Summary of the
2022 Pollyanna Conference
The Power of Together:
Leading Inclusive Retention & Recruitment
Francis Parker School
Sept. 17, 2022
San Diego, CA
The Conference
One Day of Powerful Conversation
Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022
The goal of the Pollyanna is to engage a broad and diverse community of educational leaders whose perspectives and experiences will bolster our collective efforts to identify best practices and real-world strategies solutions to support our students living and leading in a wonderfully diverse and global society.
The conference opened with keynote speaker Martha Haakmat, with the balance of the morning dedicated to individually-facilitated workshops (broken down by constituency). The afternoon closed with a final presentation, as well as a celebratory reception.
Keynote Speaker
Caroline Blackwell
Caroline Blackwell is NAIS Vice President, Equity and Justice. As an education leader and advocate for human dignity and inclusion, Caroline’s career includes serving as Executive Director of the Metro Human Relations Commission in Nashville, TN, following 17 years as a senior administrator at University School of Nashville.
Caroline sits on several nonprofit boards, including the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education (CSEE). She holds an undergraduate degree in Journalism, a Master’s in Clinical Social Work, and multiple certifications, including coaching, Gracious Space, Polarity Thinking, and the Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory (ICS). Her portfolio at NAIS includes directing the NAIS People of Color Conference, the Student Diversity Leadership Conference, co-directing the NAIS Diversity Leadership Institute, and development and oversight of the NAIS Inclusive Schools Network Institute, Equity Design Labs, and the NAIS Assessment of Inclusivity and Multiculturalism (AIM). Caroline is a consultant and process facilitator, a contributing author to A Guidebook to the NAIS Principles of Good Practice, the annual NAIS TrendBook, and the consulting editor of Diversity Work in Independent Schools: The Practice Practitioner. She is devoted to her life partner and family, cooks for the joy of it, and uses “serious play” to explore and engage personal and professional challenges.
Martha Haakmat
Martha Haakmat is an experienced educator who has spent her 36-year career teaching and leading in NYC independent schools. She brings a depth of understanding and perspective to her work, having held various faculty and leadership positions in a wide variety of school communities. Coming from her most recent service as a head of school, Martha worked specifically on enrollment, marketing and finance in a changing admissions landscape, and she developed strategic planning expertise, which included diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goal setting and ongoing systemic work. She is now the Executive Director of Haakmat Consulting LLC providing leadership coaching and support for DEI strategic planning for schools and other organizations. Martha currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS), The Brearley School and Early Steps. She is also a lead presenter for the NAIS Institute for New Heads and is a credentialed Montessori administrator.
