Dear friends and colleagues,

Sharing with you some positive news. Below is a response from Jane Larsson, Executive Director of the Council of International Schools (see below). We need to address structural racism in international schools through intentional and structural reforms. Accreditation holds international schools accountable within its journey for school improvement. Racism and discriminatory practices, explicit or covert, are well being issues. Why accreditation standards, you may ask. As many of you know very well, the internal work schools will have to do as a community, through accreditation, is to reflect and develop concrete actions that have sustainable implications and impact on all aspects of schooling. It is work. Anti-racism is collective work. I wish I could share with you a letter from a student addressed to his/her international school - that outlines a lived experience and trauma on racism within its campus without the school knowing or complicit with it. That letter and more compel and power us to do what is right and ethical. We cannot be silent in matters like racism when we know there is something we can do, a centuries-long global issue that has lifelong trauma for many generations. While courageous folks currently risk their lives on the streets, we can do our part in education - the transformation of hearts and minds.

More people have signed and please continue to share the petition: Explicit inclusion of anti-racism in int'l accreditation standards - Sign the Petition! http://chng.it/CwbCSXRk via @Change We have not heard from other accreditation agencies yet, and we hope that the bold leadership of the Council of International Schools on this change will influence and compel others to develop their part of the reforms. We deeply appreciate the thinking and work of the CIS Global Team. 

The children of today and tomorrow are watching us.

Thank you,
Joel
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An excerpt from Jane Larsson's positive email response. Jane is the Executive Director of the Council of International Schools.

To your letter – we greatly appreciate learning your thoughts and recommendations on how we can move forward to address systemic racism in international education. I was able to find your Twitter responses to my post, these are appreciated too. This week, our Global Team has taken up discussion of the need to review our guiding statements and our standards for accreditation, which will expand this week to include our Board of Trustees. Our conversations have been highly meaningful. The stories Nunana, Rachel and others are sharing have made me feel very sad. Personally, I am developing new insights based upon their experiences and those of many others, and through intentional discussion. This is just the beginning.

Thank you for the care and time you have taken to suggest specific standards and language to be updated, which we will include in our review. Your valuable input is timely. As we make progress, we will be sure to update our membership community and the international education community more broadly, so you’ll be hearing from us.