FAMILY DIVERSITY @ TPS

Who We Are

Family Diversity @ TPS is a group of parents working together with the The Philadelphia School administration, faculty, and board toward the shared goals of:

• Encouraging and supporting family diversity at The Philadelphia School.

• Attracting and retaining African-American, Asian-American, Latino, Native-American and multi-racial students and faculty.

• Supporting gay and lesbian parents.
• Supporting families with limited financial means.

Family Diversity @ TPS will function as a resource for all members of the TPS community by organizing parent education forums, cultural events, and other programs. Its two co-chairs are members of the Diversity Committee of the Board of Trustees.

Meetings are usually held at TPS on the third Thursday of the month at 8:30 a.m. If you would like to be placed on the Family Diversity@ TPS listserve, email TPSwebmaster@tpschool.org.

Events 2007-08

March: Lehigh University professor Heather Beth Johnson, whose research examines issues of race and class inequality in the contemporary United States, spoke to parents and faculty. The title of her talk was "Class Talks: Talking with Children about Social Class and Social Inequality." Professor Johnson's soon-to-be published paper on the topic can be accessed here; please note that the paper is not to be quoted, cited, or duplicated by any means without permission of the author.

October: Family Diversity @ TPS organized a TPS team of families who participated in the Philadelphia AIDS Walk.  The TPS team of about 40, walked behind the TPS banner and raised more than $1,600.

November: Family Diversity @ TPS hosted an evening screening for parents, guardians, and TPS staff of the film That's a Family, a teaching resource that provides an essential mirror for children of single parents, divorced parents, gay and lesbian parents, caretaking guardians, children in interracial families, children who have been adopted and others living in varied family configurations. The purpose was not just to learn about different families, but to learn from different families – from the children themselves.

Resources

We will be adding more resources soon. In the meantime, here is a recommended reading list from NAIS.