CMDS Announces New Diversity and Belonging Coordinator

Brittany Carmichael-Hayes

Title: Diversity and Belonging Coordinator
Education: BS, Education, University of Memphis; MS, Education, Union University
Family: Husband, Dejuan Hayes and Twin Girls Saniya and Samara, age 4
My first job: Chuck E. Cheese party host
One word to describe me: Energetic
Person I admire most: Michelle Obama
Hobbies: Zumba, Crafting and Singing in the Choir at Carter’s Chapel Full Gospel Baptist Church
Last book read: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favorite vacation spot: Destin
Favorite cause: Homeless outreach and support
Something interesting about me: I’m a published children’s book author!
One thing I love about CMDS: The welcoming and warm environment

We are extremely happy to announce that beginning with the 2021-22 school year, Brittany Carmichael-Hayes will shift into a new role as the CMDS Diversity and Belonging Coordinator. Mrs. Carmichael-Hayes has been a CMDS 2nd grade teacher for the past two years. In this new position, Brittany will cover a lot of ground! Her main focus areas will be: Strategic Planning and Outreach; Curriculum and Classroom Instruction; and Admissions.

What are you looking forward to about your new role?

First and foremost, I can’t wait to get to know current, new and potential CMDS families. One of our main goals is to increase the enrollment of students of color at CMDS. I’ll also be available to those families who are already here (or who may come in the future) so everyone feels a true sense of belonging and inclusion. While I’m very excited about this new position, I’m also not leaving the classroom entirely! I’ll be going into all of our classrooms, teaching all of our students – at their level – about diversity.

What motivates you to want to take on this challenge?

Personally, this is for my girls. I would like for them to be in an environment that looks like our community. They’re still very young, but when they start noticing differences, I want them to feel comfortable. I want them to see others who look like them in their classroom.

I also want to help the CMDS faculty and staff communicate race issues that they have within the classroom or even personally. I want to educate the faculty and staff and find professional development opportunities in the diversity, equity and inclusion space that will help all of us in the realm of teaching students of color.

Will some of this be uncomfortable?

Yes. Any time we’re dealing with race and diversity as a whole it’s uncomfortable because, for a lot of us, it’s dealing with the unknown. The only way to counteract that is to educate ourselves. And being able to have those uncomfortable conversations in a productive way.

How do you plan on getting started?

I’m already researching curriculum that will bring more racial, ethnic and cultural diversity awareness to CMDS. I look forward to working with Alissa Abercrombie, Head of Lower and Upper School, and Molly Griesbeck, Head of Early Childhood, on a curriculum plan for our school. It’s our intention to employ a more diverse group of faculty members. We’ll also begin the process of developing a long-term strategy for creating a more diverse and inclusive environment at CMDS.

I also am ready to work with the Student Engagement Team on community service and outreach projects for our students and our school. I have a personal passion for service to the homeless population of Memphis, but we’ll look at a variety of ways for our students to get involved in our community. Even though our students are young, there are lots of opportunities for them to begin to learn the importance of social responsibility, one of the CMDS Mission Statement’s four pillars.

What else do you want us to know?

I love Christ Methodist Day School. I look forward to a great school year with a new and revitalized outlook on cultural, racial and ethnic diversity. Jauna Ellis helped in this capacity over the past several years, and I am very thankful to take that work forward, focusing on these goals full time, every day.

I look forward to counteracting unconscious biases that people have toward people of color. As black people, that’s the bulk of what our family deals with on a daily basis. I realize these issues are bigger and more complicated than anyone can solve on their own but starting to educate children at an elementary and Early Childhood age is crucial. It can be as simple as starting in 2K to make sure there are picture books with children of color featured in them or toys that children from a variety of races and cultures can connect with.

As the students get older, we can talk more about Fighting for a Cause (a 2nd grade Domain unit we recently completed in my classroom), our nation’s history and look at more diverse genres of text featuring characters of color. I would love to help host an international world fair, so we’re not just talking about people of color in our city but also addressing culture biases for other marginalized groups. We are already doing some of this at CMDS, and I am excited to dig in and help further the conversation. I am determined to be a person of resource and change.

A Word from CMDS Head of School Dr. Williams

CMDS has been truly blessed with enrollment growth in recent years. While we are all encouraged by long-term enrollment trends, we are not at all satisfied with the lack of diversity we’ve seen as a part of that growth.

I speak for the Christ Methodist Day School Board of Trustees and entire administrative team in saying that we want that to change. We want CMDS to be a better reflection of our community, our country and the world around us. Brittany’s new position and focus is a good step toward that, to be sure, but there is still a lot of work to do.

Please join me praying for her and for our school as we face these challenges together, with our eyes, ears and hearts open to hear and learn from each other.