The Essential

Happy 2025 DDSD!

We hope that you were able to have a restorative winter break. With the start of the new year, we wish you a great start to the new calendar year.

See below for resources around MLK Day and Lunar New Year. For the first time, we also have a resource around a Portland specific Slavic Heritage Month.

Thank you all for taking the time to read the Essential!

-DEI Team

The David Douglas School Board finalized a resolution that reaffirms our commitment to fostering safe and welcoming schools for ALL students in the David Douglas School District regardless of national origin, immigration status, or documentation status. The school board had its first reading on December 12, 2024, during the board meeting.

The resolution was officially presented at the January 9, 2025, board meeting, which included an opportunity for public comment and feedback to ensure it reflects our community’s needs. For more information, check out the December School Board meeting on our YouTube channel.

Every month, we will highlight the cultural and identity based celebrations that are celebrated nationally within each month. However, it is important to state that people who hold the identities that we are celebrating should not only be celebrated one month out of the year. We choose to celebrate the diversity of often marginalized groups because their histories and stories historically have been left out. There are many people who hold these identities within our community, students and staff, who deserve to see themselves in the work we do. We move forward with these celebrations encouraging a continuing visibility, representation, and celebration of the groups we highlight.

In 2020 Portland City Mayor, Ted Wheeler, proclaimed the second week of January to be Slavic and Eastern European Heritage Week. We are taking the month of January to celebrate and uplift the Slavic and Eastern European Heritage amongst our Students, Staff and community!

Gilbert Park Elementary created a slide show with information, resources, and examples of how they are celebrating Slavic Heritage in their school. Click the picture below to check it out!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a federal holiday in the United States observed on the third Monday of January each year. King was chief spokes person for nonviolent activism in the Civil Right Movement, which protested racial discrimination in federal and state law and cicil society.

Lunar New Year is the beginning of a new year based on lunar calendars or, informally but more widely, lunisolar calendars. Lunar calendars follow the lunar phase while lunisolar calendars follow both the lunar phase and the time of the solar year. The event is celebrated by numerous cultures in various ways at diverse dates. 2025 is the year of the snake representing wisdom, transformation and resilience.

What does it mean to be multilingual? At a basic level, it means to speak more than one language. At a deeper level, it means being able to communicate with and understand people from different languages and cultures, as well as build bridges between those languages and cultures. Multilingual teachers have the ability to connect with students and families from diverse backgrounds and are highly sought after for that reason. It is no secret that there is a shortage of multilingual teachers in Oregon. In the Grow Your Own program, we know exactly where to look for our future multilingual teachers: our very own David Douglas High School, home to one of the most diverse and multilingual student bodies in the state.

To connect with multilingual high school students about a future in education, it is important to design specific opportunities for them to explore college and career options where they will feel welcomed and supported. That is precisely what took place this month, when 14 bilingual seniors from David Douglas High School participated in the Oregon Association of Bilingual Educators “Path to Scholarship” Workshop. The workshop was an opportunity for them to build self-confidence and courage in seeking post-graduation options and gain successful college application and scholarship strategies. With the support of two bilingual facilitators, as well as online guidance from Gerardo Ochoa, Linfield University vice-president and nationally renowned college access expert, students began drafting their personal statements. They were able to share their lived experiences, their strengths and interests, and their goals for the future. We are excited to support them through the college application process and hopefully hire them upon graduation so that they can become future Grow Your Own participants!

If you are or you know a David Douglas student, family, or community member who is interested in pursuing a career in education, please contact Andreina Velasco (andreina_velasco@ddsd40.org), Grow Your Own Pathway Navigator.

On Sunday December 15th, 12 members of the staff LGBTQ+ affinity group were able to attend a Darcelle XV drag show. Darcelle is a huge part of Portland Queer history and we wanted to represent. Here is the history about Darcelle if you have never heard about them before. "The performers were brilliant, and it was nice to be out with other queer LGBTQ+ staff members. DDSD really showed up!" shared a staff member in attendance.

This was our second social gathering we have had this year! Earlier in the year, there was a social meet and greet as well.

If you are interested in joining our LGBTQ+ staff affinity group, please reach out to gabie_mbenza-ngoma@ddsd40.org.

David Douglas' diversity is one of the things that makes our district unique. Over the last two years, our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Department has worked hard with Equity Chairs, Teachers, Staff Members, and Community Members to help start up different groups for students. These groups range from focuses on identity affinity culturally specific affinity, to student leadership and/or student advocacy. It is important to note that there are quite a few groups that existed prior to these past few years that address the same goals of providing community for students. At this moment, we are highlighting some of the new groups created either this or last school year that support student voice in different aspects of their life.

• 5th Grade Student Equity Team - Gilbert Park Elementary
• 4th and 5th Grade Student Equity Team - Gilbert Park Elementary
• 5th Grade Pride Club - Gilbert Park Elementary
• 5th Grade Student Equity Team - Lincoln Park Elementary School
• Kinder, 1st, & 2nd Grade Grupito (Spanish Language Affinity Group) - Mill Park Elementary
• 6th-8th Grade Student Equity Team - Ron Russell Middle School
• 5th Grade Black Student Union - West Powellhurst Elementary
• 5th Grade Latinx Student Union - West Powellhurst Elementary
• 3rd Grade Black Affinity Group - West Powellhurst Elementary

There are countless hours of time that have been put into organizing these groups for students. Thank you all to everyone who has come forth and invested, time, and energy into facilitating this time for students.

If you facilitate a group for student voice that was not recognized on this list, thank you for the work that you do! We are grateful to have such dedicated staff in DDSD.

January 14-16 - Mahayana New Year (Buddhist)

January 21st - World Religion Day (Bahai)

Are you doing something wonderful in your classroom, building, or in the wider community that has to do with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion? Are you super proud of an engagement strategy, a lesson, or a community bulletin board that you’ve created? Do you see someone else doing something wonderful and want to shout them out? The equity departments want to hear from you! Every month, we’ll be highlighting a few educators and staff members who are doing wonderful work. We know that there is wonderful work being done out there, and we would love to hear from you and share! To submit something, or invite one of us to your classroom or space, please email gabie_mbenza-ngoma@ddsd40.org.