Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

The NPS Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is excited to share our first newsletter with you! With so many important things happening across the district, we hope to keep you informed of the great work of our department, educators, leaders and staff, as well as share updates and resources that you may find helpful in supporting this work in your own buildings and classrooms.

We are also happy to announce that our department has expanded to include a new Administrative Assistant to help us with our communication efforts (like this newsletter). Ms. Angela Sasso joined NPS earlier this month and you can learn more about her below.

We look forward to sharing more throughout the school year.

Happy Holidays

The NPS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion department would like to welcome our newest member, Angela Sasso. Angela is our new Administrative Assistant and will be working with us as we expand our reach and capacity to support educators and students in creating welcoming spaces for all. Angela graduated with a bachelor’s from Regis College and worked in the Medford Public School’s system for eight years. Angela comes with a diverse knowledge of business office operations and school district knowledge.

NPS staff has been busy working with our students at each level, preschool, elementary, middle school and high school.

Preschool

Our preschool program, NECP, kicked off the first of a 4-part Professional Development with Story Starters entitled, Building Anti-racist classrooms. Story Starters is a Newton-based nonprofit that supports parents and educators in developing children's anti racist values and inspires racial justice action in homes, schools and communities. At the elementary level our schools have been working on Racial Identity Development and at our middle schools we have been working with students on Culturally Responsive Instruction.

https://www.story-starters.org/

Elementary

Over 70 NPS pre-school and elementary principals, educators and staff participated in a districtwide, 2-day workshop on Racial Identity Development facilitated by the DELI Department. Participants learned about the stages of racial identity development, shared stories of their own experiences and walked away with tools and strategies to lead their schools in learning about RID and creating more inclusive classrooms and school communities for all students. This train-the-trainer model is being implemented throughout the year in all elementary schools through staff professional development days.

Middle

All 4 middle school administrators and staff participated in a half-day workshop on Culturally Responsive Instruction, facilitated by the DEI Department, to learn about Culturally Responsive Instruction.

In this workshop, NPS staff explored the philosophy and brain research to support culturally responsive instruction in the classroom. This content is a follow-up and supplement to the Racial Identity Development training that all middle schools have been participating in since last school year. This train-the-trainer model is being implemented throughout the year in all middle schools through staff professional development days.

High

At both high schools, staff members have been participating in continuing workshops on Racial Identity Development, in addition to professional development opportunities that help them further connect ideas from RID workshops to their work in supporting all of our students.

Additionally, there have been different spaces for staff members to collaborate on Newton Public School's commitment to anti-racism work.

Literacy Equity Project

The Literacy Equity Project is a program aimed at boosting literacy skills of BIPOC elementary students in the Newton Public Schools through creating professional learning communities, providing instructional coaching, and implementing data-based inquiry cycles. This year eleven educators including classroom teachers, interventionists, and reading specialists at six different schools are engaging in participatory research by designing and implementing new classroom approaches to be culturally responsive literacy teachers, to increase the social and emotional well-being, and to engage diverse families.

DESE Teacher Diversification Pilot Program

Newton Public Schools, along with over 75 school districts across the state, have begun the

The Teacher Diversification Pilot Program, sponsored by MA DESE. The program is designed to support local school and district efforts to strengthen and diversify existing teacher recruitment and retention programs. Through the use of state and federal funds, participating schools and districts will engage in thoughtful, high-impact approaches intended to increase the number of effective and diverse teachers in their schools.

Thanks to the work of our Director of HR, Martine Albama, NPS was recently awarded a grant in the amount of $61,377 to support local school and district efforts to strengthen and diversify existing teacher recruitment and retention programs.

DEI Advisory

The DEI Department has formed an advisory committee for the 2021-2022 school year to support the prioritization, implementation and sustainability of DEI initiatives across the school district. The advisory consists of a diverse group of 14 staff and administrators, representing all levels, roles and disciplines. Members were nominated and reviewed based on their demonstrated commitment to DEI practices, personally and professionally, and bring a broad perspective of student and staff needs in NPS.

Antiracist Curriculum & Instruction Committee

The work of the Antiracist Curriculum and Instruction Committee is grounded in the district's commitment to racial equity and is guided by the belief that all students can succeed when learning conditions support achievement by viewing students' experiences, knowledge, and cultures as assets integral to the development of engaging and relevant learning experiences.

The committee is led by Renee McCall (Asst. Superintendent of Learning) and Henry Turner (Newton North Principal) and made up of several administrators and educators across the district and grade levels. The aim this year is to glean best practices from classes across grade levels that are culturally responsive and aligned to social justice anchor standards. This will help shift learning experiences for students, particularly those who have been historically marginalized, by building teachers' capacity to develop lessons that are affirming and meaningful.

On December 3rd METCO held its thirty sixth annual Educators Conference. This conference started in 1984 with the purpose of providing staff development and information for educators, and community members who worked with African American children in suburban school settings. Today METCO continues its commitment to the cultural development, and academic achievement of children of color. With the support of our METCO Director, Lisa Gilbert- Smith, along with Superintendent Dr. David Fleishman, Newton Public Schools had fifty Administrators and staff members present. Director of Equity and Inclusion, Kathy Lopes was invited to conduct a panel which was titled, Leading an Antiracist School Culture, What do we Want to Become? The keynote speaker was Dr. Tricia Rose from Brown University’s, Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America. If you would like more information on the conference you can refer to the website, http://metcodirectors.com/36th-annual-mda-conference/.

Staff of Color in NPS represent a small percentage of the overall school population. This may present challenges of isolation, exclusion and lack of community. NPS has provided affinity spaces that offer a place for support and safety which will positively impact experiences in NPS. This winter our BIPOC staff has had gatherings at each school level, high school, middle school and elementary school.

Below is a letter from Jon Sills, Former Bedford Superintendent of Schools,

Prior to COVID, your district sent several of your African American and Latinx students to participate in the Tenacity Challenge, an inter-district academic competition for teams of urban and suburban students of color.

The Tenacity Challenge, initiated by the Bedford Public Schools has increased honors and AP enrollment, bolstered confidence, given thousands of dollars in scholarships, and changed classroom cultures in the sending schools. The Challenge has inspired over 1500 students during the past 10 years to spend three to six months preparing for rigorous competitive events. As one participant put it, “to try things I never believed I was capable of.” Comprising a well-researched history argument, a literary analysis rendered as a performance, a fine arts creation, and a math/science quiz bowl, the high school Challenge culminates on April 30th with a full day of competition. The middle school Challenge substitutes a group leadership project for the history and art components and has literature and math/science events.

If you are willing to take a few minutes to watch students in action and hear their thoughts about the experience, I promise, they will excite and inspire you. Please click on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch4BKn7l3kI

We truly hope you will come back this year. All of the information that your teams need can be found at www.tenacitychallenge.com. Cost is $100.00 per team. If you would like someone to come to your district to speak to your leadership team, your teachers, or students, we will be happy to send someone out.

We are also reaching out to your district's former team(s) coach(es), but with the passage of time, we do not know for certain if they are still involved.

We hope to hear from you.

Best,

Jon Sills,

https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/site/default.aspx?PageType=14&DomainID=1438&PageID=3806&ModuleInstanceID=9406&ViewID=9d7780dc-000e-458b-ba39-cfc84059b040&IsMoreExpandedView=True

https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/site/default.aspx?PageType=14&DomainID=1438&PageID=3806&ModuleInstanceID=9402&ViewID=9d7780dc-000e-458b-ba39-cfc84059b040&IsMoreExpandedView=True