DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Since its founding in 1982, Touchstone Community School has been a school that values inclusion, understanding, and diversity. We are committed to building a community that values and embraces diversity, including culture, race, ethnicity, family structure, gender, sexual orientation, ability, religion, and socio-economic status. 

We create intentional structures in our curriculum and school culture that foster multiculturalism, multiple perspectives, and equity and justice. We affirm both our commonalities and our differences, engage in open dialogue, and strive to balance individuality and community. We actively seek students, faculty, families and staff from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives. Embracing diversity and inclusiveness makes us a stronger and wiser community.

In alignment with these enduring values, our students utilize resources from Learning For Justice as a basis for integrated anti-racist and anti-bias education. Following this framework, we focus on four standards:

Identity: The collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which a person is definitively recognized or known and the set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group.
Diversity: The condition of having or being composed of different elements; variety, especially the inclusion of different types of people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization.
Justice: A combination of fairness and opportunity; in a just society or group, people have the same rights and are not punished more because of who they are.
Action: Action includes taking steps to honor and celebrate identity and diversity, as well as taking steps to bring about justice.

These standards work their way through the curriculum at every age so that they become a natural part of student life. And, to help live those standards through community action, they also underlie our school values:

Be You & Be Known

Allow Touchstone to be your safe zone. Be "the real you." And in kind, get to know other members of the community in an authentic way.

Be Loud

Be a beacon for progressive education. Know your Touchstone story and tell it often.

Be Love

Care. Express gratitude. Assume the best intentions. Connect with your heart.

Be Messy

Play. Be joyful and creative. Make mistakes. Be experimental. Allow for different/unexpected outcomes.

Be Present

Be here. Join. Host. Participate. Contribute. Attend. Greet. Make.

Be Stable

Be a steady, grounded, and engaged member of the community. Be somebody the community can rely on and depend on. Know where to seek support when you need re-centering.

NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY

Touchstone Community School admits qualified students without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, sex, disabilities, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or family composition to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. The School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, sex, disabilities, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or family composition or any other status protected by applicable law in the administration of its educational, admissions, financial aid, athletic and other policies and programs.