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RACIAL EQUITY STATEMENT
Glennwood Elementary School aims to be a place where everyone is honored and celebrated, feels safe, and flourishes socially and academically in a supportive, non-threatening environment. We believe diversity, social justice, and inclusivity are integral to a child’s development and strive to feature these fundamental values prominently in our curriculum. The Glennwood Elementary staff, School Leadership Team, and PTA are deeply disturbed by both past and current displays of racism demonstrated around our country and in our own school district. We actively seek to understand when any members of our community are hurting, to lean into difficult conversations, and to be anti-racist. We commit to building policies and practices that ensure equitable treatment and dismantling those that systemically perpetuate inequities for our students and families.
EXAMPLES OF CURRENT WORK
We stand firmly committed to the fight for racial equality and equity, and as part of the ways that we stand behind this work, Glennwood has led several initiatives at the school level to continuously grow our anti-racist practices and challenge systemic racism, including:
- In the past year, we organized staff study groups that focused on 1) culturally responsive teaching practices, 2) a video study group on the docu-series Race: The Power of an Illusion, and 3) book studies around Dr. Ibram Kendi’s book, How to Be An Anti-Racist and Dr. Robin DiAngelo’s book, White Fragility. Additionally, our staff engaged in work led by the Anti-Defamation League around implicit bias.
- At the start of the 2019-20 school year, we designed and initiated Boys in Action, an after-school club centered on building and affirming leadership skills, confidence, friendships, and a sense of belonging and empowerment among our Black and Brown boys. The club’s inaugural year was co-led by two of Glennwood’s Black male staff members.
Additionally, the Glennwood PTA initiated a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, (DEI) Committee last year, with an objective to help promote and enhance spaces at our school community where everyone is appreciated and celebrated. The group is listening to the voices and needs of all families at Glennwood through school-wide surveys and committee meetings. It aims to be intentional about modeling and promoting the building of meaningful relationships among members of our diverse school community. With this objective in mind, the committee hosted a cultural night where Glennwood families shared food, clothing, and performances about their culture, and a virtual peace and potluck event to discuss myths of racism.
COMMITMENT
These are just some of the ways that Glennwood has committed to the crucial work of building an anti-racist knowledge base and ensuring equity and community among our staff members and students. We recognize that this journey is long and that we all find ourselves in different places along the continuum. There is much work to do to right the wrongs of racism in our community and in our country, not just when a national movement invigorates people but always. We must continually educate ourselves, and strive to do better not only through our words of commitment, but more importantly through our actions. In the words of Maya Angelou, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” Through our own continued learning, Glennwood will always work to do better.
Joint Statement of Support from Glennwood, PTA and SLT for Asian-American Community - 3.20.21
