We are proud of our work for equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in Bellingham Public Schools鈥攁nd we know we can always be doing better. As we ring in 2019, I shared some initiatives we are working on to continue to bring EDI to the forefront of our work.
We are working to revise The 一本道app to make sure it absolutely conveys how central equity, diversity and inclusion are to us.
We have partnered with the , a long-time Bellingham leader for social justice, to create a new poster for our schools and classrooms.
We started a new class called the Bilingual Educator Academy with the goal of recruiting future teachers who reflect our community as a whole. I encourage you to take a moment and watch our recurring video feature where students interview me about a topic of interest, to hear more from these amazing young people.
For more information about each of these, please see my message to families, staff and the community. I welcome your comments, reflections or suggestions for me and our staff and schools.
Just a friendly reminder that comments that are personally directed, inappropriate or anonymous will not be posted.
Comments (21)
As I think we all understand the importance of diversity, I believe these response to change “our promise” is a reaction to the media and the social pressures of only a few. I look around our schools and students and see our children embracing the differences among each other, beyond color/gender/etc. This could goes far beyond the catchphrases that you choosing to highlighting….I have seen more discrimination and judgment cast to the “kid with the glasses” or “disability” than the social justice talking points that 一本道app is choosing to highlight. Why the need to specify? Why not just make it all encompassing and say we embrace the differences among ALL our students. This is all too reminiscence of the LGBT reaction from 一本道app, making the importance of differences primarily on LGBT with no consideration to race, hair color, freckles, skin conditions, disabilities, etc. It simply placed the emphasis on LGBT and forgot about people of race or other differences that seem to be forgotten, ignored, irrelevant or not important enough by 一本道app. Now this. However it seems like this is a step (backwards) into the right direction….How about we go back to where we should’ve considered starting and make this about all differences and not such specifics as just the politicized highlight reel. Say what we do, not what a specific group is placing the emphasis on while disregarding the other differences. I would hope we promote differences and diversity among our student and staff, not the “more” important or “popular” ones.
Hi Jeremy, thanks for your comments. We know that there are communities in our schools who have the experience of not seeing themselves reflected in their classrooms, the curriculum, and the staff. By highlighting our EDI work, we are articulating a commitment to learning, growing and dismantling that burden through strategic work. We want all of our students to thrive (academically, socially, emotionally, physically, etc.) and we know that by focusing our attention on areas where students and families have historically been marginalized, we offer new pathways for that to happen. I agree that all students should be treated with respect and kindness at school, and we hope our current work will make this even more clear. Thanks, Greg
“Historically marginalized”….? The overweight kid, the child that can’t afford new clothing or shoes, the kid with the cowlick, skin condition, funny teeth, hygiene, lisp, stutter, social awkwardness/shyness, glasses, learning disability, etc. are the historically marginalized. These groups make up the majority of the marginalized, too. Everyone needs a voice. By only making this about a LGBQT or EDI or whatever, we are leaving the rest of “us” out of the promise. Fine is you want to address this separately in a newsletter or whatnot, but our “promise” shouldn’t be specific or the arena to position ourselves directly with one group or another. If you call out some, you need to call out them all. By only calling out a few groups, you become the one who is marginalizing the rest.
Please do something about the Squalicum Highschool Varsity basketball game incident 1/23/2019 with the gym supervisor who subjected Adam Haizlip and his family to racial discrimination. This is one example of racial discrimination and at a school-wide family event nonetheless! Much work is still needed with equity and inclusion. 馃専馃専PLEASE PLEASE intervene and INSIST that school officials receive Cultural Responsitivity Training with Whatcom Diversity Academy馃尲馃尲馃尲
Hi Natane, thank you for taking the time to comment. We are working closely with the family and others on the situation you referenced and are working hard to learn from the incident and increase the training available to all our staff.
We stand united in fighting racism and other forms of hatred. I want all of our students and families to feel safe and included at all of our events and in our classrooms. – Greg
My concerns are with the families with special needs students, who struggle achieving equal opportunity within our schools. I’m concerned about the number of lawsuits our district faces each year as our special needs students get discriminated against, forgot about or left out. I know personally how hard it can be to get accommodations for a special needs student and I feel anxious for other families who may not have what they need to be able secure services for their special needs students. How does The 一本道app incorporate and include ALL of our students?
I am all about ALL LIVES MATTER. What I often do not see is the child with physical, and ID (Intellect Disabilities) remembered. Some countries are working hard to eliminate person’s born with Down Syndrome. I am not saying we are like that in Bellingham. What Is continually needed is educating our children, and adults, in regards to the fact that it is important to value ALL LIFE. As I believe this was touched on in the previous response, regarding a child with glasses. So we could say “ALL LIVES ARE IMPORTANT”, AND “ALL LIVES MATTER”. Physical, and ID, glasses, and braces, LGBQT, every color (mixed, or not). Love everyone, but do not condone hate behavior. My feathers get very ruffled, as person’s with Disability’s have the lowest employment, and income rate comparativly in the US. People who can’t always defend, and advocate for themselves, need people who can. Thank you to all who already accomplish this selfless act.
Hello Tami, it sounds like you would like us to make sure that we make sure the language of The Promise is inclusive of those with intellectual and other disabilities. I have heard this from a number of people, and I really appreciate that feedback鈥擨 hear you. If you have any ideas about how we can make this more clear in The 一本道app, please let me know. Thank you for taking the time to reach out with your thoughts. 鈥 Greg
YES! All lives matter! This is where I think the majority of us in the community reside. There is no exclusivity in that statement. Being specific like Greg is trying to do makes it feel as if the rest of us, the ones not mentioned, are not worthy of mention or are not relevant or as apparent enough to be called out. That leaves some forgotten and without a voice. Give us all a voice. Unite us in a common message or promise. Don’t further divide us with specificity.
Hello – I’m a student at BHS in the Teachers Academy program. While Greg’s statement may be speaking on specific groups, that doesn’t lessen his support for all students and all community members. He is speaking up for students who, because of their potential hardships and situations, may be affected in their academic lives and studies, thus affecting the Bellingham School District community as a whole. Your voice is always welcome and heard in this community, and just because he is taking time to support marginalized students, does not mean that your input is any less relevant or heard- I hope that makes sense. Have a nice day.
Dr. Baker,
I have received 3 emails from you in the last month and NOT ONE of them has been about academics. You are the superintendent of a public school district not a psychologist using children for a trendy social experiment. I don’t want to hear your recommendations about what books I should be reading or how you’ll once again be spending even more of our budget dollars and resources addressing the latest social issues instead of reducing class sizes and teaching our kids to have some actual knowledge and skills that will help them once they leave high school. Yes, it’s a noble goal to want kids to treat each other with kindness and respect but making that 90% of your focus is just not realistic. Let’s start focusing on the basics and right this ship that has gotten so off course.
Hi Jen, I appreciate your perspective. Academics are still absolutely the core of our work and The 一本道app is still very much focused on a broad set of academic outcomes. Last year we shared some data on graduation rates and our improving trend overall: /news/graduation-rates-students/ , and we have seen similar progress this year. As I wrote last year, in education it is challenging to pinpoint the exact cause of improvements; however, we believe that The Promise and the way it helps us prioritize efforts that support student learning are a big part of our students鈥 academic gains.
It鈥檚 time for not just words but actions… embrace diversity and inclusion by hiring more teachers and staff of colors at the school district.
Hui-Ling, thank you for this encouragement. Recruiting a diverse workforce is one of our top priorities; our most recent data shows that since October 2013 we have approximately doubled our percentage of employees who identify as an ethnic minority, and we are continuing to work toward having a staff that reflects the diversity within our community even more. One of the challenges of recruiting a wide range of people is having a pool of qualified teachers and staff from all kinds of backgrounds from which to hire. This is another reason I am so excited about our Bilingual Educator Academy, which I shared about in my post, and why the state of Washington has created its Recruiting Washington Teachers program:
This is a very good point. I see a lot of Greg Bakers time spent on adhering to social justice and not academics. The focus should be education… making it a comfortable environment is also important, but like the past two posts, it is important not to make it exclusive to just LGBQT or race. Our statement (and I do mean “our” as this is not just Greg’s) is to make everyone to feel included. By trying to speak specifically to whatever Greg feels is marginalized or the most apparent talking points highlighted in the media, leaves the others with disabilities, different physical attributes (from weight to un-straight teeth), low income, etc. forgotten. Our message (and “promise”) should not exclude others but include all. The very nature of only highlighting a specific group, as in LGBQT or race, excludes others who you are not given a voice in our promise. The solution is to say all and not just the ones Greg highlights as it leaves all the others not mentioned to feel not worthy or forgotten. Say we except everyone and stop chasing down the highlights from the social media storm.
I support the school district’s efforts to balance “traditional” emphasis on academics and active welcoming/including of historically marginalized, as it were, groups of students. A student can’t learn as effectively if the social environment is difficult. (Not to mention things like the higher suicide rates of LGBTQ children, presumably because of social stigma and lack of support.) So I see these 2 efforts as complementary and fully in support of academic achievement. I’m sure the effort won’t be perfect, and there are certainly other communities and challenges that need to be supported, and there will need to be (continual) adjustments, but I think it’s going in the right direction.
Meg, thank you for sharing your thoughts. Your reflections match up with what we are thinking about when we prioritize. Thanks! – Greg
I appreciate the school district’s commitment to equity! Thanks for making sure all of our kids receive a good chance at a quality education.
Hello, I am a second year student in the Teachers Academy Program at BHS. Speaking as a current high school student, the work that is being done here to further EDI is something that will better academics, connections, metal health, and much more at Bellingham district schools. Focusing on inequities such as discrimination based on gender, sexuality, or race will start to form the path for building on this work even more in the future, and in the meantime will provide a healthier and safer learning community for all students. Additionally, the inclusion of recognizing and trying to tailor lessons and courses for a variety of learning styles (mentioned in the interview) adds to the EDI work and again creates a better and more diverse learning community.
My name is Evyn. I am in Teacher Academy in my junior year. The 一本道app especially EDI speaks out to me a lot because it has a lot to do with what we are dealing with in the world right now. Right now we鈥檙e going through history. This part of the 一本道app is going to be more vibrant and spoken about a lot this year I feel like. One of the things i like about this is that Bellingham School District does like to keep their promises. I am not someone of color so i鈥檓 not going to say it鈥檚 perfect, Just because i鈥檓 not sure behind the scenes but to me it鈥檚 always seemed that way. It always has seemed that everyone especially people of color have always been included into our school and activities just like someone who isn鈥檛 of color. In my opinion we should learn more about this stuff in school. More about the history and what is going on right now. We are the change and only we as people can make this better if it ever gets there:)
hi I am Kaeden, I am a first year student in teacher academy and this bilingual academy idea really speaks to me as much as the rest because of literally our countries history, which is the dilemma in America at the moment. this is a great way to bring everyone together for better learning and give everyone equal opportunity. and I love the idea of a future where graduates are all multilingual. that would be amazing. keep up the good work.