The Overlake School

As part of Overlake's Diversity Strategic Plan for anti-racism beginning in October 2020, "the Overlake School will design and implement equitable and inclusive admission processes to recruit, admit, and retain a diverse student community with a specific focus on historically underrepresented Black, Latino, and Native American communities and socio-economic diversity."

As part of Overlake's Diversity Strategic Plan for anti-racism beginning in October 2020, "the Overlake School will design assessment tools to formally collect data and report on DEI goals. The Overlake School will utilize DEI data to inform policies, strategic planning, and programming."

In December of 2023, Overlake released an article restating their stance on DEI. The school reiterated that after the death of George Floyd, "anti-racism work became a top priority for Overlake." The school has increased DEI Office staffing, bolstered the cultural competency curriculum, and updated admission processes to be more inclusive.

In 2021, Overlake created a Diversity Speaker Series. In addition, "the Office of Diversity and Inclusion is providing student programming at both Middle and Upper School level to deepen engagement for our student community and also involves students as moderators for those engaging presenters." Overlake hosts Thursday diversity programming as well.

Overlake has a Diversity Committee that enforces the strategic plan. In addition, Overlake hosts numerous DEI assemblies, workshops, and clubs for students and community members.

On September 17, 2021, Overlake announced, "This year there will be dedicated time every Friday for skill building at developmentally appropriate levels around cultural competence."

On March 4, 2019, Overlake announced that eight of its students attended the NWAIS Student Diversity Leadership Retreat held in Catlin Gabel School.

As part of Overlake's Diversity Strategic Plan for anti-racism beginning in October 2020, "the Overlake School will review, evaluate, and design curriculum and instruction with an intentional focus on equity, inclusion, and cultural competency. Cultural competency skill development will be a core academic expectation."

One of the core values of the Social Studies department is Social Justice. The curriculum teaches about "past and present injustices done to different groups and individuals to show the complexity of our collective history and examine the human condition."

As of 2025, one of the reading requirements for 6th grade English is This Book is Anti-Racist.

As of the 2025 curriculum, World History 10: The Modern World, is a required course that focuses on "themes of equality and justice" and creates "links between what has happened in the past with events happening at the present."

As part of Overlake's Diversity Strategic Plan for anti-racism beginning in October 2020, "the leadership of The Overlake School will engage in ongoing training and professional growth on social justice, anti-racism, and cultural competency and design policies and practices for equity and inclusion."

As part of Overlake's Diversity Strategic Plan for anti-racism beginning in October 2020, "The Overlake School will design and implement an equitable and inclusive hiring process to recruit, hire, and retain culturally competent educators with a specific focus on increasing diversity from underrepresented Black, Latino, Native American, and Asian communities."

Overlake's Gibson Scholarship is offered exclusively to African-American students.

Overlake offers definitions for DEI related terms.

Overlake "facilitated a panel discussion with various school administrators from independent schools in the Seattle area entitled 'Thriving as a person of color in independent schools.'"

On December 7, 2018, Overlake was one of the schools that attended the NAIS People of Color Conference and Student Diversity Leadership Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Overlake states, "The conference is an opportunity for the nation’s independent schools to discover, learn, and discuss efforts to support equity and justice within a safe space for leadership, professional development, and networking for people of color and allies of all backgrounds."

Overlake held a conference in response to the death of George Floyd and also released a statement saying "I urge you to listen to the black community. It’s important to validate the experiences of black people in America and to internalize our stories."

The school included "Revolution in Our Time: the Black Panther Party's Promise to the People" by Kekla Magoon in its 2021 holiday reading recommendations list.

Overlake joined the newly formed People of Color in Independent Schools (POCIS) Seattle group. The POCIS group hosted a virtual Equity and Inclusion Series in the 2023-2024 school year that Overlake took part in. Overlake says the Equity and Inclusion conference "allows people to learn from speakers we can’t afford on our own."

In February of 2025, Overlake hosted Dr. Bell, a founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, during the school's annual Martin Luther King assembly. Dr. Bell taught the students "Street Dance Activism."  

The JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) club is a middle school club where participants learn how to "model having conversations around issues that impact the world."

Every classroom on campus has a document posted which states, "Inclusion at Overlake is the active and intentional process of creating and maintaining a school culture that is welcoming and affirming to all. Equity at Overlake is the means by which we build an inclusive community and strive to examine biases, remove systemic barriers, and interrupt inequitable practices."

On August 17, 2020, Overlake posted a video on Facebook discussing a DEI and BLM webinar that students and alumni held.

On June 3, 2020, Overlake announced on Facebook, "The Overlake School will be hosting an online community vigil this evening at 6:00 to lament the lives lost due to racial, economic, and social injustice in our country. We stand in solidarity with our African American brothers and sisters as we lie awake to the toils of injustice that predominantly affect these communities. The vigil will be a time of individual and community reflection as well as a place for community healing."

As of March 2025, Overlake completed its strategic goal to "integrate formative assessment of DEI into institutional processes and tools, in order to steward progress toward DEI goals" and "use longitudinal data about DEI to inform its policies, strategic planning, and programming."