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Equity and Inclusion

Peak to Peak is a K-12 charter public school created by parents to provide outstanding scholarship for all students that fosters the development of educated, active, and responsible community members. To ensure academic excellence, we believe in challenging each student to achieve their full potential, and we are committed to creating a responsive school culture and community where students feel a clear sense of belonging. Peak to Peak understands that valuing scholarship, challenge, and community means we must, at our core, value inclusion, equity, and diversity, in authentic and ongoing ways. In support of the school’s vision, mission and strategic plan, Peak to Peak must strive to be an anti-oppressive school where all students and staff can see, respond to, and redress inequity. As a result, Peak to Peak unequivocally commits to the following ideals of diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice:

  1. Affirming the uniqueness of each individual and understanding how diverse personal, cultural, and historic aspects of identity are essential to fully realizing our potential as a school community.   
  2. Working to dismantle systems that restrict access to our school programs and curriculum or that devalue individuals or groups, especially those from marginalized backgrounds.
  3. Identifying and working to eliminate bias in our materials and practices and exposing our students to diverse, inclusive college-prep curriculum, individuals, and processes.
  4. Ensuring that staff members have the knowledge, skills, and training necessary to serve every student and expecting staff to revise and update instructional strategies, pedagogy, and content so that all students can see themselves and others as valid scholars and members of society.
  5. Empowering stakeholders to be active and responsible contributors to our school, our larger community, and the world, and to take action to ensure justice and equity for all. 
  6. Challenging and disallowing any language, behavior, or action that threatens the safety, humanity, or legitimacy of an identity that has historically suffered oppression, harm, exclusion, or a lack of equal rights.
  7. Ensuring that all in our community feel safe, valued, and able to be their authentic selves, and that they have the skills to stand against bullying and oppression.

At Peak to Peak, we are making these commitments because missing any one student, failing to truly see even one individual for their contributions, talents, values, and worth, hinders our ability to achieve the Peak to Peak vision, mission, and school goals. This is the enduring piece of what Peak to Peak has always endeavored to be: a place where each individual student is known, respected, and valued, and where each student is provided with an education that strips away any barriers, making a college education attainable for all who walk through our doors. 

While we strive for the ideals contained in the commitments above, we know that sometimes we fall short. Despite our accomplishments, we still have room to grow and much to learn. We are, therefore, driven to evaluate where our school programs and systems may prevent our ability to fully serve each student, staff member, and community member. 

To accomplish our goals related to cultivating a responsive school culture, we must identify and dismantle every aspect of oppression in our:
  • systems and language
  • hiring and employment practices
  • enrollment process
  • curriculum and pedagogy
  • programs
  • visual and written representation of who we are as a school 
We know we are making progress toward our goals when: 
  • not one individual is oppressed or made to feel "less than" those in the dominant culture
  • our dominant culture students understand the harmful impact of being considered "normal" in situations where, by implication, those with relative differences are  considered "abnormal"
  • we have attracted, hired, and retained candidates who strengthen and diversify our school
  • our curriculum includes access to many perspectives about history, literature, arts, and sciences
  • all people are able to participate fully in our school environment
  • we maintain focus on the principles outlined in this document without becoming complacent
If we strip away barriers and eliminate injustice in our systems, only then—through equity, diversity, respect, justice, and inclusion—will we fully manifest our vision and mission for the benefit of every member of our Peak to Peak community.

Peak to Peak Equity Article Repository