The Essential

The Equity Department is so excited to be jumping into another school year! We are here, in part, because of our district's mission statement:

Our mission at David Douglas is to provide meaningful, equitable, and highly effective instruction so each student grows and thrives socially, emotionally, and academically.

Each month we will be coming to your inbox with news, updates, events, and resources to support, encourage, and enhance your equity journey. Additionally, we will continue to celebrate and uplift traditionally marginalized groups represented within our community.

This year our district has begun training staff in restorative practices as a way to address discipline disparities that disproportionately affect students of color. Restorative practices are evidence-based strategies focused on increasing positive and meaningful relationships with students in ways that benefit classroom communities, common spaces and student learning. Restorative practices, along with our continued professional development around equity and culturally responsive teaching practices are efforts to address the unmet needs of historically marginalized students who continue to be impacted by exclusionary practices.

Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,

Taye Spears, lashawanta_spears@ddsd40.org

Director of Multilingual Programs & Equity,

Kelly Devlin, kelly_devlin@ddsd40.org

Equity Specialist,

Sabrina Sommer, sabrina_sommer@ddsd40.org

Academic Language Coach

Belle Koskela, belle_koskela@ddsd40.org

ELD Coach

Shane Burchell, shane_burchell@ddsd40.org

Family & Community Partnership Coordinator

Aidé Juárez Valerio, aide_valeriojuarez@ddsd40.org

Spanish Bilingual District Liaison

Laura Gómez, laura_gomez@ddsd40.org

Spanish Bilingual District Liaison

Ana Mujica, ana_mujica@ddsd40.org

Russian Bilingual District Liaison

Olga Fedotova, olga_fedotova@ddsd40.org

Somali Bilingual District Liaison

Shamsa Diriye, shamsa_diriye@ddsd40.org

Multilingual Programs & Equity Dept. Secretary

Lisa Thomas, lisa_thomas@ddsd40.org

Family Engagement Specialist

Jean Ulysse,jean_ulysse@ddsd40.org

Our district is committed to increasing student achievement and growth. This commitment propels us to reflective practice and a commitment to continuous improvement. As educators we are better when we commit to lifelong learning. We live in a rapidly changing world and our students are growing up in a very different world than we did. The DDSD equity team is a responsive approach to the needs not yet addressed in our schools and the surrounding community.

Our mission statement is:

• To set common goals and visions for racial justice across our district
• To demonstrate our district’s commitment to achieving equitable outcomes for students of color as outcomes must not be predictable by race or ethnicity
• To ensure that every student in our district feels welcome, safe, valued, and has an honored identity in our schools
• To facilitate open communication and meaningful dialogue with families and communities of color
• To provide a mechanism for both accountability and transparency in advancing equity

We look forward to working with your building equity teams in providing you with tools and resources that will help increase thriving and success among ALL of our students!

You can find a link to the DDSD Equity Plan and other resources on our district webpage.

See a list of building equity chairs here.

We have the first celebration month of the school year rapidly approaching on September 15.

This is a great opportunity to highlight aspects of students' identities and cultures. Celebrating Latinx/Hispanic Heritage month is a way to help your students feel seen and heard. Ask students what is meaningful about their culture to them and find ways to incorporate those values into their learning. Celebrate their unique qualities and perspectives. Remember that Latinx peoples are a rich and beautiful mixture indigenous, Black, and white, who speak many languages including Spanish, English and a wide array of indigenous languages. So much diversity exists within Latinx communities. Below you will find links to resources by grade level.

Show students this short video created last year by our very own high school students about stereotypes.

Portland area free event September 15 & 16: Click here.

When it comes to equity, we are all learners. As we become more intentional about this work in our schools, we may find the process challenging at times. It might be easier to be dismissive when we are uncomfortable. As educators in an extremely diverse district, we owe it to our students and the communities they come from to listen. We owe it to those students whom our data shows are consistently falling behind to seek to understand what exists beyond our own paradigms and experiences in order to better serve their needs.

Below are opportunities to listen, to challenge ourselves, reflect, and gain new tools for practice.

Below you will find the 5 Equity Essentials that provide our district with guidance in reflective practice and increasing our awareness of the diverse needs of our students and their needs in the classroom and school building. You can use these to provide a frame for your own classroom practices or with your colleagues to glean from the perspectives of others. Please connect with your building equity chair if you have questions or ideas. Let's keep growing and learning together!

Below is a link to a short slidedeck with practical strategies and tips for CRT #19: Using students real life experiences to connect school learning to students' lives. Thank you to Francesca Aultman for creating this short slide show! (Click on image below.)