8 | Acton-Boxborough regional school district
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
The heart of our DEI work is to examine and disrupt institutional biases and systems that limit access, opportunity, and ultimately equity for our students. DEI Family Advisory In September 2019, we invited interested families to apply to serve on a DEI Family Advisory to provide advice around student and family experiences in AB. This group of 40 dedicated volunteers met throughout the year and examined four areas: • Family Engagement subcommittee: proposed including a Cultural Sharing Program for families to present a tradition to their child’s class and supported a “Welcome to AB!” video to welcome new families to the District. • District and Police Interactions subcommittee: recommended educating our community about School Resource Officers (SROs) and implementing a more regular, formal evaluation of the SRO program. • Curriculum subcommittee: created a family survey about DEI-related curriculum and recommended continued curriculum expansion that includes the history of Indigenous and Black people and other marginalized groups. • Staff Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention subcom- mittee: recommended facilitating anti-bias training for interview teams and provided comments to strengthen hiring policy. Access complete recommendations at https://www. abschools.org/school_committee or http://actontv.org/ on-demand/government.
We trained 44 more staff in Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED- https://nationalseedproject.org) and added two new learning facilitators and, aimed at driving personal and institutional change toward social justice.
Student Clubs Dedicated to Equity and Inclusion
In addition to our World of Difference Peer Leaders and AB Students for Equity and Social Justice, ABRHS now boasts affinity groups including Dear Asian Youth!, Black Student Union, Korean Language Club, Muslim Student Association, Jewish Student Union, Latinx Affinity Group, and Common Ground.
DEI PK-12 Staff Workgroup We implemented a districtwide staff workgroup to further equity and inclusion goals by examining data, establishing measurable indicators for DEI goals and recommendations around policies, procedures, and resources. Professional Learning to Support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion DESE allocated ten days of professional learning to open schools. Ours included: • Self & Collective Care: we can’t help others if we’re not okay- educators learned strategies to take care of themselves and each other • Ready to Learn: building equitable classrooms and employing trauma-informed strategies to support students • Anti-Bias Principles & Education 101: the impor- tance of being an anti-racist educator and how to engage students in age-appropriate conversations about race, racism, and social justice
What is “DEI?”
Diversity: the sum of the ways that people are both alike and different. While diversity itself is not a value- laden term, the way that people react to diversity is driven by values, attitudes, beliefs, and experiences. (Adapted from the National Education Association) Equity: securing needed supports, opportunities, and resources for individuals and groups of students who typically haven’t received what they need from schools (Adapted from Mica Pollack’s Schooltalk: Rethinking What We Say About- and to- Students Everyday) Inclusion: is not a strategy to help people fit into the systems and structures that exist; it is about transforming those systems and strategies to make it better for everyone. Inclusion is about creating a better world for everyone. (Diane Richler, Inclusion International)
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