by Dr. Sandra Harris
As a leader, everyone wants to be inclusive and have a diverse population in their organization. I would like to share recommendations as to how Lutheran high school principals can demonstrate their valuing of diversity as they work to be inclusive and equitable with their student population and with faculty and staff. I feel confident that every Lutheran high school principal wants to have a diverse population, and wants to lead a building that is open and accepting of students, faculty, and staff who are different than the majority of the population.
Leadership sets the tone in every organization. As a Lutheran high school administrator, how you feel and act will be conveyed to everyone in your building. My first recommendation is sharing and conveying your thoughts about diversifying the student population. The administrator will be a champion for the causes that s/he supports. You have to let your faculty and staff know that a diverse and inclusive student body is important to you, and should be important to them. Be positive and enthusiastic when talking about diversity. Ask your team for ideas and suggestions for increasing the diversity in your building. Once you have suggestions and recommendations, then you and your team can attach “action steps” to those recommendations so that they will come to fruition.
Another important aspect of increasing the diversity in your high school is to ensure that diversity, equity, and inclusion are part of your school’s strategic plan. When discussing this issue in your faculty/staff meetings, make sure that it is not at the end of the agenda when everyone is tired and anxious to end the meeting. It might be helpful to have those who have excelled in this area (faculty/staff from other Lutheran high schools, diversity consultants, etc.) to visit a faculty/staff meeting and provide information on how to work with diverse populations. You should set goals for diversifying your building. For example, you might set a goal of increasing your minority student population by three percent within a certain time period.
Certainly, marketing and recruitment play a huge role in diversifying your student population. You should recruit from areas that have a high concentration of minority students. For example, publicize for your school in urban newspapers. Seek out minority organizations (i.e., the Black Clergy Caucus of the LCMS, etc.) and advertise in their journals and newsletters.
Once you are successful in recruiting and attracting diverse students, you have to ensure that they feel welcome. I have been an employee at Concordia University Ann Arbor (CUAA) for over six years. I have lived in Ann Arbor many years, passing by Concordia University numerous times per week, but I never knew what was on that property. I did not know anything about the university.
When I interviewed for a position at CUAA almost seven years ago, I remember how I felt when I encountered the first students that I saw. They were very friendly. They smiled and they spoke to me. When I inquired about the room that I was trying to find, they were extremely polite in giving me directions. Everyone was so nice, and I felt a warmth that one does not always find at institutions. Everyone on the interview team was most cordial. I did not feel like I was in an interview being questioned, but I felt like I was having a conversation with friends. And the most amazing part of all was opening the interview session with prayer. Having worked in public education for many years where prayer is prohibited, it was a welcome relief for me, as a Christian woman, to be among believers. That is the way that students should feel when they visit your building. It should be like a “Wow!” experience for them. That is the way it was for me with my first visit to CUAA.
Another way to make diverse students feel welcome is for them to see teachers and staff who look like them. Again, it may be necessary to recruit from the same places (urban areas, minority organizations, etc.) for faculty and staff that you recruit for students. It would be helpful to have a “buddy” system connecting minority students with white students so that they the minority students will never feel excluded. There should be an environment where minority students feel included and respected.
It is often said that it is important for African American students to see African American men and women in leadership roles. I always add to that statement and say that it is just as important for white students to see African American men and women in leadership roles. The students in your high school should see African American faculty and staff. I have lived in a predominantly white community my entire life. I was a student who was always in the minority in my classes and various programs in high school and college. It was a good feeling when I would come across someone who looked like me. Plus, it tells me something about an organization when I see a diverse workforce.
In closing, I will leave you with a few thoughts:
1) Treat people like you want to be treated or like you want your son or daughter to be treated. As a Lutheran high school principal, think about your son or daughter attending a school where they are in the minority. Certainly, you will want them to feel welcome. That is how all of the students should feel in your building.
2) Display that you have an appreciation for diversity. It can be something as simple as displaying posters in the building that show diversity. That is something of which I am mindful as marketing materials are prepared for my department at CUAA. I want to ensure that there are diverse populations shown in the brochures and pamphlets about the School of Education. When there are Visit Days for potential students, the Admissions Department does a great job of ensuring that there are diverse Student Ambassadors to meet and accompany the visitors. It would be encouraging if there are diverse individuals to meet and greet potential students who visit your building.
3) Be prepared and willing to expend funds to have an inclusive building. The expenditures could include starting new programs, whether it is for those who are gifted and talented or for those who need additional academic support. If you meet resistance regarding spending on a certain segment of the student population, be mindful of this: if you have two sides that are unequal, and if you put the same amount of resources on each side, you still have two sides that are unequal. Equality does not mean equity.
In a “perfect world,” we will not have to implement such measures—everyone will be accepted and included and treated equitably. That is my constant prayer.
Dr. Sandra Harris is the Director of Graduate Education at Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She can be reached at sandra.harris@cuaa.edu.