Summation of Diversity Committee Activity

2000-2001

Here is what we did:

• Held monthly meeting open to everyone
• Invited Mona Mendoza to help us think about a 5 year Diversity Plan and hear how Meany Middle School does theirs
• Survey to staff re: input to 5 yr. Plan and support needs
• Previewed, as a committee, the film "The Color of Fear" by Lee Mun Wah invited Youth Un-Doing Racism group to lead discussion afterward
• Invite member of White Women Organized Against Racism and Mayet Dalila to whole school Parent Meeting. Watch the film: "Prejudice is a Big Word for a Little Kid" discussion afterwards
• Began the 5 year planning process with commitment to :

1. Begin all school reading club - 1^st book to be "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" by Beverly Daniel Tatum, PH.D.

b) We maintain a commitment to training 4^th and 5^th graders to learn the skills to mange conflicts on the playground and for middle school students to mediate peer conflicts.

SUMMATION OF DIVERSITY COMMITTEE ACTIVITY

1999-2000

Here is a list of things we did:

• Survey parents concerns re: anti-bias issues
• Talk with principal re: diversity issues
• Have facilitator help committee to clarify purpose - Mayet Dalila

1. Met as a committee to dream where we wanted to be
2. Lead a whole school Parent Meeting asking for community input into where their committee should focus
3. Created mission statement for committee

• Held monthly meetings open to everyone
• Invited Merril Cousins from King County Domestic Abuse to speak to us about Institutional Racism and definitions of bias
• Invited Kelly Jones to speak about her efforts in school recruitment
• 4 committee members took the district's Hiring Committee Training (Jim Anderson, Sarah Payne, Kathy Booker, Maria Brazil)
• Organized Celebrate Our Families Potluck
• Monthly presence at Friends of COHO board meeting

From our all school conversation, we were given 3 topics to explore more fully:

• Recruitment
• Conflict Resolution
• Diversity Education