In District 54, we will promote a culture of unconditional belonging in which all students, staff and community members will be treated with dignity. We will ensure high levels of access to resources, experiences and success. In District 54, we strive to ensure that all students, staff and community members are
Safe, welcome and cared for;
Heard, validated and supported; and
Represented in curriculum and staffing.
District 54 Equity and Inclusion Vision Statement
District 54 strives to make all students and staff feel welcome, dignified, respected and heard. Fostering diversity, inclusion and equity is an integral part of our core values. We recognize that education can both enhance individuals and strengthen communities.
By supporting an environment that facilitates and encourages safe and open dialogue on diversity, and by empowering our students and staff to embrace their diversity, we are striving to ensure that our students will be equipped to succeed in our diverse world.
All Staff Professional Development
Every year District 54 staff members participate in Cultural Competency Training. Topics covered during these sessions include:
- Building the Foundation of Equity
- Defining equity and belonging
- Understanding racism, implicit bias, inclusion, and dignity
- Gain a deeper understanding of belonging by exploring the indicators of belonging
- Explore challenges and gain practical tools to enhance your own listening skills
- Cultivating Resilience
- Defining resilience and why it is important as educators
- Provide practical strategies to strengthen our own resilience reserves
- Building Awareness and Knowledge
- Recognize how personal values shape your interactions with families
- Build a climate of psychological safety within our PLC’s
- Validate student identity by using value affirmations
- Strengthening Learning Partnerships
- Discover ways instruction can help students learn about themselves and others.
- Expand our ability to know students by name, need, and their genius
- Bring awareness and curiosity to our practices to ensure a culture of unconditional belonging
- Expand interpretations of student behavior to include different displays of learning and social interactions.
- Advancing Knowledge and Awareness
- Understand how to correct dignity distorters and nurture dignity dispositions
- Build capacity to identify and disrupt implicit bias
- Examine the cultural competency of the PLC and the equitable student academic and behavioral impact
District 54 Equity and Inclusion
From February – April 2021, a 52-member District 54 Equity and Inclusion Task Force was formed with representatives from each building and community members to develop a vision for Equity in District 54 and identify initial pillars of focus.
The task force used the text Belonging Through a Culture of Dignity: The Keys to Successful Equity Implementation by Floyd Cobb and John Krownapple to engage in discussions and build common understandings. Educational consultants Teresa Lance and Nita White supported the Task Force steering committee to help build capacity, develop a shared understanding of common language, and lead the team in data review and root cause analysis.
Task force members were asked to identify what equity meant to them and what a positive vision for equity and inclusion would look like for students, staff and community if there was access and belonging. The steering committee identified three pillars shown on this page as a focus for the district’s equity and inclusion work.
