A group of five Lab Schools administrators and one art teacher attended the annual FORUM/Diversity conference hosted by placement agency Carney, Sandoe, and Associates in Philadelphia Jan. 25-26, interviewing potential job candidates and attending workshops about how to maintain a diverse community of teachers and administrators

Lab has been attending the conference for many years, according to Director Charlie Abelmann.

“Even if we don’t have a job open, we want to meet people,” he said.

Priyanka Rupani, Lab’s director of diversity, equity and inclusion, said Lab also attends other hiring conferences each year, but that the diversity one is special.

“You don’t want to be absent from a setting where we are living out our values,” she said. “This is a way that we get to live out how we honor diversity.”

According to Ms. Rupani and Dr. Abelmann, the delegation met with candidates for high school positions such as principal and fine arts teacher. These interviews are mostly informational, with the delegation acting as scouts for the committees that do the hiring.