NYSAIS Justice, Equity, & Diversity Institute

About the Institute

The Justice, Equity, and Diversity Institute aims to equip its participants to advance the work of justice, equity, and diversity in schools. It is designed to provide a comprehensive mid-level entry point into all aspects of equity work in independent schools, including specific topics related to identity and oppression, practices in the field, and strategic approaches to the work. The Institute harnesses the synergy of a cohort that explores these topics over a whole academic year, and provides access to participants to the networks available through past cohorts, the NYSAIS community, and the collective of diversity practitioners in the country.

The Institute is for NYSAIS and other independent schools who currently have a Director of Diversity who would benefit from this experience, and NYSAIS and other independent schools without a Director of Diversity who wish to strengthen their efforts by seeking this training for a faculty or staff member who may or may not fill this formal role. The institute has particular appeal to classroom teachers looking to apply a firmer equity lens to curriculum and pedagogy, and to faculty and staff members interested in part- or full-time director of diversity roles (whether or not they are given the title of Director of Diversity.)

Over the course of one year, 25-26 cohort members participate in:

• • Opening retreat – August 11-13, 2025 (required) – Millbrook School
  • Diversity Practitioners Conference and Justice, Equity, and Diversity Institute Closing Retreat at Mohonk Mountain House, late April/early May 2026 (required)
  • One NYSAIS Governance Workshop, September 2026, at The Dalton School (required)
  • One full-day Diversity Symposium in New York City – April 2026 (required)
  • A series of webinars over Zoom, as well as some in-person gatherings
  • A mentor partnership
  • An online Slack community to extend the work asynchronously

Topics include:

• Common Challenges and Trends in Justice, Equity, and Diversity
• Leading Change: Developing a Personal Vision for Institutional Justice, Equity, and Diversity
• Best Practices for Engaging School Leadership and Varied Constituent Groups
• Justice, Equity, and Diversity in the Curriculum, and Various Identity-Based Topics
• Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution
• Data Gathering, Conducting Research and Evidence-Based Decision-Making

Specific Dates for 2025-26:

• January 2025 – Applications available
• March 3, 2025 – Application deadline
• March 10, 2025 – Letter of Recommendation deadline
• March 31, 2025 – Cohort #8 announced
• Opening Residential Retreat – August 11-13, 2025 (required) – Millbrook School
• Trustee Governance Workshop – September 2025 (required) – The Dalton School
• NYSAIS Diversity Symposium – April 2026 (required) – Lycée Français de New York
• NYSAIS Diversity Practitioners Conference and Justice, Equity, and Diversity Institute CLosing Retreat – late April/early Mary 2026 (required) – Mohonk Mountain House
• Monthly seminar dates announced in Spring 2025

Application

The eighth Justice, Equity, and Diversity Institute cohort, consisting of roughly 20 members, will begin in the summer of 2025. The deadline for completed applications is March 3, 2025. The 2025-2026 cohort will be announced on March 31, 2025.

Candidates must:

1. 1. Complete the online application form
   2. Attach a current résumé to the online form
   3. Ask your Head of School, Assistant / Associate Head, Division Head, or Department Chair to upload a letter of recommendation using this separate, secure form

Cost: $3,750 (NYSAIS member school) | $4500 (non-NYSAIS member schools) – all-inclusive for the 1-year program. This fee is non-refundable.

2024 – 2025 Staff

The principal leaders of the Justice, Equity, and Diversity Institute are John Gentile and Semeka Smith-Williams. Additional facilitators contribute to the program in various ways.

John Gentile currently serves as the Assistant Head of School for Community Engagement and Belonging at the Oakwood School in Los Angeles. He has previously served as the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the Horace Mann School and Calhoun School in New York City. He is a founding faculty member of the National Diversity Practitioners Institute (NDPI) and serves as a principal consultant for The Glasgow Group. He is a co-founder of the conference, (Re)Defining Power: White Male Voices in Diversity Work, a space for 6th to 12th grade white male students wanting to explore their role in equity and justice work. He has been a faculty member for the National Association of Independent Schools’ Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) since 2009. He received his master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He served as the Co-Chair of the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) Diversity Committee from 2021-2023. He has served as Co-Director of the NYSAIS Justice, Equity, and Diversity Institute (JEDI) since 2022. Originally from Washington D.C., he now calls Los Angeles home.

Semeka Smith-Williams currently serves as the Upper School Dean of Students at The Calhoun School. She has more than 20 years of experience working in schools as a Kindergarten teacher, Elementary Dean of Students, LS Diversity Coach and Dir of Diversity & Equity. Semeka worked at the Packer Collegiate Institute and Community Partnership Charter School in Brooklyn, Manhattan Country School, and River East Elementary School. For ten years, Semeka was a member of the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) Diversity Committee and also served as Co-Chair for two terms. She is an Associate with the Institute for Social and Emotional Learning (IFSEL) conducting sessions with educators from around the world.

Semeka received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University in African American and American Studies and a M.S.Ed. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Bank Street College of Education. She is also a proud member of the third cohort of the NYSAIS Emerging Leaders Institute (ELI).

A process is underway to name a new Co-Director of JEDI to continue the work with Semeka Smith-Williams and the 8th JEDI Cohort for the 2025-26 school year.

Please contact Matt Suzuki for additional information.