Fall 2021
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Newsletter
#WeAllBelong
The fall season brings many important celebrations of diversity, including National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), LGBT History Month (October), Native American Heritage Month (November), and Down Syndrome, ADHD, and Dyslexia Awareness Months (October). So many of our educators and students are working to promote the awareness that these markers bring during this specific time, as well as year-round. Here are some resources that might help promote our collective understanding of these important identities.
National Hispanic Heritage Month
LGBT History Month
Native American Heritage Month
Down Syndrome, ADHD, & Dyslexia Awareness Months
574
There are 574 sovereign tribal nations located in what we now know as the United States of America!
Read more about Native American Facts at the National Institutes of Health's website here.
Religious & Cultural Observances
In Lexington Public Schools, we all belong, and we do our best to live those values. In the past, our school calendar exclusively focused on Christian holidays. Later the school calendar was changed to include religious holidays observed by members of the Jewish and Islamic faith. In LPS we actively challenge ourselves to disrupt systems and structures that perpetuate inequalities. In doing so, we are working on revising our school calendar to be more inclusive of the many religions and cultures that exist in our community but are not represented on the school calendar.
One concrete component of this work includes the creation of a webpage listing specific observances in our community that may impact a students' ability to fully engage with their education. This would accompany a new version of the school calendar that would not list specific observances.
Please use this Google Form to submit observances that are important to you and your family that you would like recognized.
For a model of the type of information we are attempting to compile, please see this wonderful informational sheet created for the Fiske community in partnership with one of our families.
Student Voice
We are excited to launch into the second year of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Student Advisory Council! Students in grades 7-12 who are interested in joining the group this year, should complete this Google Form by October 29.
Curriculum Notes
This fall, the Community Input Team (CIT) focusing on the adoption of a district-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) curriculum is continuing its work. The group collectively identified the following vision for the work:
Build DEI into the value system of all we do with students by creating ongoing, lasting systems of learning
Center the experiences of the marginalized to provide balance to student perspectives and promote empathy, including a more nuanced world view beyond Lexington
Validate student voices and embrace our core value that we all belong
Encourage the learning to continue outside of the classroom, especially within families
Create value for our entire community for DEI work
Prepare our graduates to work in a diverse global community
The group also came to consensus around using the Learning for Justice Social Justice Standards to evaluate our curriculum, particularly to identify where we are reaching these standards and where potential gaps may exist.
Later in the school year, the DEI CIT be providing opportunities for various constituency groups to weigh in on the work. Stay tuned!
CIT Inclusion
After a prolonged pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Community Input Team (CIT) for Inclusion is pushing forward with their work and is planning to finalize their recommendations for improving the inclusion of students with disabilities by early 2022. The group is currently pursuing the following recommendations:
Short-Term Priorities
Identify early adopters for inclusive practices who can be models on how to take risks.
Promote and embrace the ownership of this work--they are all of our students--at the leadership level.
Ensure professional learning is offered to all staff, including elective teachers and support staff.
Long-Term Priorities
Provide time and resources to train all staff in Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Reinforce UDL successes in a public way to help establish it as a standard. Provide opportunities for staff members to collaborate across departments, allowing all members to contribute.
Promote co-teaching across the district where a special educator is partnered with a general educator in the same classroom.
Raise community awareness regarding the benefits of inclusion for all. Dispel the myth that students with disabilities negatively impact general education classrooms.
Move away from “programs” as a special education model. Allow staff from programs to share their expertise across the district. Provide all students the services they need within their geocoded schools.
Enable teachers to be creative and allow them flexibility to have a more flexible classroom where students in special education and typical peers can learn side by side. Teachers are encouraged to take risks.
Diversity in Staffing
The LPS school committee recently reviewed the update on diverse staffing and professional learning. As noted in the update, 30.7% of our new hires identify as employees of color and/or Hispanic/Latinx, up from 25.9% the previous year. We are also excited to report that this summer we filled nine administrative vacancies in the district, one-third with educators of color. We are making slow and steady progress! See more details on our Racial Equity page, including current demographics and statistics.
As our workforce becomes increasingly diverse, we are working to strengthen our retention strategies. A major component is the work we have done to formalize our affinity spaces for staff. (See this document for more information.) This year, we are offering the following groups for staff to come together for learning, support, and camaraderie:
African American/Black Staff
Administrators of Color
Asian/Asian American Staff
Jewish Staff
Latinx/Hispanic Staff
LGBTQIA+ Staff
Neurodiverse Staff
Staff with Chronic Illness
White Educators for Antiracism
White Administrators for Antiracism
Women in Leadership
Current staff can reference the Fall 2021 Affinity Group Flyer for more information.
Resources
The following are recent articles, editorials, videos, and educational news items to check out as we engage in the lifelong journey of bringing greater equity to our community!
The Debate Over Gender Pronouns in Schools, Explained (Boston Globe)
4 Myths About Suspensions That Could Hurt Students Longterm (Education Week)
What the Indian Caste System Taught Me About Racism in American Schools (Education Week)
Mindful of Equity - Practices that help students control their impulses can also mask systemic failures (Learning for Justice)
The Man Behind Critical Race Theory (The New Yorker)