Director of Community, Equity, and Belonging

Leadership Opportunity:
Seattle, WA

Lakeside School, an independent, nonsectarian, day school serving 891 students in grades 5-12 on two campuses in Seattle, Washington, actively seeks a visionary and collaborative colleague to serve as the next Director of Community, Equity, and Belonging.

The next Director of Community, Equity, and Belonging will lead students, employees, trustees, parents and guardians, alums, and other community members in accomplishing elements of Hope in Action, the school's strategic plan, as well as lead the daily operation of Lakeside's equity, inclusion, and belonging program.

For years, Lakeside has been committed to building and strengthening its diversity, as well as practices and approaches around equity and inclusion through carefully crafted and executed multi-year plans. During the last two decades, Lakeside has transformed itself into one of the most diverse U.S independent schools and built a well-established diversity, equity, and inclusion program. The school's most recently completed multi-year plan, Our Work Together, reshaped institutional culture and practices around equity and inclusivity.

Hope in Action tasks Lakeside with not only building upon this work, but also establishing and strengthening a shared sense of belonging among the many individuals and constituents that comprise the community. The vision, planning, and execution of this next effort will be led by the next Director of Community, Equity, and Belonging.

The Director of Community, Equity and Belonging reports to the Assistant Head of School and works closely with the Head of School. A member of Lakeside School's director's group and select committees of Lakeside's Board of Trustees, the Director of Community, Equity, and Belonging's leadership opportunities also include providing guidance to all constituents on making equity, inclusion, and belonging-informed policies and decisions;

identifying community, equity, and belonging student programming needs; leading a collaborative effort of directors, departments, and grade-level teams to further the school's equity and inclusion efforts; and collaborating with colleagues on institutional research, including compiling and analyzing complex data and information, for senior leadership and board review and to inform decision-making and policy formation.

Lakeside:
Fast Facts

About the Position

The Director of Community, Equity, and Belonging is an important partner and collaborator for students, colleagues, and leadership. They are a resource for students navigating the exciting and challenging work of building an inclusive community. In the adult community, they serve as a trusted thought-partner to colleagues developing 5-12 student programming and identifies, designs, and delivers relevant and resonant professional development on teaching and learning, and curriculum planning.

As a leader in the school, they participate in various school and board committees to ensure the school's commitment to equity, inclusion, and belonging is met; partner with the Parents and Guardians Association on annual programming; connect with alums and community partners to build their engagement with Lakeside; and represent Lakeside in local, state, national and international programs and events related to equity, inclusion and belonging.

The Director will also:

• Lead the equity, inclusion, and belonging department and team.
• Conduct benchmark studies and promote best practices.
• Lead, establish, maintain, and regularly and proactively evaluate protocols, structures, and frameworks to create a consistent approach to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) across all aspects of school life and school leadership.
• Collaborate with the recruitment and hiring manager on employee recruitment, including serving on hiring committees and participating in hiring fairs.
• Collaborate with other departments, programs, and offices as necessary throughout the year to realize the school's equity, inclusion, and belonging immediate goals and long-term goals.
• Serve as Lakeside's representative to the People of Color in Independent Schools (POCIS) Consortium.
• Contribute regularly to the independent school landscape through industry publications, social media, and presentations, webinars, and conferences, and by maintaining and leveraging professional networks.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.
• Prior work experience in building and strengthening equity, inclusion, and belonging within organizations and/or communities.
• The ability to stand and sit for long periods, walk up and down stairs, lift approximately 20 pounds, and regularly walk between the Middle and Upper School campuses, a distance of 0.3 miles that includes a gentle hill.
• Working knowledge of MS Office products and Google Workspace.
• Satisfactory completion of three criminal history background checks.

Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years experience at an accredited NAIS independent school or…