After what seems like an eternity of meetings and projects related to budget reductions, selecting a math textbook, publicizing a School Board opening, and informing the community about the school levy election, our blog that has lain dormant for so many months is being revived.
One reason for this revival is that we want to bring your attention to a relatively new district committee – The Equity Leadership Committee*– that has not been in the spotlight like the Math Textbook Adoption or the Fiscal Advisory committees. Although the committee hasn’t had the same level of attention, it does share a number of common traits with other district committees. It represents both the district and all the different parent groups that donate hundreds of hours to support the academic needs of our kids, and it needs feedback from staff, students, and parents to meet its charge.
At this point you may be asking yourself, what is the Equity Leadership Committee trying to achieve? The answer is that over the last few months, committee members have been studying and meeting faithfully to develop a definition of a seemingly easy-to-understand concept, namely “equity.” Their journey began by reading a book: Leading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery County Public Schools, and also locating resources on the internet to help guide their discussions. The book describes the journey of a 140,000-student school system in Maryland whose superintendent, after studying student achievement data, made a commitment to eliminating the achievement gap by first undergoing a system-wide examination of every district structure and practice and then making significant changes in systems, governance and expectations.
As the committee has quickly learned, there is nothing easy about defining equity. Now it is turning to you for help. What do you think equity means when it comes to public education? Is BSD operating as an equitable school district? We look forward to engaging in this conversation with you, so please take the time to comment on this blog post or e-mail EL committee members Ann Oxrieder (oxriedera@bsd450.org) or Tracy Maury (mauryt@bsd405.org).
* The Equity Leadership Committee is comprised of school principal representatives, a high school counselor, and representatives from the district office, Bellevue Schools Foundation, the Latino parent advisory group (Impulso Escolar Latino de Bellevue), the multiracial/ESL parent group (Parent Action and Advisory Committee), PTSA and the Gifted Parent Advisory Board.
