Submitted by Chair Amanda Amaral
January 8, 2025
Welcome to 2025! We are excited to welcome you, our learning community, back into our schools and hope that you all enjoyed a restful break with your favorite people, celebrating beloved traditions and rituals. As the days grow longer, we can start to see the end of the school year, and the strategic plan take shape, on the horizon.
The work implementing our strategic plan continues in 2025, and we are so inspired with what we have seen on our journey thus far. We can feel the work of new paddles joining us in our journey every day, and are in awe of the stories we have heard about how the strategic plan is showing up across the district.
In January, we explore our value of equity. Equity, as all our values are, is foundational to supporting our mission, vision, affirmation and aspirational learning goal. As we take time to reflect on what equity means to us in our daily work and what we want it to mean as we move towards our vision of a thriving community of lifelong learners, it is important to pause and explore how we have defined this value. In our learning community, equity is:
Equity: Committing to diversity as a strength and inclusion as a right.
Equity
We understand equity to be about people having what they need to participate fully in our learning community. It also means being willing to take action to include those who are different from us. When we do this from a place of equity, how we bring people in and support them may look different between members of our learning community. We have defined our value of equity by highlighting diversity and inclusion as core to our understanding of this value.
Diversity as a Strength
We see the diversity in our learning community not simply as something to celebrate, but as a strength that will make us successful. Diversity fosters empathy and understanding, and by welcoming ideas, people and practices that are different, we can naturally dismantle harmful stereotypes and prejudices. When we develop an environment where differences are celebrated, we unlock the potential for growth, collaboration, and success that only diversity can achieve.
Inclusion as a Right
The concept of inclusion as a right promotes social justice and moves us into a brave space where we will take risks to protect the diversity of our learning community. We benefit from the full participation of all our members and a sense of belonging that strengthens us.
As we journey forward, we can reflect on what equity means to us, how this value has changed how we make decisions, and how we show up in our learning community or understand our direction. Consider the moments of tension—where something needed to be let go to make space for equity. What gave you hope? What still needs work?
Amanda Amaral
Chair