Overview
Jones is in its infancy stages of its equity work. We are currently developing our own equity plan.
Context
We started the journey with a letter to the community. In it, we acknowledge there was a very real problem at Jones. We acknowledged that staff and students were demanding change. We owned our role in the problems and pledged to do better. To demonstrate our efforts to do better we’ve done the following:
We have developed an internal “framework” to guide our equity work. This framework is made up of the following 3 Priorities--
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- Providing anti-racist training for staff and students
- Reviewing current curriculum and instruction and making it culturally appropriate
- Increasing and amplifying student voice in school
This framework was developed with the CPS Equity Framework in mind as well as priorities established in our school improvement plan (CWIP).
- We have revised our school schedule to include dedicated time each month for professional development for staff and opportunities to build community with students
Updates:
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- We are in the final stages of securing an outside group to facilitate specifically anti-racist training for staff which is set to begin in January 2021.
- The administrative team has been involved in a 10 week “Leading with Equity in Mind” summit. This training is helping leadership build capacity to better lead the school through its improvement of its school culture and climate. (Sept. 2020--Nov. 2020)
- Review hiring and retention process of staff of color was brought up as a point that needed immediate attention so it has been added as an additional priority and will be added to the “framework” to guide our work.
- The Instructional Leadership Team has been in conversation about ways to make our curriculum and instruction more culturally relevant and culturally responsive.
- We have a partnership with Mikva Challenge. This partnership was a way to address student voice by creating a space where students felt comfortable to speak up and speak out. This was an intentional “foundation building” for the difficult conversations we eventually want to have with our students.
- We are partnered with Equal Opportunity Schools. We will be addressing specifically, access to AP courses, and the support needed to be successful in those AP courses. This another intentional way we are addressing equity in curriculum and instruction.
- We are exploring a partnership with Youth Alternatives. This partnership would provide students with training to approach situations in a more restorative way. Implementation/training could begin by January 2021.
- We have developed a partnership with Jessica Acee of the Western State Center. She will be working with staff (particularly those who sponsor our cultural clubs) on how to best support student groups.
Our Equity plan has many layers at Jones. One aspect of this work is our partnership with Mikva Challenge. Mikva is providing resources that are not exclusively anti-racist. However, this partnership with Mikva is helping us develop a space for the work where all stakeholders can move forward. Our intention is that our work with Mikva will enable us to become a stronger, more inclusive democratic community that values all voices in the community. We are looking forward to purposefully using these democratic classroom spaces as a backdrop for creating an equitable and inclusive environment.
Our faculty and staff will begin very important anti-racist professional development with an outside consultant starting in January of 2021.
Our faculty and staff will begin very important anti-racist professional development with an outside consultant starting in January of 2021.