Diversity Committee

Salmon Bay School

3/19/03

Meeting began at about 7:00, ended at 8:00.

Present: Pricilla, Mia, David B. Dorothy J. Deborah V.

April meeting:

Venue: Pricilla will ask Orca School if we can have the next two meetings there, maybe more in the future.
Food: We all agreed to bring “something”-juice and cookie type snacks
Publicity: Can Julia carve up the sign up list from the Parent Ed Night, give each committee member some names to call from the list to remind them about the Reading Circle? We discussed possibly asking each of those people on the list to call 4-5 people in the directory, like a phone tree, but we didn’t make a firm plan for that. Mia said she would ask the teachers to publish the date and time in the individual class bulletins. We all agreed to invite five people to the reading circle.
Program content: We agreed that expecting people to read before coming might be discouraging some people to come. The article for next time is short enough to read at the meeting. We agreed not to post it on the web site.

Parent Ed Night de-brief :

Tally: Pricilla did the tally. Generally very positive.

Program:

Comments from participants:

· Can we have had more interaction and less abstract discussion?

· Can we have ideas about how to broach the topic of diversity with our kids?

Comments from committee:

Did publishing the article in the newsletter turn people away because it’s extra work? (David)

Did the request for RSVP turn others away? (Mia)

How can we get more people, different people to come?

· Contacting families directly whose home language may not be English. (Deb)

· Respecting traditional calendars (like not having a meeting on Sabboth). (Deb)

We need more structure at the tables during discussion

· Mix people up-they shouldn’t sit with people they know. (Mia)

· We need protocols to keep the discussion going and to let everyone have a chance to speak. (Mia)

· We need a Diversity Committee member at each table to report back. (David)

Speakers: Generally well received. Get them back next time for the Fall Education Event. They had some ideas about that. Let’s get them involved.

What else can the committee be doing?

Keep “Jabbing” at the consciousness of the school community-send out short provocative quotations on the website or newsletter. (Dorothy)
Website –Prospective parents are commenting on our commitment to Diversity. (Mia)
Be visible-Develop representation on other committees, maybe a more formalized presence. Be watchful to be sure others are reviewing their activities through the lens of diversity. (Mia) Maybe we encourage the use of Diversity rubrics for other school activities like the ones we developed for the curriculum. (Deb)
Over time-Bring people together often to get used to each other, more comfortable. (Dorothy)

June planning meeting:

Teaching staff should be more involved in planning the Fall event than they were in the Spring event. (Dorothy.)

Thanks Deborah for filling in for Julia and taking the notes!