The Equity Observer

Our History Matters celebrated Arab American History Month and Neurodiversity Awareness Month throughout the month of April. If you're interested in having a spotlight for Jewish American Heritage Month or Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month which we'll celebrate in May, please email Jenn Santiago.

In addition we've heard some helpful feedback in hearing how you would like Our History Matters to evolve and support your learning better. In the new year we'll grow our Religious Observance emails to be more inclusive of citations for information used in writing the descriptions, curriculum resources which might support you in working with students, and ways in which you can connect with students and colleagues who are celebrating these holidays. As always your help is always welcome in developing these messages and resources in order to be inclusive of all voices and be able to support you all in the way you want and need to be supported. I'm grateful for the feedback as it's very helpful in understanding the needs of the division and how we can evolve the program further!

If you have resources which would be helpful to add to any of the Our History Matters websites, please send those to Jennifer Santiago.

"The Women of Color Education Collaborative (WOCEC) is a career and professional learning support network for women of color education system leaders. The WOCEC mission is to provide a safe and supportive space for women of color leaders with programming uniquely designed to enhance leadership skills, build strong bonds between participants, and promote and prioritize self-care and healing."

If you are interested in learning more or joining a cohort please click here.

Cultural Proficiency Training - Self Reflection

If you have not yet participated in the 2 hour face-to-face Cultural Proficiency Training - Self Reflection with Jennifer Santiago please register for one of the offered times below. This is a required training for all employees of FCCPS.

The participant cap is 20 - so please add your name to a date and time that works for your calendar and has space available. If there are less than 6 participants I will cancel the session. You can register here. Two new sessions have been added, they are below.

Regrettably, I have cancelled 5 of the 12 sessions offered since April 10th, 3 because zero people signed up, 1 because 4 of the 7 participants were not able to make it, and 1 because only one participant was signed up. Due to the nature of the session I can't run it for less than 6 participants. If you have not been able to join a session over the past two years, you can join a session at the beginning of next year with new staff likely during pre-week, convocation, or a teacher work day.

May 3, 1-3pm (Oak St ES Library) FULL

May 10, 1-3pm (newly added)***

May 17 - 2pm - 4pm FULL

May 30 3-5pm (newly added)***

Cultural Proficiency Training - Update from VDOE

When the state had originally passed legislation regarding cultural proficiency training the guidance the committee provided was that localities would develop trainings in five phases and these trainings would count as the required trainings for license renewal. Recently we learned that VDOE has given guidance that only the state created Cultural Competence training will be accepted. That training can be found here.

FCCPS is committed to continuing our learning and growth in providing a culturally relevant and sustaining learning environment and will continue to provide the phases of professional development. These phases will come in a variety of modalities over the next few years and support our growth as a division.

This year the Equity DLT has been meeting on a quarterly basis with subcommittees meeting more frequently. The team has been working on their Strategic Plan charge - reviewing all school programs for barriers and ways to mitigate those barriers. This is a multi-year project with the possibility of opening opportunities to grow and build a caring community for all. Our next meeting will be in late May. During this meeting we'll have time to work on our action items in reviewing programs as well as developing a plan for possible Professional Development opportunities we can provide and facilitate for the division in the new school year. If you have ideas about what you'd like to learn, or how you might support that work please reach out to the Equity lead at your building.

JTP - Nora Rosenberger and Amanda Davis

Mount Daniel - Carol Felderman and Tim Kasik

Oak Street - Miriam Schimmoller and Jeremy Ferrara

Henderson Middle School - Rob Carey

Meridian High School - Peter Laub

Operations - Amy Hall and Katie Clinton

Self-Paced Virtual Equity Learning Opportunities

If you are looking for some self-paced learning opportunities the Equity Literacy Institute offers a variety of learning opportunities for free and for minimal cost. While not all of these have been attended or vetted by FCCPS they could be a good learning opportunity on a variety of topics in which you may have interest.

If you're looking for professional development specific to work with Multilingual Learners all instructional staff have access to the Strategies platform in Ellevation. This platform provides a large amount of PD sessions on a variety of content areas and differentiation supports you may find helpful. These sessions are free, self-paced, and very well developed. If you need your login resent to you please simply email Jennifer Santiago and that can be taken care of very quickly.

If you complete a session please save the certificate of completion and we can support you in adding those items to your Frontline PD list.

We are hearing the feedback, people need more support in how to respond to experiences that happen in their classrooms, they need more tools in their toolbox for supporting critical conversations, and building capacity in how we should intercede on specific events. In addition to cultural proficiency phases next year the PDs and structures below will be implemented division-wide. If you have other ideas, needs, or wants please reach out!

The Director of Equity will:

• be more present and accessible in schools - meeting regularly with CTs and departments to support their needs in a proactive manner.
• meet regularly with school-based and operations administrators to hear feedback and needs of the buildings and division.
• provide regular office hours at each building where anyone would be able to drop in, or schedule a conversation about anything they need

Some ideas in the works:

• PD on supporting and teaching students with trauma
• Microaggressions and Implicit Bias refresher
• Equity-team availability to support peers with how to respond to incidents that have happened in their classrooms - a safe space to ask questions, and get ideas

Please reach out to your administrator or Director to learn more about the school-based teams, operations team, and the Division Level Team. This work is for all and all are welcome in helping move the various pieces and culture forward.