Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ)

The faculty and staff of the Waldorf School of Lexington are engaged in an ongoing process of learning, listening, and deepening our understanding of equity, inclusion, and justice. With reverence, we strive to create, embrace, and support a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and just community where all students, families, and faculty and staff members feel respected, acknowledged, valued, and connected to the whole community.

Our mission is spearheaded by a dedicated DEIJ committee, composed of members from the faculty, staff, and Board of Trustees. You can connect with this group via email at deij@thewaldorfschool.org.

Waldorf School of Lexington welcomes students, families, faculty, and staff of all races, ethnicities, cultural and religious heritages, socio-economic backgrounds, geographic origins, gender identities, sexual orientations, and family structures. We reject discrimination in all its forms. 

It is a fundamental goal of our educational program to help students understand and experience the common humanity of all of the world’s people, transcending the stereotypes, prejudices, and divisive barriers of classification by sex, race, religion, nationality, and ability. We seek to accomplish this through our curriculum, which is designed to give students a deep and rich experience of varied cultural and religious traditions, and incorporating School-wide and individual grade celebrations of festivals.

Evolving our understanding of the world, our history, and our culture is hard work and requires a commitment to unlearning old ways of thinking and correcting history learned through the lens of colonialism, prejudice, and bigotry. We strive to change our understanding of what was once held to be the truth. As a Waldorf school, it is imperative that we recognize, reject, and transform aspects of Waldorf education that have directly or indirectly harmed members of our community or those in the wider world. In that vein, we acknowledge and affirm the following statement from AWSNA:

“The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) recognizes the historic and ongoing impact of racism on our continent and the injustice and discrimination faced by Black, Brown, Indigenous and People of Color. We understand that racial justice in education is a journey of both moral and educational imperative. As such, we take seriously our responsibility to bear witness to what is happening in the world, to center the voices of color in justice work, and to change the course of inequities by identifying and breaking down structural racism in all forms within Waldorf education. 

We acknowledge that Rudolf Steiner, founder of Waldorf education (1919), offered many profound insights that support the value and dignity of each human being and form the foundation of our organization’s histories and worldview. Yet, he also made statements that reflect harmful assertions regarding race and ethnicity. Racism, explicit or implicit, stands in direct conflict to the fundamental principles of Waldorf education. We commit to working to address any dehumanizing or disparaging aspects of our history and practices.” (AWSNA)

Safe & Welcoming Environment

Bullying Prevention & Intervention Plan

As part of our commitment to creating a safe and welcoming learning environment for all individuals, WSL has created a Bullying Prevention & Intervention Plan for addressing instances of suspected bullying, as required by the State of Massachusetts. Parents, students, or other members of the community may use this form to report suspected bullying behavior.

Gender Diversity Statement

The Waldorf School of Lexington promotes respect for all people and is committed to creating a culture that fosters learning and growth around differences and appreciation for the strength and wisdom that comes from diversity. Consistent with these values, we seek to foster an educational environment that is safe, welcoming, and free from stigma and discrimination of all students, regardless of their gender identity and/or gender expression. Our focus is to create an environment that values each person. Particularly with respect to transgender and gender non-conforming students, we will work closely with students and their families to strive to honor their wishes with respect to use of school facilities, participation in athletics, accuracy of student records, use of preferred name and pronouns, and privacy, in accordance with applicable law, and to the extent that our campus facilities reasonably permit. The school’s Gender Diversity Policy is intended to guide students and their families with regard to our practices that may uniquely impact transgender and gender non-conforming students. This policy does not anticipate every situation that might occur with respect to transgender students; the needs of each student will continue to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Any student who needs assistance with this policy, including addressing concerns about student records, school facilities and other activities, should contact the Head of School.