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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Mission

The Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion supports DePaul College Prep's diverse community by working with all constituencies of the School to create the most inclusive Community of Belonging. This work is guided by our School's Mission and Core Values. We strive to affirm identity, make culture more palpable, create brave spaces for understanding through academics, and engage the community in meaningful dialogue around equity and social justice. As a faith-based institution, we aspire to move with purpose and conviction toward the utmost level of inclusion.

 

A Year in Review

Faculty/Staff DEI Workshop

DEI @ DePaul Prep in Action

We are all crew, not passengers.

Mikekal McClarin '22,
leading the juneteenth 2020 march

In today's world language classes, it's not enough to simply include cultural elements in our curriculum. We need to celebrate and embrace the many diverse cultures of the languages we teach while encouraging students to explore them.

Mdme. Britt Parker
French Teacher

Equity and Justice Faculty and Staff Learning Sessions

Diving Deep: Racial & Social Justice Training for Faculty & Staff

Shaping Curriculum and the Classroom Experience around DEI Initiatives

Faculty and staff participate in a number of important professional development initiatives throughout the school year:

  • All faculty and staff members went through a half-day training on “How to be an Ally” in Summer 2020, hosted by Ms. Alyscia Raines and Mr. Omari Keeles of ADR Consulting Group.
     
  • During our week of Professional Development in August 2020, all teachers did a deep dive into their curriculum mapping.  They broke into groups by departments and later by grade levels.  They spent a full day and a half looking through their curriculums with a lens on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Attention was spent ensure that authors, scientists, researchers, historical figures, and other people of note had equal representation across the board.
     
  • This winter, 90% of our faculty and staff completed a 12-week Racial Justice Training that took place every other Wednesday morning. The training, An Educator’s Guide for Changing the World: Methods, Models and Materials for Anti-Oppression and Social Justice Workshops, consists of 12 in-person sessions, which were led by english teacher, Ms. Katie Hogan. Going forward, this training will be mandatory for all new faculty and staff members hired.

From our faculty:

“This training definitely gave me a deeper connection to my DePaul Prep community.  It was nice to be in a vulnerable space with others who felt equally challenged or more so. It is wonderful to see each other learning and working together to create change.”

“This training gave me strategies for how to cope with difficult conversations around race in the classroom and taught me that everyone is on a different journey and all of us are still learning.  We will make mistakes but that is okay.”

“Calling someone IN instead of OUT makes them more likely to actually hear what others are saying. If difficult conversations are avoided, students will be taught that race and identity are taboo subjects.”
 

"I often teach about the injustices in classes like Ethics and Social Justice, but need to (and have started) adding more narratives of power, rebellion and joy of the oppressed groups."

“I appreciated the opportunity to reflect upon and better understand my own identity, and this will help me to work with my students on understanding their identities. Once we better understand our own identities, we will be open to learning and understanding others' identities, culture, hardships, and perspectives.”

The diversity of the DePaul Prep community is one of DePaul Prep's greatest strengths because it is this community that pushes the administrators, the teachers and the students to keep diversity, equity and inclusion at the forefront of what they do and how they act.

Ellen Meents-DeCaigny
class of 2021 Parent

DEI @ DePaul Prep At a Glance

 
DEI Committee

One of our goals is to have all students seen and heard. All of the work we have done this year is designed to ensure that as individuals, students feel valued, a sense of belonging, and that they see the school community as a place where their individuality contributes to the richness of our diversity across our whole school.

Kendall Mallette
Director for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
kmallette@depaulprep.org

DEI Team

Kendall Mallette

Kendall Mallette

Departments: Leadership, DEI
Email:
Megan Stanton-Anderson

Megan Stanton-Anderson

Departments: Leadership, DEI
Email:
Christina Baik

Christina Baik

Departments: English, DEI
Email:
Ricardo Cotto

Ricardo Cotto

Departments: Physical Education, DEI, Deans
Email:
Katherine Hogan

Katherine Hogan

Departments: English, DEI
Email:
Joseph Hohrein

Joseph Hohrein

Departments: Social Studies, DEI
Email:
Marinda Kennedy

Marinda Kennedy

Departments: Leadership, Counseling, DEI
Email:
Florence Merkl-Deutsch

Florence Merkl-Deutsch

Departments: Leadership, Campus Ministry, DEI
Email:
Bernadette Raspante

Bernadette Raspante

Departments: Theology, DEI
Email:
Melisa Simpson-Lord

Melisa Simpson-Lord

Departments: Student Services, DEI, Deans
Email:
Michael Sneed

Michael Sneed

Departments: Counseling, DEI
Email: