Conferences | Pollyanna

SCHOOL CONFERENCES/SEMINARS

“Hosting the Pollyanna Conference presented important opportunities for us as a school that was already committed to diversity and social Justice but could benefit from a mechanism to deepen our understanding and our commitments.”

– Mikki Murphy, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Community, Far Brook School, NJ

Conferences & Seminars

Conferences, connections, and conversations are the heart and soul of how Pollyanna accomplishes its mission of Building Stronger and Kinder Communities. Each conference model creates space for meaningful, constructive dialogue across constituencies, generating actionable ideas that help schools grow into the best version of themselves.

Over the years, schools attending or hosting Pollyanna Conferences have made real changes, such as:

Creating a DEIB Director role or office
Establishing a trustee DEIB committee
Revising dress codes and uniform policies to be more inclusive
Updating curricula to reflect more diverse voices
Developing LGBTQIA+ student affinity spaces

Pollyanna currently offers two conference models—Multi-School and Intra-School—and is now introducing a third: the Leadership Seminar. This new model is designed for heads of school and senior administrators, offering them the opportunity to connect, reflect, and strategize with peers about how best to lead their communities with vision, courage, and compassion.

Introducing: The Leadership Seminar

The Leadership Seminar: Aligning Mission, Values, and Decision-Making

This is a dynamic, regionally-based initiative designed to support independent schools in aligning their decision-making processes with their mission and values. Hosted over two strategically timed half-day sessions – in the fall and spring of the academic year – this conference offers school leaders a unique opportunity to collaborate, reflect, and lead with greater cohesion and purpose.

Purpose

This two-part Leadership Seminar is designed to help senior leaders at independent schools examine the critical connection between culture and strategy.

Culture: defined here as the everyday actions that promote or undermine a sense of dignity for all community members shapes how values show up in practice.
Strategy: understood as the art of making wise, mission-aligned decisions determines how schools respond to complexity and change.

Over two half-day sessions, school leadership teams will reflect on the alignment between their stated mission and their lived reality, identify opportunities for cultural and strategic refinement, and collaborate across institutions to sharpen their leadership lens. By grounding school-based planning in dignity and direction, the conference helps leaders move from intention to impact, strengthening both community trust and organizational clarity.

Participants

To ensure a comprehensive perspective, participating schools are encouraged to bring a team that includes 5-8 senior administrators, preferably with the following roles represented among them:

Head of School
Chief of Communications
Chief of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
Chief Advancement Officer

This multi-constituent model fosters greater alignment and shared ownership of the work.

Multi-School Conference: Brings School Communities Together for DEIB Growth

A school that hosts a Multi-School Conference in a designated geographic region welcomes peer schools to discuss challenges and effective practices around a specific diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) topic. Each school sends a POD that includes 15 people representing all-school constituent groups, including two people from each group of administrators, alumni, diversity, equity and inclusion practitioners, faculty, parents, students, and trustees, and one head of school. Participants work together to generate actionable ideas to bring to their home communities. Hosting a Multi-School Conference is an incredible opportunity to establish your school as a regional leader in DEIB work.

The host school works with Pollyanna to identify an appropriate thematic topic, such as:

From Belonging to Inclusion
Creating a Kind and Just Community
Addressing the Elephant in the Room: Socioeconomic Diversity
Shaping and Sustaining Safe Schools for LGBTQ+ Members

Sample Conference Schedule:

Intra-School Conference: A Unique Opportunity for Individual Schools

The Intra-School Conference is an institutional capacity-building opportunity for individual schools that want to deepen their knowledge, enhance practices, and improve skills in the areas of diversity, equity, and belonging (DEIB). Constituent groups included in this model are alumni, alumni parents, faculty/admin/staff, students, and parents. This model brings a school together around a common DEIB topic while providing a platform for sharing personal experiences, expressing opinions and perspectives, and generating ideas and solutions for growth. Hosting an Intra-School Conference is an opportunity for your school to engage in a “deep dive” in a structured, safe, and inspiring setting.