Information from SEA and the District Diversity Inclusion and Racial Equity (DIRE) Team

This year the District DIRE Team will be working with two different organizations:

• The Equity Literacy Institute will be coaching the District DIRE team, looking at the Social Studies Curriculum through a racial equity lens, and reviewing a number of school committee policies to ensure there is no bias and that they support equity.  https://www.equityliteracy.org

In addition, Paul Gorski, of the Equity Literacy Institute, will be providing three virtual, 90-minute workshops for SEA members who are interested in working on these issues this summer and into the fall. While these workshop sessions are designed to help the SEA members on the Portrait of a Graduate working groups to ensure that racial equity is centered in all the work of the teams, these workshops are open to all SEA members who are interested in this topic.

Here are two articles by Gorski and colleagues that we have found very helpful They help provide an introduction to Gorski’s work.

"Trading Baby Steps for Big Equity Leaps": is a new article by Marceline DuBose, Paul Gorski, and Katy Swalwell in last February’s Ed Leadership magazine. They discuss four big equity leaps for educational leaders and how to avoid the allure of "baby steps." Trading Baby Steps for Big Equity Leaps - ASCD

“Avoiding Racial Equity Detours” is an older article by Paul Gorski in which he shows the many ways that districts dance around dealing with racism and don’t confront it directly. As he says: “Students experiencing racism can’t wait for schools to move at their own pace and comfort level.”  Avoiding-Racial-Equity-Detours-Gorski.pdf (edchange.org)

• The Center for Leadership and Educational Equity will be doing PD for administrators, and PD and coaching the school based DIRE teams that will be set up this year in several pilot schools.  CLEE (clee-ri.org)

Here is a website that we have found to be full of resources:

Dismantling Racism Works Web Workbook

dRworksBook - Home (dismantlingracism.org)

​The workbook is offered as a resource to all. They just ask that if you credit dRworks if and when you use the material.

Our District DIRE (Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity) committee has continued to meet monthly. The SEA representatives on that team include SEA President, Vice President, 4 educators of color, and our MTA field rep. The District is represented by the Assistant Superintendent, the Chief Instructional Officer, and the Talent Acquisition, Diversity, and Inclusion Administrator. The Pioneer Valley Project lead organizer is the community representative on the team.

The SEA DIRE teams are made up of our members, a representative from the District and a School Committee member. Those teams meet the 4^th Tuesday of every month at 4:15. There are 4 subcommittees of that team, (Curriculum, Professional Development, Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining Educators of Color, Policies and Procedures) and each has identified a goal for this year and steps that need to be taken to meet that goal. It is the job of the District DIRE team to take the SEA DIRE work to the Superintendent and School Committee level for action.

Each subcommittee has prepared a presentation that will be shared with the School Committee Subcommittee on Diversity. That subcommittee can bring that work to the entire School Committee to be adopted.

Recruiting, Hiring and Retaining Educators of Color is working on language changes for the job postings. They are also reviewing the hiring process with an eye towards making it uniform and consistent in all schools.

Curriculum has learned about an inventory that was done by Johns Hopkins University. JHU evaluated our curriculum and resource materials for diversity and inclusiveness. That committee is working on implementing those findings to make sure the curriculum, literature selections and textbooks reflect our students.

Professional Development is working on a long-term plan for a diversified program of professional development that can meet teachers where they are and move everyone forward. They want to begin by assessing what teachers’ needs are so that PD opportunities reflect those results.

Policies and Procedures is reviewing current SPS policies to identify those which may be disproportionately affecting our students of color.

It has been a slow-moving process, but thanks to the dedication and determination of our educators, we have a plan and process in place to finally start to create real change. It is not too late to join a subcommittee just email contact@seateachers.com and put DIRE in the subject line.