Hi All,
I hope that you enjoyed this rainy long weekend. We got to meet the newest family member, Wilder Burke Dakers.
While the rain was disappointing the company wasn't too bad. This will be a quick but busy week. I want to acknowledge that the Israel-Hamas War may have a wide range of impacts on our students. Here are a few resources that may be helpful for you in your classrooms, please take peek at them if you are going to engage in a conversation or if it is brought up in your classroom.
https://www.sdcoe.net/about-sdcoe/news/post/~board/news
Staff Shout Outs:
- From a colleague---I want to give a huge shoutout to Kirby! He is always so willing to jump right in and help whenever he can. He’s such a great addition to our staff!!
- Freddie Cousins for stepping in and covering recess duty last week.
- Chuck and his team for moving shelves and keeping the building looking top notch!
News and Announcements:
- Calling All Members----Equity Team Meeting. Anyone is is interested in supporting this work as a school committee is welcome to attend---please let me know if you'd like to be on this committee.
- Goals---your Annual Goals Form is active in Vector. Please make sure that you fill out it out with a minimum of 2 goals for the year. Once you've completed the form please share it with me and then make a meeting with Lori for us to chat about them! This meeting needs to happen by the 15th of October. Thank you to those of you who have already completed this task.
- Please review the PLC coverage schedule.
Special Statement---Pronoun Usage/Equity Policy
I want to share with you the Equity Policy that was adopted by our district on 6.21.23. This was adopted last year and I wanted to ensure that you all had an opportunity to read through it. It’s my understanding that you’ve already engaged in some pronoun work with a student group last year so some of this may be review.
As we think about how to best support all of our students I wanted to highlight the following statement from the policy: The Washington Central Unified Union School District is dedicated to taking concrete actions that provide a safe and supportive learning environment that is free of barriers; one that affirms the identity of each of us and acknowledges and celebrates differences to create a sense of belonging for each person connected to our schools.
I wanted to highlight this because it’s in direct alignment with our identified BES values or belonging, family and inclusion. I want to recognize that we have students in our building who are choosing pronouns that may differ from what you might expect. It is our legal obligation via Title IX, district policy and our professional responsibility to use the pronouns that the child has identified.
I share this recognizing that changing the pronouns that we have used in our speech for a long time means that we will make mistakes. We are all human and it’s our job to ensure that we correct those mistakes with others when we make them. Naming your mistake and correcting it in front of that person allows them to feel seen and affirmed.
We are lucky that we get to live in a place of the world that honors individual differences and students and families are allowed to express themselves in a way that honors and feels right to them. We know that the suicide and depression rates for children and people on the LQBTQIA+ spectrum are significantly higher than their cisgender, heterosexual peers.
Our school community will be a place that supports all students by using a child’s identified pronoun by choice. Using pronouns that do not align with a student’s identified gender is a type of microaggression, which is an indirect, subtle discrimination against a marginalized group. If we make this choice we are adding to the isolation of a marginalized population and that doesn’t align with the values that we set forth at the start of the year.
It is our job to create belonging for each student and abide by the district policy that has been adopted. If you have questions or would like additional resources to support your learning and your classroom environment please reach out and let me know.
Where is Celia?
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