The Center for Creative Leadership, Vermont Professional Learning Offerings: Winter 2020-21

Burn Bright: The Resilience Advantage

Burn Bright: The Resilience Advantage

Social-Emotional Leadership: A Guide for Youth Development 

Collective Efficacy for Teams (This is a Two-Part Offering)

Dear VPA Members,

On June 2, 2020, the Vermont School Boards Association, the Vermont Superintendents Association and the Vermont Principals’ Association issued a statement condemning racism and promoting proactive measures to achieve educational equity and eliminate implicit and overt biases. 

In the spirit of those efforts and with an awareness that school districts are currently well-engaged in developing proposed budgets for FY2022, we are reminding districts of the opportunity to follow through and follow up on equity and anti-racism work by using the budget development process to commit resources to those initiatives for FY2022.

VSBA, VSA and VPA are committed to the ongoing efforts referenced above and it is for that reason we are reaching out to local school officials with a recognition that an operating budget can be a powerful tool in messaging and providing resources in support of district priorities.

Thank you for all that you do on behalf of the students and your school communities.

To: President Pro Tem Ashe, Speaker Johnson, Senator Baruth, and Representative Webb

Re: Support for Outright Vermont

On August 26, 2020, Secretary of Education Dan French and Chief Financial Officer of the Agency of Education, Bill Bates, presented the AOE’s proposed FY2021 budget to the Vermont House Committee on Education. In that budget, the AOE proposed a $40,000 cut to Outright Vermont. Our associations strongly recommend that the General Assembly reject the proposed reduction.

In testimony on August 28, 2020 to the Vermont House Committee on Education, Outright Vermont Executive Director Dana Kaplan asked this: “Please recommend full restoration of the $60,000 legislative appropriation to Outright Vermont so that LGBT youth have a chance to live. Make no mistake about it, the stakes are that high.”

Our Associations wholeheartedly support Outright Vermont in this request. Outright Vermont provides crucial support to LGBTQ+ youth, their families, teachers and school districts. To the best of our knowledge, Outright Vermont is the only organization of its kind in Vermont and cutting funding would have a tremendous impact on LGBTQ+ students, especially in this unprecedented time of instability. We urge you to find savings elsewhere.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sue Ceglowski, Executive Director, Vermont School Boards Association
Jeff Francis, Executive Director, Vermont Superintendents Association
Jay Nichols, Executive Director, Vermont Principals’ Association
Traci Sawyers, Executive Director, Vermont Council of Special Education Administrators

From https://www.vtvsba.org/copy-of-model-policy-manual, linked document C-29.

CODE C29 (Recommended Policy)

DISTRICT EQUITY POLICY

The _ School District (District) is committed to the success of every student, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, family economics, class, geography, ability, language, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or initial proficiencies. The ____ School Board (Board) holds itself and all District and school-site decision-makers, faculty, and support staff accountable for building a District-wide commitment to equity. The District will incorporate principles of equity within all policies, programs, operations, practices, and resource allocations.

Definitions

Equity: Each student receives the resources and educational opportunities they need to learn and thrive.

• Equity means that a student’s success is not predicted nor predetermined by characteristics such as race, ethnicity, religion, family economics, class, geography, ability, language, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or initial proficiencies.
• Equity means that every school provides and every student has access to high quality culturally responsive curriculum, programs, teachers and administrators, extracurricular activities and support services to meet the needs of each and every student.
• Equity goes beyond formal equality where all students are treated the same. Achieving equity may require an unequal distribution of resources and services.
• Equity involves acknowledging and disrupting inequitable practices, acknowledging biases, employing practices that reflect the reality that all students will learn, and creating inclusive multicultural school environments for adults and children.

Culturally Responsive Practices: The beliefs, methods, and practices that support and empower all students socially, emotionally, intellectually, and civically by leveraging students’ lived experiences to ensure learning.

Implementation

To realize this commitment to equity, the District will:

• Systematically use District-wide and individual school-level data, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, language, ability, gender, and socioeconomic background to inform District decision-making;
• Provide every student with equitable access to high-quality and culturally relevant instruction, curriculum, support, facilities, technology and other educational resources that respect their individual identities, cultures, backgrounds, abilities and experiences;
• Monitor and evaluate the individual needs of schools and distribute resources and effective personnel based on those needs;
• Incorporate the voice, culture and perspectives of students, staff, families, and communities that reflect student demographics and support and enhance student success;
• Identify and counteract biased practices that perpetuate achievement disparities and opportunity gaps;
• Provide ongoing and continuous professional development at all organizational levels to support employees to engage in culturally responsive practices and delivery of quality culturally relevant instruction;
• Incorporate the principle of equity into the District’s strategic plan and identify measurable outcomes to prepare all students for college, career, and life.

The superintendent shall identify outcome indicators as necessary to monitor this policy and shall provide a _ (monthly, quarterly, annually) status report to the Board.

The Vermont School Boards Association, the Vermont Superintendents Association, and the Vermont Principals’ Association strongly condemn the systemic violence, societal marginalization and oppression that has been put upon Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) since the founding of this country.

Our Associations condemn the recent killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and believe that these murders affirm the need for nationwide action to end systemic racial violence. These most recent atrocities point to a much larger implicit and explicit marginalizing that is not new nor isolated to law enforcement.

As leaders of Vermont’s education systems, we recognize that public education in general, and public education in Vermont, is not immune to systemic oppression and racism. In Vermont schools, there is evidence that students of color are disproportionately subjected to exclusionary discipline, receive less educational opportunity and experience curriculum that is not representative of their culture and does not do justice to the persecution of their forebears throughout the course of American history.

As leaders of Vermont’s education systems, we have a duty to recognize and address our biases and engage in necessary conversations about Vermont schools’ complicity in systemic racism. We have a duty to support and stand with our faculty, staff, and students of color. We have a duty to prepare our students to confront injustice, participate in civil discourse, and participate in the ongoing effort to truly realize liberty and justice for all.

In January of 2018, our Associations adopted a working definition of educational equity: Educational equity means that each student receives the resources and educational opportunities they need to learn and thrive.

• Equity means that a student’s success is not predicted nor predetermined by characteristics such as race, ethnicity, religion, family economics, class, geography, disability, language, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or initial proficiencies.
• Equity means that every school provides high quality curriculum, programs, teachers and administrators, extracurricular activities and support services.
• Equity goes beyond formal equality where all students are treated the same.
• Achieving equity may require an unequal distribution of resources and services.
• Equity involves disrupting inequitable practices, acknowledging biases, employing practices that reflect the reality that all students will learn, and creating inclusive multicultural school environments for adults and children.

This definition, along with the equity ethos of each of our associations’ mission statements call upon us to build upon our recent efforts and to do more and do better going forward. Over the past several years, our associations have taken steps to more fully realize the implicit and explicit biases within our organizations and schools, and provide anti-racist professional learning opportunities for our members. We collectively recognize the need for our associations to do more to advance this work and to center the importance of antiracism and equity in our processes, collaborations, and leadership.

Our efforts must grow and continue, therefore we commit to the following concrete actions:

• All employees of our Associations’ will participate in ongoing implicit bias, equity, and diversity training.
• We will promote and support implicit bias training for all faculty and staff in Vermont public schools, including athletic and co-curricular personnel, and officials across the state (see H.714 of 2020).
• We will offer and promote professional learning for school leaders and school board members that include but will not be limited to: Equity Literacy, Curriculum Audits, Review Protocols for Examining Bias in School Policies and Procedures, Culturally Responsive Instruction and School Culture, Student Leadership and Voice, and Examining Power and Privilege in Schools.

Instances of violent deaths suffered at the hands of racism are always reprehensible. We are lifted by the hope that larger numbers of previously unaware or unaffected members of our communities will recognize our shared responsibility in taking an active role in anti-bias, anti-racism action for a more equitable, just, and safe place for all of our students to grow and thrive.

Sue Ceglowski, Vermont School Board Association

Jeffrey Francis, Vermont Superintendents Association

Jay Nichols, Vermont Principals Association

To: Whom it May Concern
From: The Vermont Principals’ Association Executive Council

In support of the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) students and families and other historically marginalized peoples, the VPA’s Executive Council issues the following statement regarding school mascots:

School mascots are often powerful symbols within a community. We believe that mascots and all school symbols should support feelings of belonging and inclusivity for students and the wider community. They should not perpetuate divisive stereotypes and contribute to the ongoing marginalization, erasure, and harm to BIPOC communities. Any mascot, nickname, symbol, or logo that has marginalizing, racist, or exclusionary elements should be replaced to demonstrate what it means to be an inclusive, welcoming, and strong community. Just as all aspects of school operations need ongoing improvement for equitable outcomes and inclusive representation and policies, so too should school mascots.