DEI Statement

Community High School was founded in 2002, and has been, since its inception, committed to the principle that diversity, equity and inclusion work is vital not only because it creates a more just world, but also because it creates a more intellectually rigorous and open-minded institution.

While affirming our commitment to the value of a liberal arts education with an emphasis on critical thinking, creative expression, and both the acquisition of knowledge and the ability to examine and validate that knowledge, we also recognize that too many people have been systematically excluded from access to such an education. We also acknowledge the shortcomings in traditional subjects due to the limited perspectives resulting from systemic exclusion. For those reasons, and to fractionally approach the glorious variousness of the world, we embrace coursework which explores the experiences of as wide a variety of cultures and groups as we can.

That coursework seeks not only to include works from cultures around the world, but to wrestle with difficult concepts including racial, sexual and economic disparity and injustice here and abroad. This is true not only in our Humanities courses, which regularly examine structural inequality in many societies and time periods, but also in Science classes focusing on Human Origins and Public Health, in Foreign Language courses, which necessarily examine the many societies that speak those languages, in Arts courses, where diverse voices are central, and even in Math courses like personal finance. We frequently invite guest speakers to campus through programs like our regular Lycée program. And through Community Service and partnerships with organizations ranging from the Harrison Museum of African American Culture to the Sister Cities to the Rescue Mission, we introduce our students to the full breadth of diversity in our community and abroad.

Thanks to the sustaining generosity of our board, we are able to offer admission to all students regardless of their ability to pay. Indeed, for any family making under 60K a year—the majority of Roanoke’s population—our school is entirely free. All school projects, including college courses and foreign exchange trips, are similarly equitable. We wish to have a student body as diverse as our valley, by neighborhood, race, gender or sexual orientation, religion and ethnicity, and we direct our energies in recruitment toward that goal. When we have the opportunity to add a new colleague at the Board or Faculty level, we similarly prioritize adding to the diversity of identities on our campus and advertise and recruit from many communities.

Community High School seeks to create and maintain an environment that is safe and welcoming to all of its students, faculty, and community members. We, therefore, prohibit discrimination against and harassment of any community member because of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal or state law.