Welcome!
As Waldorf Education celebrates its 100th birthday, our nation finds itself in the midst of a long-overdue reckoning with systemic racism. All over the country, our institutions have been looking inward to identify—and root out—the ways we uphold and perpetuate injustice. That mission is resonating loudly in Waldorf schools the world over. At Pasadena Waldorf School, we’re taking on this profound task of self-reflection and restoration, building an education that reflects, affirms, and celebrates the rich cultural diversity that makes up Greater Los Angeles, Southern California, and the world at large.
The PWS Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Group (EID) is a group of parents, faculty, and administration members spearheading this initiative within our school community. The mission of our collective, comprised of parents, faculty, and administration is, in partnership with PWS faculty and staff, to create concrete steps in the school’s action plan to work toward greater diversity and inclusion in our school.
On this page you will find contributions from EID members, ways to support diversity at the school, and great literary and video resources.

PWS Scholarship for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity
This new scholarship, generously supported by PWS parents and foundations, allows PWS to attract and retain students from the Black community and other communities of color.
PWS statement against Systemic Racism
From the College of Teachers and the Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Mandate Group
Pasadena Waldorf School vows to stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and those who are fighting to end over 400 years of institutionalized racism, systemic violence, historic inequity and white supremacy. We understand that this work starts in our own school community. As we grieve the murder of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Christopher DeAndre Mitchell and most recently Anthony McClain by the Pasadena Police, we feel the pain, rage and calls for justice voiced by so many across this country and the world in the past months. We stand by our Black families at PWS. We stand by the historically Black community of Altadena which has faced its own struggles with institutional racism and is grieving the loss of another Black man killed by police.
In this moment of global crisis, as we witness Black people disproportionately suffering and dying from the pandemic, we are called upon, with a sense of urgency, to face racism individually and as a community. That means committing --again and again -- to the work of dismantling racism and unconscious bias in ourselves, our organizations, and our society. We each have a role to play as educators, administrators, faculty, students, and parents. PWS is committed to the ongoing process of concretely working to recognize and eradicate the structures of institutional racism that exist in our school.
We are striving to build a school that reflects the diverse communities of Los Angeles and the historically Black community of Altadena, including increasing Black faculty, staff and student body. We are working to renew a curriculum and festival life that does not perpetuate racism, white supremacy and historic injuries.
“In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” – Angela Davis
Limited Edition PWS Black Poets T-shirt
Support the work of the EID by purchasing our limited edition PWS Black Poets T-Shirts for $25. The shirt features names of Black poets Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, James Baldwin, Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde, Sonia Sanchez and The Last Poets.
All proceeds go towards funding future EID-supported events and programs.

Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Resources
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin Diangelo
Citizen: American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
Stamped from the Beginning by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Film & Televsion
13th (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix
Dear White People (Justin Simien) — Netflix
Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler) — Amazon Prime Video
I Am Not Your Negro (James Baldwin doc) — Netflix
Just Mercy (Destin Daniel Cretton)
Selma (Ava DuVernay) —Hulu
The Hate U Give (George Tillman Jr.) — Hulu
When They See Us (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix
PASADENA: Exploring Solutions To Reduce Gang Violence (Steven Sneed) - YouTube
Links
https://www.edantiracism.com/anti-racist-resources
https://mmscequity.com/resources
