Towards an
Equitable Future
Committed to providing a safe, supportive, and inclusive learning environment for all, the Lower Merion School District is dedicated to ensuring that all students and employees have equitable access to the District’s educational programs and activities.
Explore this site if you are interested in learning more about these efforts as well as resources on related topics such as equity, racism/antiracism, and privilege.
Because education without equity is not education at all.
Our plan of action
Each year every school submits a Cultural Proficiency Action Plan designed to promote diversity awareness and equity in the building
Resources for your classroom
Find readings, articles, and links to more resources on Educational Equity as well as topics of racism, privilege, and antiracism. Use these for facullty meetings, staff development or self-directed learning.
Tools to share with parents
Parents who are interested in when to discuss race, and how to have courageous conversations about race with their children can find resources under Racism and Antiracism.
Inspiration
It's (past) time to appreciate cultural diversity
With tart humor, Hayley Yeates makes the case that investing in cultural diversity is just as important as fostering gender diversity.
The danger of a single story
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
Breathe and Push
Sikh activist and lawyer Valarie Kaur gave this six-minute address during a watch night service (a late-night service) at the Metropolitan AME Church on Dec. 31, 2016, in Washington. She joined several leaders, including the Rev. James Forbes of Riverside Church in New York City, Imam Talib Al Rashid of Harlem and the Rev. William Barber, a pastor in North Carolina, who stood beside her. Listen to her message of hope.
How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them
Our biases can be dangerous, even deadly — as we've seen in the cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, in Staten Island, New York. Diversity advocate Verna Myers looks closely at some of the subconscious attitudes we hold toward out-groups. She makes a plea to all people: Acknowledge your biases. Then move toward, not away from, the groups that make you uncomfortable. In a funny, impassioned, important talk, she shows us how.