CONNECTIONS QUARTERLY SUMMER 2026
WELCOME
BELONGING IN CHANGING TIMES
Back when I was a student in an independent school, the concept of“ tolerance” was being advocated in the community. While tolerance can be understood in different ways, I can attest that then it meant we should be nice to these few“ guests” in our community. Later when I was a young teacher, the focus was on“ diversity” meaning a focus on how many people from various groups were in the community. We were not yet aware how our community needed to evolve to ensure everyone felt an equal member rather than a guest.
Today we are entering into another new chapter in the constant evolution of our independent schools’ effort to form community. We now have forces and parents that look at our DEIB efforts with suspicion. Some are avidly against DEIB while others who were uncertain are being swayed by what they are hearing.
This is a call to us to ensure that we are being really clear about what and why we do what we are doing. Does our school’ s DEIB program clearly link to the school’ s mission? Further, a strong program and great explanation of a school’ s commitment to belonging shows that it benefits ALL members of the community.
In this period of great DEIB scrutiny, the way forward is to say more about what we are doing and to do so clearly. Not using jargon or“ gotcha” approaches. Further, schools should not stop at ensuring that what they have in place is similar to their peer schools, but measure how effective what they are doing is for their community.
In this issue of Connections, we’ ve invited authors to reflect on how to continue the great work of belonging in changing times. •
Bob Mattingly, Executive Director of CSEE
CSEE Connections Summer 2026 Page 1