DEI

DEI Overview

Roya Fahmy, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

"Our school is deeply dedicated to creating a positive environment where everyone can participate and contribute to our community's success. We appreciate every individual for their unique skills, experiences, and perspectives. Our goal is to develop our students holistically, an intention reflected in our culture. The collective knowledge, diverse backgrounds, self-expression, and talents of our students, families, faculty, and staff are quintessential elements of vibrancy and vitality within Sierra Canyon."

A Community of Belonging

Founded in 1978, Sierra Canyon’s core mission is our commitment to an empowering environment in which students realize their greatest creative, ethical, intellectual, and physical promise. We are defined by an energized, attentive, and diverse student-teacher culture.

As a leading educational institution in the region, we believe that Sierra Canyon should reflect the diverse multicultural population of the greater Los Angeles community, which we proudly serve, within both the student body and the faculty and staff. We are committed to diversifying the School through student acceptances, curriculum, programming, and faculty/staff recruitment and hiring practices, in order to promote a culture that is inclusive, welcoming, and celebratory of all.

DEI Questions?

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Curriculum Development

As a part of Sierra Canyon School’s commitment to ongoing reflection and constant review of its curriculum, the administration and faculty regularly conduct an internal audit of all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion elements within each grade level and department, Pre-Kindergarten through 12th Grade.

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  • Lower School

    From the youngest years, students are exposed to and celebrate differences within Sierra Canyon’s diverse community. Because of their training in Responsive Classroom, a platform for supporting affective education, our faculty creatively and effectively sustain this guidance with belief in the importance of DEI instruction.
     
    The program and curriculum in 2019–2020 were emblematic of this DEI effort. Classrooms prepared for our recognition of the March on Washington by holding an assembly with each homeroom, which created picket signs and posters, symbols of activism, honoring the importance of the movement.
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  • Middle School

    As our children mature and move to the Upper Campus, one of the goals of Middle School is to cultivate empathy and interpersonal responsibility in each child. These capacities are fostered in both our curricular and co-curricular programs. During our advisory and assembly periods, speakers are scheduled to discuss issues of DEI with the entire school. Within their advisory groups, faculty lead students in discussions about these presentations and other issues, including sharing student thoughts and perspectives on current events and politics. Students continue to develop skills that allow them to speak about complex issues and listen and speak with respect to one another.
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  • Upper School

    As students enter the Upper School, they are able to enjoy a more sophisticated understanding of DEI as they study the complexities of their coursework in greater depth. While reading some works from the literary canon, students learn about the writers’ background, influences, and time period. For example, while students read Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, they also study Chinua Achebe’s response to his work, An Image of Africa:  Racism in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” in order to gain a broader understanding of authorship and reception, helping students become more critical readers and thinkers. Students also continue to create bridges between academic and social contexts to contemporary issues.
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Students & Community

Facts and Figures (as of 08/29/23)

White: 35%
Multiracial: 17%
Black or African American: 14%
Hispanic or Latina/o/x: 8%
Asian American: 8%
International: 6% - Grades Pre-K-12
     (9% - Grades 7-12)
Indian American: 2%
Middle Eastern American: 3%
Not Reported: 2%
Other Race, Ethnicity, or Origin: 5%
 
Zip Codes Represented: 124
Families that Receive Financial Aid: 37%
Lower School: 11052 Independence Avenue
Middle and Upper School: 20801 Rinaldi Street
Chatsworth, CA 91311  | 818.882.8121
Sierra Canyon School is a private, independent, non-sectarian, co-educational, college preparatory school for students in grades Pre-Kindergarten through 12 located in Chatsworth, California. The highly cosmopolitan campus community is reflective of the Greater Los Angeles area and the world at large. Students are empowered to realize their greatest creative, ethical, intellectual and physical promise through small class sizes, a diverse student-teacher culture and a family-like environment.