Salmon Bay School

Minutes – Diversity Committee – January 24,2005

Present: Rita Hagan, Kelly Delaney, Kimberly Kinzer, Priscilla Jourden, Jane Enterline, Lois Eulberg, Susanna Everly, Walter Mc Gerry, Jeff Clark, Julia Berg, Sharon Muza

Facilitator: Rita Hagan. We agree to rotate this position.

Process note: If people are expected to speak to a certain concern, it would be helpful to ask them ahead of time before that expectation is made public.

More on process: The agendas are set simply me hearing from others what they are interested in, as well as standing reports from the various teams. I send out an agenda by e-mail to about 50 people at least a week ahead of the meeting any maybe more. Any parent, staff or student at Salmon Bay is welcome to add or suggest changes to the agenda. At that point, it is only a “Proposed” agenda, not the actual agenda. If I don’t hear from anyone, then it becomes the actual agenda.

Last thought on process: We will be posting these notes on the website, so if you have links you want included, please submit them rather than having me search the web for them.

Posters:

• Our school district has a policy of not advertising in school. How do the huge posters in the gym fit into this discussion? They have athletes wearing Nike gear and a banner across the top advertising that company. To follow our district policy, Susanna volunteered to cover the Nike swoosh with a construction paper flower. Jeff said that some (all?) of the posters had been rolled to cover the promotional banner.
• Some of the new diversity posters have arrived -thanks Kimberly for ordering them. Rita and Sharon volunteered to help laminate and possibly put them up. We would like to see them up as the “touring” season begins. More posters are on order with Irene.

Conflict Managers/Award Winning Anti-Bullying program:

• Jeff explained how the Conflict Managers fit with the Olweus Bullying Prevention Plan. We are “award winning,” because another program, Second Step, liked how our school implemented their program about four years ago. The Olweus program is not a canned program, but rather encourages schools to look at core areas and create their own system. Salmon Bay’s program is multifaceted, and Jeff’s detailed explanation will follow as a separate document. Conflict Managers are a part of our overall approach.

Diversity Summit report:

• The team had hoped to meet with Dr. Caprice Hollins (Director of Equity and Race Relations and Lisa Love, two school district staff, and talk about our vision of the summit. Unfortunately, one of them had to cancel and so we are rescheduling.

Treasurer:

• Irene was not here, but we do have money. More, next time.

Racism Parent Ed night:

• The Racism team set up a time to meet and bring ideas: Friday February 4 at 9:00 am in the Family Room at Salmon Bay. Julia talked a bit about Theatre of the Oppressed and the Mandala Center. www.mandalaforchange.com

Classism Parent Ed night:

• One idea Kelly had was to borrow or buy ($150) the video People Like Us: Social Class in America and show it. It is a PBS documentary and it comes with a curriculum guide. Watch a sample and find at more at http://www.pbs.org/peoplelikeus/about/order.html
• Jeff suggested that Kelly ask for help from the volunteer coordinators. Jane said she was interested in viewing the video and possibly helping.
• We wondered if Salmon Bay or Seattle School District already owned it.

Other questions:

• Is there a student Diversity Committee? Not really. Students have access to a variety of groups that relate to diversity and they would be welcome to this meeting. Hmm… maybe a group project is in the offing?

Next meeting: Wednesday, February 16 at 6:30 in the library. It is another planning meeting, as we are getting ready for several events in the spring.

The minutes are submitted. Julia Berg, Scribe