year, is an ever-growing, trained group of faculty and staff members committed to moving our school away from traditional forms of punitive and exclusionary discipline towards practices and processes that foster repair, accountability, and healing care when social rupture occurs.

The LWHS Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Roundtable is composed of the Head of School, Board DEI Committee Co-Chairs, Parent Association VP’s of Inclusion, Student Council Co-Presidents, Co-Student Inclusion Chairs, the Director of Student Inclusion, and the Dean of Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging.

The Roundtable convenes to unpack institutional challenges requiring the collective power and coordinated efforts of the entire school community. Participants are dedicated to listening and responding to the needs and feelings of the LWHS community, centering the most vulnerable.

The Board Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging (EIB) Committee works to educate the Board of Trustees and to ensure that the Board and its committees adopt best practices around equity, inclusion, and belonging. The Committee is charged with benchmarking the school’s EIB efforts and partnering with the Head of School to fully realize the EIB goals of the Strategic Plan. The goals for the 25–26 school year are:

• Co-creating a culture of belonging and connection. Connecting students, facstaff, admin and Trustees in discussions and programming during the year.
• Ensuring that EIB principles are prioritized in our self-study for accreditation and as we start the strategic planning process. 
• Supporting the EIB Head, Hearts, Hands Conference series.

Twice a year, once in the Fall and again in the Spring, the Parents' Association invites the EIB Department to share initiative updates and to engage in rich conversation with parenting adults about our school's progress in EIB. Our PA General Meetings on EIB are also a place for parent education, where community members and external guests lead workshops, and where families engage in community-building activities. This is just one of many touch points our families have with the EIB Department, and we encourage all parenting adults to attend.