The Thacher School | Student Centered

Thacher’s mission is to train young people in the art of living for their own greatest good and for the greatest good of their fellow citizens in a diverse and changing world.

This requires a constant (re)commitment to the values of our school: Honor, Fairness, Kindness, and Truth for each and every member of our extensive community. This dashboard represents that commitment to those values as well as transparency. In listening to our alums, and with the partnership of our extensive community (including faculty, staff, and student contributions), we enlisted the help of Hinderlie and Associates to perform a diversity, equity, and inclusion climate assessment of Thacher's practices, culture, and policies.

The following is the culmination of all of this work, a distilled list of areas we continue to work on. This list of aims is not meant to be set in stone, rather it is a tool for accountability that will continue to evolve as we continue our growth as an inclusive space for education. The work never ends, and is a monumental task, but it is work that is always worth doing.

Student-Centered Accountability

AIMS	PROGRESS	DESCRIPTION/NOTES
Inclusive leadership training for prefects	Active, Ongoing	Dorm heads meet with senior prefects prior to the arrival of students to give specific training as directed by DEI office.
Competency Training for Advisors	Planning Stage	During faculty onboarding and PD sessions at the start and throughout the academic year, advisors given access to resources to aid with cultural awareness and care.
Inclusion in the Backcountry Program	Started	Partnering with organizations such as House of Stoked that approach backcountry camping and outdoor activities with a specific focus on inclusion, facilitating an outdoor equity-focused trip for 9th graders that eases student immersion in the backcountry program. All camping leaders given resources to enhance student belonging in the outdoor program, educate students on indigenous peoples of the land, etc.
Belonging in the Horse Program	Started	Training in cross cultural horsemanship, partnering with organizations such as Black Cowboys.
Off-campus access to communities/events	Active, Ongoing	Every affinity group gets a DEI resource guide, students have access to religious and cultural events, centers, etc. Documents shared with affinity group leaders during beginning of year retreat.
Clear policy on communication around student identity	Active, Ongoing	Gender support plan to facilitate respectful and mindful communication, work with a consultant to adjust gendered language in student handbook.
Expanding all gender dorms and other spaces	Active, Ongoing	All gender bathrooms, Sespe dorm, advisories, and leadership positions.
Expanding diversity criteria in admission of students	Planning Stage	Evaluating different methods of how we measure and report on diversity
Broadening geographic recruitment	Planning Stage	Looking into other geographical areas for recruitment, both domestically and internationally.
Consistency within affinity group mentorship	Started	Building protocols to increase consistency in the selection process, multiple trainings throughout the year for the affinity group leaders, opportunities to attend student diversity conferences outside of Thacher.
Expanding support to smallest minorities on campus	Started	Clubs actively created to build space for changing demographics.
Clearer communication about DEI in the curriculum	Active, Ongoing	Expanded DEI webpage, showing trajectory in certain disciplines with greater transparency.
Expanding access to diverse health care providers	Active, Ongoing	DEI Director and Director Counseling and Wellness work collaboratively to establish relationships with clinicians at various spaces in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties that specialize in specific student needs.
Elicit student feedback post graduation	Planning Stage	New and more inclusive survey providers outside NAIS that gain better insights from marginalized populations.