Diversity Committee Meeting
Minutes
May 9, 2007
In attendance:
Irene Haddow Parent,
Chair
Lance Adams Parent
Kelly Delaney Parent
Michelle Ota Vice Principal Elect
Jane Enterline Parent,
Scribe
Approval of February 2007
and March 2007 Minutes
It was suggested that the
acronyms GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) and GLBTQ (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,
Transgender, Questioning) be expanded in the February minutes.
The Minutes were then approved.
Diversity Committee
Retreat
We discussed the benefits of
the retreat - the bonding of committee members, the creativity that flows
throughout the outing, a chance to relax in the mountains. In the past we have
brainstormed ideas for the upcoming events, who needs to be contacted at
school, and who will take the lead on the different projects and events. All decisions and suggestions will be
approved at meetings during the school year at school.
The retreat will be Friday,
June 29th at the Enterlines’ cabin in Greenwater, 1˝ hours from
Seattle. Everyone is welcome to arrive
on Thursday. We will hike Thursday
afternoon. People are welcome to stay
over Friday night as well.
Jane will send an invite to the Diversity Committee
email group. Michelle will email the
invitation to the staff. Jane will put
the announcement in the Weekly Bulletins.
Gay Straight Alliance
(GSA) t-shirt report
Irene worked with Lisa Love,
Seattle School District Training Counselor, and the GSA to design and buy 50
t-shirts that the GSA students wore on the Day of Silence. There was a
misunderstanding about funding from the Middle School PTA for the Diversity
Committee. The MSPTA has agreed to pay
for the shirts (thank you!).
Kelly attended the GSA
meeting on May 9th. Lisa
Love announced that two administrators from a foundation that funds her
position will be in town from Atlanta, GA on Thursday, March 24th. She plans to bring them to Salmon Bay to
showcase our GSA. The students are
preparing for the visit by asking reflective questions about the role of the
GSA. The students will wear their
t-shirts that day. Kelly will talk with Jay about photo release forms and possibly asking
press to cover the story. (Read the Addendum
to the Minutes, on the last page.)
There has been interest in additional
t-shirts. Irene will check if we can order individual shirts, or if there is a
minimum order. Lance suggested we
create a “diversity-themed” t-shirt to sell at school.
Kids of Color Friendship
Luncheon
Mary-Pat and Kelly are
moving forward with plans to set up luncheon groups for next year. It is complex and ground-breaking. They have not been able to locate other
models in other schools. Kelly is talking with Mavin and people at
the Univ. of Washington in hopes of finding a facilitator. It is challenging to find someone with
experience in this area and who works well with kids. Irene will contact Lisa
Love for ideas.
FoSBE Retreat on May 12th.
Kelly will write up and present our proposal for
$1900. $1000 to fund a facilitator for the Kids of Color Luncheon
Program, $500 to fund education about the inclusion of students with
disabilities, specifically students with Aspergers, and $400 to fund two movie
nights.
Jane will email the proposal to Jen Busch and the
Diversity Committee.
Jane, Kelly, Lance and
Michelle will be at the Retreat.
Web site content
Rosemary Daszkiewicz
requested that the Diversity Committee remove the link to an article titled
“Un-Teaching Anti-Racism” published by Eat the State. Refer to the summary document attached to
the Agenda.
There are two issues:
Our committee supports
keeping the links we have listed, as they represent our work and our on-going
discussions.
We do agree with Rosemary
that the link should not be a live link to Eat the State’s site and that
the Salmon Bay logo should not appear on the top of any of the links. Lance will create a .pdf file of the
article; this file will be a “picture” of the file, not a live link.
Other suggestions to improve
our site:
·
All links should open to
a new window, without the Salmon Bay logo on top.
·
Group our links into
two categories: Links to movies we have shown, and Links to websites and
articles that Diversity Committee members have enjoyed.
·
Add the anti-bullying
link on the school’s home page to our page as well.
·
Add February and March
minutes.
·
Activate link to
archived minutes.
Jane will coordinate these changes with Linda Illman.
Parent Education on the integration of students with Aspergers
Kelly has been speaking with the Asperger’s Team about raising awareness at
Salmon Bay about their program and more specifically about able-ism and
inclusion of students with disabilities.
Kelly will ask FoSBE to fund this work, specifically:
·
Ensure that volunteer training include education on working with students
with aspergers.
·
More general community education, including information on the web site and
in the school directory.
·
An education night. Jeff Callahan
has been targeted as a possible speaker.
___________________________________________________________________
Addendum to the minutes:
While the Salmon Bay Middle School Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) has been chosen by its facilitator, Lisa Love, to represent GSA work in Seattle to her boss in Atlanta, there will be NO media coverage of the event.
Due to privacy considerations of the GSA members themselves (a safe space for kids to be out on GSA issues), as well as the fact that parental permission is required for photos to be taken of kids in public schools, there will be NO PHOTOS OR MEDIA COVERAGE of the GSA.
Some of the Salmon Bay staff and administration were concerned at my suggesting that the GSA members wearing their t-shirts would make a good photo-op. I am sorry that my suggestion snow-balled into the idea of "media coverage" and hence, worry.
Since I feel responsible for causing worry, I want also to be responsible for clarifying that there will be NO PHOTOS AT ALL (and of course no media coverage) of the Salmon Bay Gay-Straight Alliance. There never was going to be, it was only a thought.
Sorry for any confusion,
Kelly Delaney