Building diversity, inclusion: Virtual talk set for Feb. 18

LAKEVILLE — Directors at The Hotchkiss School and Salisbury School will give a free virtual presentation on “Building Diversity and Inclusion Amidst Our Differences and Commonalities” Feb. 18 at 7 p.m,

The presenters will be Hotchkiss’ Director of Diversity and Inclusion Yassine Talhaoui and Meg Allen, director of inclusion and equity education at Salisbury. Allen and Talhaoui will talk about how communities must foster the essential values of equity and inclusion to prepare young people for an increasingly complex world, an announcement said. This includes teaching strategies to divest communities of racism, marginalization and bigotry and developing the skills and tools to utilize differences in ways that enable everyone to work together to cultivate better understanding, more acceptance, and attitudes of inclusion, it said.

To receive a Zoom link, register for this program at www.noblehorizons.org.

In 2020, Hotchkiss created the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the

Board of Trustees which has been working on policies and practices to create an antiracist environment, supported by workshops, conferences, community meetings, speakers and the creation of an anonymous bias-incident reporting form for teachers and students.

Salisbury School’s website states, “by explicitly and implicitly teaching our core values of empathy, humility and respect, Salisbury students come to learn that, in fact, everyone is their brother.” Allen holds a master’s degree in special education, is an instructor in the Rudd Center for Learning and Academic Growth and serves as the faculty adviser for the Big Brother program with Salisbury Central School.

Talhaoui, who has an M.A. degree, grew up in Germany and is the associate director of admission at Hotchkiss; prior to Hotchkiss, he was the director of equity and social justice and a foreign language teacher at the Watkinson School in Hartford.