Geneva D-304 takes on diversity, equity education for students, staff development

GENEVA – Geneva District 304 is constantly working on preparing its students for a diverse world, according to a presentation at Monday’s school board meeting.

The presentation dovetails from several people who spoke to the school board about these issues, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Andrew Barrett said, “because they’re important.”

“This is not an all-encompassing presentation by any means,” Barrett said. “This is a complex issue and there’s a lot of separate unique topics and issues embedded within and that are kind of interwoven, right? … We really want to think in terms of what this means for us here in Geneva school district. Our district – like every district – has its own characteristics and unique backgrounds and those are some of the things we need to be thinking about.”

Barrett said the terms should have consistent meaning, such as diversity meaning representation and acknowledgement of all the ways people are different; equity is everyone having fair access and opportunity for advancement; and inclusion meaning to foster belonging, respect and empowerment for all.

“What is the goal for our district? What are the things we are trying to accomplish?” Barrett asked. “The question is, are we preparing our kids to be kind, to be collaborative and to be productive citizens who contribute to a diverse and just world? That’s our goal as a district. That is what we want to achieve.”

Barrett referred to a graduate of the district who spoke to the school board about the issue at the July 20 school board meeting last year. Annie Waldoch, representing 1,739 past and current students spanning more than 50 graduation years, had said they sent a letter to the district seeking more diverse perspectives in the upcoming curriculum.

A group of high school teachers went so far as to create an Equity Committee in response to the students’ request to broaden and diversify the curriculum, he said.

Barrett added incidents have occurred over the past year that bring these issues to mind, “and we can’t put our head in the sand and pretend these things don’t exist.”

The district updates its procedures, policies and handbooks all the time, as well as promotes character education for all students – kindness, respect, self-care, empathy for others, learning coping strategies and social-emotional learning, Barrett said.

Teachers embed all these character building aspects in their lessons, he said.

Another aspect is professional development for teachers in this area of study, Barrett said.

“One, was a multi-day training on restorative discipline practices,” Barrett said. “This is like a relational approach to building school climate and approaching discipline in a way that is more about belonging than exclusion and more about relationships than just pure discipline.”

Teachers have had training on building their collaboration, and on sexual orientation and gender identity, Barrett said.

The next school year will focus on staff continuing its professional development in this area.

Barrett compared it to drivers checking their blindspots as a way to explain where the district needs to focus its attention.

“I thought that this car analogy was a good one,” Barrett said.

“We’re all drivers, and we’ve all driven in a car and been in a car that had blindspots. What we know about that, is that’s not a defect, that’s not a flaw. It’s not something that is wrong with the car and it’s not something that’s a problem as long as you check it,” Barrett said. “And this is something we do as a school district on a regular basis.”

Toward that end, the district looks to other districts to learn from them as well as getting help from outside experts, Barrett said.

“We have some focused work for our leadership team,” Barrett said.