As an integral element of our mission, Head-Royce School makes the ongoing commitment to creating and sustaining an equitable and just school culture and environment for the entire K-12 community, children and adults alike.  To that end we are committed to: 

• Working to foster a local and global perspective so that we as a Community embrace world cultures, solve pressing issues, understand interconnectedness, evaluate and resolve conflicts, and cause positive change.
• Continually recognize and urgently repair any and all hurt or harm caused, individually and systematically.  
• Challenging our institution to strive beyond diversity and embed inclusion and belonging at every level. 
• Actively promoting respect for others, embrace individual, cultural and socioeconomic differences, and model social responsibility, equity and justice. We seek to engage and listen with empathy and respect across existing differences. 
• Investing in the recruitment, hiring and retention of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) students and professional community members, as our School values the perspective and leadership of the BIPOC community.
• Welcoming the discomfort of making mistakes. We acknowledge that creating an inclusive and safe learning community will evolve and we must embrace conflict and discomfort and learn from our mistakes.
• Providing the time and resources necessary for our professional community members and administration, to participate in trainings, review and revise curriculum, pedagogy, policies, and practices through an anti-racist lens.
• Providing the time and resources necessary for the Board of Trustees to participate in policy review and trainings through an anti-racist lens.

With these commitments, we intend to mold our school’s culture to our mission through ensuring empowerment and belonging for all students and Professional Community members. Through these efforts, we hope that our students will gain a greater understanding of themselves, along with cultivating the skill of embracing difference and the ability to think deeply about our diverse society and the expected and necessary changes that must occur.  We are tasked with a new mission but of similar scale that founded our school over 130 years ago: revolutionize the purpose of education and whom it is for understanding of themselves, along with cultivating the skill of embracing difference and the ability to think deeply about our diverse society.

Approved by ADCO, March 2021
Endorsed by Board, DEI committee, April 2021

 

NIA is the Swahili word for “purpose.” NIA encourages us to look within ourselves and set goals that are beneficial to the community. It represents our hopes and dreams for the future of our children and future of Head-Royce. As a group of parents, faculty and administrators, we collectively strive to foster community spirit within Head-Royce while building partnerships with community groups, individuals and businesses.

NIA was established in 2003 when four Head-Royce mothers met to discuss how they could contribute and support the three tenets of the Head-Royce mission—scholarship, diversity and citizenship. It was decided to host an annual speakers event that would be open to the Head-Royce and greater Oakland communities. These founding members also had the equally important goal of establishing an endowed scholarship to support the tuition for students of color admitted to Head-Royce School. The NIA Scholarship Endowment Fund has raised over $200,000 and ensures an admitted student of color will have financial backing throughout their Head-Royce academic career, regardless of any socio-economic limitations.

Past NIA Speaker Events

2021 - Kwame Alexander, New York Times bestselling author of The Crossover 

2020 - Angie Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of The Hate U Give  

2019 - Kevin Nichols, founder of the Oakland-based Social Engineering Project

2018 - Courageous Conversation with Glenn Singleton

2017 - "Tech Talk: Unlocking the Color Code" - featured a panel of experts who discussed breaking barriers in the technology industry.

2016 - "Martin & Music" - music and the spoken word of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

2015 - "Tonight I Celebrate My Love" - an intimate evening with Roberta Flack

2014 – “Rubbing Off” Allison Briscoe-Smith, Ph.D.

2013 – An Evening with Anthony Robles, a three-time all-American wrestler born with only one leg

2012 – "Instilling Hope in Our Children" featuring Sarah O'Neal Rush, great-granddaughter of Booker T. Washington

2011 – "A Tale of Acceptance" featuring Cheryl Kilodavis, author of My Princess Boy, and Monte Poole, sports reporter for the Oakland Tribune

2010 – "Diversity in the 21st Century" with Dr. Harry Edwards

2009 – Crystal Hayling, President/CEO of Blue Shield of California Foundation

2007 – "Resiliency of the Human Spirit" – Mark Mathabane

2006 – "Celebrating the Arts" – Brian Copeland

2005 – "Trailblazers" – A Panel of Extraordinary Pioneers

• Thelton E. Henderson, United States District Judge

• Lourdes Portillo, a Chicano writer, director, and producer

• General Bernard P. Randolph, Senior Consultant for Space Systems Engineering

• Aqeela Sherrils, Executive Director of Community Self-Determination Institute

2004 – "50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education" - Cheryl Brown Henderson

2003 – The Little Rock Nine, featuring Melba Patillo Beale and Dr. Terrance Roberts

 

All Head-Royce Professional Community members participate in Professional Development opportunities throughout the year. Here is a small sampling of our work so far this year:

• Presence at Equity is Excellence Conference, Summer 2019
• 2019 Faculty Book: Culturally Responsive Teaching 
• Full Professional Community training with diversity expert Elizabeth Denevi on creating inclusive learning spaces
• Full Professional Community workshop with E&I trainer Rosetta Lee on "Beyond the Why and Into the How: Practical Steps Toward Inclusive Classrooms"
• Administrative leadership workshops with Elena Aguilar on effective and equitable leadership
• National Equity Project racial affinity groups for faculty and staff throughout the year
• Cohort of 26 adults and students at the 2019 NAIS People of Color Conference