Our Goals, Vision and Commitment

Goal:

Our goal is to promote an inclusive culture that celebrates the histories and experiences within our communities, support anti-racist initiatives, and advocate for curricula that represent the community of belonging we wish to build.

What do we believe?

We believe:

• Our human differences enrich our community and our lives;

• Racism and bias (institutional, systemic, or otherwise) have no place in our schools and our communities;

• All members of our community -- children, young people, parents, caregivers, school district employees, school committee members, and community members -- have a role to play in rooting out bias and creating more inclusive and equitable school communities. This is not work that can be done solely by school district employees, and requires a community-centered approach.

• Parents/caregivers are uniquely positioned to listen to, support, and take action with each other to:

  1. proactively work to ensure our children’s schools are inclusive and reflect our values of DEIB;

  2. respond in times when our children are victims of bias-based incidents in our schools;

• In a spirit of collective work and responsibility for our children, our community and our schools.

What are our current initiatives?

As we begin this parent/caregiver network, we have committed to the following initiatives:

1. Building community: priority one is building this inclusive community of parents and caregivers by spreading the word, welcoming parents/caregivers into this group, and getting to know one another.

2. Deepening our understanding and awareness: Attend school committee meetings and school council meetings, DIRE committee meetings, reach out to school and district administration to introduce ourselves, gather information from parents and caregivers about their experiences and hopes for the schools.

3. Advocating: Leverage this information toward the greater good. We stand ready to harness our collective energy toward creating systemic change through advocacy and action; we advocate for proactive initiatives aimed at creating more inclusive school cultures.

4. Accountability: We work with all stakeholders to hold the district accountable for implementing and assessing the effectiveness of DEIB initiatives.