Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

CS&A at SAIS

CS&A President Devereaux McClatchey, Senior Consultant Barbara Daush, Search Consultant Marsha Little, and Placement Counselor Diana Zito attended the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS) Annual Conference in Atlanta on October 27-29.

On October 28, Devereaux, Barbara, and Marsha presented a session entitled “Pathways to Headship for the Aspiring School Leader.” The discussion focused on key strategies aspiring leaders can employ in navigating the search process and also what sort of unexpected landmines might appear along the way.

CS&A also exhibited at the event.

AISNE Welcomes Lawrence Alexander

Lawrence Alexander, CS&A Director of Diversity and DEI consultant, attended and presented at the AISNE Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Signature Conference in Waltham, MA on October 23 and 24. Lawrence conducted two sessions on October 24.

His first session, “Navigating the Times on Campus When Your Voice is THE Voice,” covered how to build capacity in one's colleagues and constituencies on campus around difficult conversations on justice, equity, and inclusion. His second, “Identifying Implicit Bias within the Enrollment Process,” focused on the role each community member plays in the enrollment management process, how one may interrupt implicit bias in the admissions process and on campus, and how attendees may better understand and support colleagues in the enrollment management process.

CS&A at SAES Conference

Senior Consultants Bill Christ, Rhonda Durham, and Bob Windham attended the 2019 Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools (SAES) Biennial Conference on October 24 and 25 in Houston, TX. CS&A has successfully partnered with Episcopal schools all over the Southwest to deliver successful leadership and administrative searches, and our team enjoyed connecting with schools and their leaders at this event.

CS&A at MCRC@ADVIS

On October 11, Kim Garner, Director of Conferences, and Lawrence Alexander, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and leader of our DEI Consulting Practice, attended the MCRC@ADVIS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Conference. Held at Tower Hill School (DE), the event offered educators and school leaders an opportunity for skill-building, learning, community-making, and enrichment by building and sharing knowledge, skills, and experiences to advance and promote equitable and inclusive practices and policies in all areas of school life.

Lawrence Alexander Featured on NPR

On October 7, Lawrence Alexander, CS&A's Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and school consultant, was interviewed on WBUR, Boston's NPR station, regarding the recent Harvard University discrimination case and about bias in the college admission process. Listen to the full interview here.

He was also interviewed by the Chronicle of Higher Education on the same topic. Congrats to Lawrence on being contacted to weigh in on this important topic!

CS&A at NACAC

Search consultants Ben Bolté, Jennifer Christensen, Tom Marlitt, and Lawrence Alexander, along with Placement Counselor Diana Zito, attended and exhibited at the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) National Conference in Louisville on September 26-28. They enjoyed connecting with college counseling and college admission professionals from across the country.

Lawrence Alexander Leads AISNE Workshop

On October 10 at Dedham Country Day School (MA), Lawrence Alexander — CS&A's Director of DEI and leader of the DEI Consulting Practice — facilitated a workshop entitled “Examining Equity Practices in Enrollment: Exploring Implicit Bias.” The workshop is part of AISNE's Professional Development Workshops series.

The workshop examined how attendees can interrupt implicit bias in their independent school admissions processes. The day included candid conversations and action-oriented analysis so that attendees can learn to meet their enrollment goals without compromising on their ethical duties to ensure a fair and just admissions process.

Leadership Transition Feature

The announcement is out, the search has ended – time to celebrate and call it a day? Celebrate, certainly, but a growing body of research shows that the most important work should just be getting started.

This summer, as schools prepared to welcome their new leaders, CS&A shared thought leadership around an area we believe that schools, and school leaders, would be well-served to invest significantly more time and energy into: the transition phase of leadership.

Check out the full series here of stories and articles from industry and education experts.

Lawrence Alexander at ADVIS

Lawrence Alexander, CS&A Search Associate and Director of DEI, led an afternoon breakout sessions at the MCRC@ADVIS Cheryl Irving Cultural Competency Institute on August 22 at The Episcopal Academy (PA). The event was designed to help schools to build a strong common language and understanding around the importance of developing cultural competence and inclusive practices in their communities. This year's featured keynote speaker was Rosetta Lee of Seattle Girls' School.