Environmental Charter Schools
Diversity and Equity Taskforce Meeting
Date and Time
Location
- Tashanda Giles Jones
- Danny Cristales
- Christiana Usenza
- Samson Pham
- KC Villoria
- Sara Diaz
- Farnaz Golshani-Flechner
- Danielle Kelsick
Diversity and Equity Taskforce Charter
The Equity & Diversity Taskforce promotes and supports ECS’s work to develop a school culture that fosters equity, inclusion and an appreciation of the diversity within our community.
Recent events in our nation have drawn attention to structures and processes that have historically disadvantaged people of color and persist today. We acknowledge that ECS, as an educational institution, is situated within a historical context and is not immune to the biases and structural inequities that have disenfranchised the communities we serve. As a public education leader in Los Angeles, we have a powerful responsibility to respond proactively and to embrace opportunities to change the structures and processes within our institution that undermine our efforts to educate and empower ECS students.
We need to critically examine our practices with an eye to continual growth, modeling the lifelong learning and critical thinking that will empower our students to be quality stewards of their communities and our world.
History of this Work
The Taskforce will build upon the work already begun at our three campuses, including Arlene Ford’s Great Minds Inquiry at ECHS in 2011-2014, the ongoing efforts of the ECHS Equity & Pedagogy Coalition and collaborative work of ECMS with Tyrone Howard in 2015-16.
Call to Action
The Equity & Diversity Taskforce will examine data on topics such as student achievement, school discipline, school climate and enrollment trends/retention; address the roots of bias; share insights and suggest possible resources or actions to ECS leadership. The Taskforce membership will include parent, student, teacher, staff, administration and Board representation. Community members may also serve on the Taskforce.
THE ORDER OF BUSINESS MAY BE CHANGED WITHOUT NOTICE
Notice is hereby given that the order of consideration of matters on this agenda may be changed without prior notice.
REASONABLE LIMITATIONS MAY BE PLACED ON PUBLIC TESTIMONY
The Governing Board’s presiding officer reserves the right to impose reasonable time limits on public testimony to ensure that the agenda is completed.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS MAY BE MADE
Notice is hereby given that consistent with the requirements of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, special presentations not mentioned in the agenda may be made at this meeting. However, any such presentation will be for information only.
REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION WILL BE PROVIDED FOR ANY INDIVIDUAL WITH A DISABILITY
Pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, any individual with a disability who requires reasonable accommodation to attend or participate in this meeting of the Governing Board may request assistance by contacting ECS at 812 West 165th Place, Gardena, CA 90247; telephone (310) 214-3400; fax (310) 214-3410.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For more information concerning this agenda or for materials relating to this meeting, please contact ECS at 812 West 165th Place, Gardena, CA 90247; telephone (310) 214-3400; fax (310) 214-3410.
Agenda
I. | Opening Items | |
Opening Items
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A. | Record Attendance and Guests | |
Guest include Alison Diaz, Makeisa Gaines, Kami Cotler, ECHS Students Kathy Martinez & Christian Loya and Francisco McCurry
4:40pm Beth Bernstein & Farnaz joined 4:50 Lacey Harris joined |
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B. | Call the Meeting to Order | |
II. | Approval of Agenda and Previous Meeting Minutes | |
A. | Motion to Approve the Agenda | |
Motion by Tashanda Giles and seconed by Sara Diaz.
Motion is unanimously approved |
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B. | Approve Previous Meeting Minutes | |
There were no minutes to approve |
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Approve minutes for Diversity and Equity Task Force Committee Meeting on March 13, 2017 | ||
III. | Presentation from the Floor | |
Diversity and Equity Task Force
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A. | Presentations from the Floor on Non Agenda Items | |
At this time any person wishing to speak to any item not on the agenda will be granted three minutes to make a presentation to the committee. Non-English speakers utilizing translators will be granted six minutes to make a presentation to the taskforce.
There were no presentations from the floor |
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B. | Presentation on the Agenda | |
Any person wishing to speak to any item on the agenda will be granted five minutes to make a presentation. Non-English speakers utilizing translators will be granted ten minutes to make a presentation to the taskforce.
Ms. Diaz asked that we be mindful about our feedback since so much work has gone into these projects. She asked that we establish some norms to ensure no one's feelings are hutn. |
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IV. | Discussion Items / Updates | |
A. | Opener | |
Site teams worked together on a sheet reflecting on how well their team did on the data cycle. |
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B. | ECMS-G Update | |
Tasneem and Christiana presented for ECMS-G
ECMS-G team reviewed data and data on discipline and special education students was noticed. 11% of students are SWD, but they represetent more than 30% of referrals for "period 1" 8/22 to 2/15 Further analysis showed 80% of SWD referred were students with ADHD Their action plan included consulting with Special Ed dept, provide PD on strategies for supporting ADHD, purchased tools (Fidget, beeswax, break cards) to support ADHD students, asked ECS to create some SZ reports to further analyze data, adjusted discipline procedures for students who spend longer amounts of time in the same classroom to create equity for students who don't change classrooms as much. The plan was imlemented over 3 months and included positive behavior supports. Second data set was Feb 16-June. 29 referrals in P1 (nearly 40% of total, 14 referrals (17% of total) in P2 Sharing data, including sped team, refining discipline approach. Inconsistent teachers, not enough collaboration between departments Takeaways include positive behavior reports Challenges included finding an issue the whole team was passionate about, completing work in time provided, not having a full year to implement Recs-- get stakeholders involved beyond EDT, present it during PD, stakeholder reps update progress to their stakeholder groups. |
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C. | ECMS-I Update | |
Danny Cristales presents. |
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D. | ECHS Update | |
ECHS did three projects at the same time. |
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E. | Collaboration Activity | |
Group reflected on what was inspiring
Addressing equity issues in grade level team meeting Students involved at HS, surveying students and valuing their voice Para educators involved at MS Attempting to resolve 3 issues, Challenging the status quo The use of pre and post data and data driven decision-making Stakeholders are open to change and striving for continuous improvement Every site valued people. Important to re-evaluate policies even those that are "working". It could be better. Future is to continue the EDT. This summer cabinet will reflect on data to identify issues this summer, so EDT work can be more efficient when it reconvenes in August. Danielle will be reviewing refinement sheets and compiling feedback. Need to determine urgency. Will there be a time for EDT to "retreat"? To collaboratively determine the best way to move forward/refine the process? |
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F. | Next Steps | |
V. | Closing Items | |
A. | Adjourn Meeting | |
Ms. Villoria moved to adjourn
Ms. Diaz seconded. Passed unanimously |