Diversit-east: East trains teachers in with the district-wide DEIB Initiative to promote inclusion of all students

East trains teachers in with the district-wide DEIB Initiative to promote inclusion of all students

Over a year after the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, East is requiring in-person training as a part of the district-wide Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging Initiative to promote said values.

This training formerly happened at East through English teacher Samantha Feinberg and former economics teacher David Muhammad, but has since become a district-sponsored training initiative using a new contracted company called “Corwin Deep Equity.”

After the program launched in 2020, SMSD offered training to 30 teachers from schools around the district to form a strategic planning committee. Committee members split into teams and spent three days creating action plans to promote inclusivity at school — one of which was to “reimagine teaching and learning to guarantee relevant opportunities for personalized learning experiences.”

The teams then combined their developed strategies based on the Approved Strategic Plan for 2019 to 2024, like implementing equity training for staff. As part of the plan, SMSD flew in trainers from the Corwin Deep Equity company to train the committee members, who then returned to their schools to educate staff. The training will continue during teacher development days throughout the upcoming school year.

At the first in-person training day on Aug. 11, staff split into randomized groups to make posters with drawings to explain what each part of DEIB meant to them. They then watched a presentation that defined the components of the program, aiming to clarify the vocabulary used to keep everyone on the same page.

“I feel like now we’re making great progress because I think we’ve established a lot of common language,” Assistant Principal Dr. Susan Leonard said. “By doing this a lot, it makes us feel more and more comfortable talking about really difficult issues.”

Not only were there discussions to define diversity, equity and inclusion, but also the new addition to the DEI initiative: belonging.

The first step to creating a sense of belonging was discussed in pre-service planning, where faculty came up with their initiative for inclusion this school year. To set a baseline of community, Principal Jason Peres emphasized the importance that teachers learn and correctly pronounce every student’s name.

Psychology teacher Brett Kramer, who attended the DEIB training at East, has made it a mission to learn his students’ names during attendance and began the year with “get-to-know-you” questions for the class.

“The identity of each student is so very important, and it allows for a learning environment where kids feel seen, heard and safe,” Kramer said.

“Get-to-know-you” questions like those Kramer asked fall under the category of community-building activities — another method that was discussed to promote a sense of belonging in each class. Teachers were encouraged to implement small group-based activities to create a comfortable space in the classroom. The same kind of questions like, “What’s your favorite fast-food?” will be asked during seminar and advisory throughout the year for the same purpose.

Teaching departments are also encouraged to diversify their curriculum — whether that’s by reading books by authors of different backgrounds or learning about accomplished female scientists who are overshadowed by their male counterparts. These changes are meant to make every student feel represented in the content they learn.

“The intentionality is to make everyone feel as if they belong, you’re safe here,” Feinberg said. “You have a voice here. No one in this room is any more important than any person and we’re all members of this class. The things we talk about, the things we explore will be based upon the curiosities of the members of this class.”

Inclusivity at East is constantly being improved upon, according to Dr. Leonard. Once a month during the school year, the DEIB Committee at East — made up of students, parents, teachers, district officials and community members — will continue to discuss equity at school. Students are encouraged to join to share experiences and opinions targeted at making East more inclusive for all groups.

“That’s what we want for everybody,” Peres said. “No matter your religious background, political affiliation, gender, race, ethnicity, creed — we want you to belong to East.”