This article is written by a TNSM parent and member of the Diversity and Community and Engagement Committee (D+CE) and expresses her views. At TNSM, we are grateful to have this D+CE forum that allows opportunities for members of our community to share their own beliefs, always with the goal of  expanding our understanding of each other’s experiences and points of view.  The end of the school year is always an exciting and busy time, full of more than we can fully take in. When I sat down to work on this week’s Diversity & Community Engagement post, I started …

This article was written by Rachel Lwin TNSM parent and Diversity and Community Engagement Committee (D+CE) and expresses her views. At TNSM, we are grateful to have this D+CE forum that allows opportunities for members of our community to share their own beliefs, always with the goal of  expanding our understanding of each other’s experiences and points of view. This time of year and around the winter holidays too, I spend a lot of time explaining myself. “My family celebrates Easter, but we’re not religious,” I say, a bit ruefully. It’s a familiar line to me, and I’m sure to …

This article is written by Hope Miller, TNSM parent and member of the Diversity and Community Engagement Committee (D+CE) and expresses her views. At TNSM, we are grateful to have this D+CE forum that allows opportunities for members of our community to share their own beliefs, always with the goal of  expanding our understanding of each other’s experiences and points of view. We live in a Good Friday world—a world of perennial bad news and immeasurable sorrow. The tragedy in Ukraine, the never-ending pandemic, our sobering history/reality of racial injustice, the quickening pace of environmental destruction…I could go on. But what …

Article written by Rachel Lwin, member of the Diversity + Community Engagement Committee (D+CE) and expresses her views. At TNSM, we are grateful to have this D+CE forum that allows opportunities for members of our community to share their own beliefs, always with the goal of  expanding our understanding of each other’s experiences and points of view. Last week, DC+E committee members Claudia Lòpez and Allie Precht shared their dialogue about the mixed feelings that they, and perhaps many of us, have about monthly recognitions like Women’s History Month. I, for one, found myself internally nodding along to their points …

Article written by Allie Blocksom Precht and Clauda López – members of the Diversity & Community Engagement Committee (D+CE) and expresses their views. At TNSM, we are grateful to have this D+CE forum that allows opportunities for members of our community to share their own beliefs, always with the goal of  expanding our understanding of each other’s experiences and points of view. The Diversity & Community Engagement committee members have engaged in vulnerable and open conversations around a number of topics from world events, legislation being formed in our very own state that could impact our families and children, and …

Article written by Claudia López, Diversity and Community Engagement  (D+CE) Committee Member (D+CE) and expresses her views. At TNSM, we are grateful to have this D+CE forum that allows opportunities for members of our community to share their own beliefs, always with the goal of  expanding our understanding of each other’s experiences and points of view. The Diversity and Community Engagement Committee has been working together with TNSM staff to develop a cultural calendar to coordinate different curricular and extra-curricular activities for our TNSM students and community. We know March is the month when we especially honor and celebrate women’s history …

This article is written by Hope Miller, TNSM parent and member of the Diversity and Community Engagement Committee (D+CE) and expresses her views. At TNSM, we are grateful to have this D+CE forum that allows opportunities for members of our community to share their own beliefs, always with the goal of  expanding our understanding of each other’s experiences and points of view. March is my happy month. My wife and I had our first date in March—14 years ago. We got married in March—11 years ago. And I was born in March—an undisclosed number of years ago. The weather hints at …

Are there articles, websites, videos, books, or organizations that have helped you to think differently about issues of inclusion, equity, and diversity?  Or ideas that you have come across and realized were a blind spot you had never even considered before? This week, I am hoping to turn this section of the newsletter on its head and ask you, the readers, if you have any resources to share?  One of the things that drew our family to TNSM is the Montessori focus on peer learning and the openness to learning as a community.  Especially after these times where our in-person …

Article written by Rachel Lwin, Diversity and Community Engagement  (D+CE) Committee Member As we come to the end of February and head into my personal favorite time of year, gardening season, I have been thinking about those people who have and are still working to shape a more resilient approach to agriculture. Unequal access to fresh food persists, especially for people of color. The Great Migration of African Americans out of the Southern states into urban centers of the North cut off access to farmable land. That, coupled with decades of discriminatory loan practices and uneven treatment by the USDA …

In March 2021, the Diversity + Community Engagement committee (D+CE) hosted a conversation open to the whole TNSM community that focused on what it means to strive for racial literacy. We watched an inspiring TED Talk given by two young women, Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo, who spent their senior year in high school trying to understand how teachers and parents can close the gap in racial education. We then participated in a guided conversation and reflection around these themes and topics.  Reflecting back on our virtual gathering, a few thoughts and memories bubble up: The sense of community and connectedness …