Behaving Equitably
Welcome Back: August 26th, 2021 by Somaly Prak-Martins
Equity is a journey!
On November 30th, I was selected to be the first Senior Director of Education Equity for the Milton Public School District. Starting in the middle of a pandemic school year, I had a lot of mix emotions. I was excited, eager, scared, curious, passionate, anxious and most importantly honored to have been chosen by the stakeholders of the district to lead such important, urgent, and historically needed work. I have learned so much this past 8 months of being part of this amazing community. It is clear that the district is home to many amazing, talented, and committed educators, leaders, learners, parents, community members, and partners. I look forward to walking with you on this journey of becoming a more equitable school district.
Download the file below to gain a little insight into my approach and vison for equity work. It was a letter I wrote to the entire community when I first arrived.
Meet the District's Equity Steering Committee
The District's Equity Steering Committee purpose is to guide the development and implementation of the District Equity Audit and Action Planning Process for the DISTRICT. The recommendations of the Steering Committee will be subject to superintendent approval.
Steering Committee Retreat
On July 19th and 20th 2021, the founding members of the first District Equity Steering committee spent two days diving into workshops around creating trust, exploring self and collective trauma, self and collective identity(ies), understanding purpose and defining equity. The picture above depicts a moment where the team started to think about Equity and how to define Equity within the context of the district. It was wonderful to witness the collaboration between an educator, parent and student in the work. The team realized how difficult it was to define equity. Resiliently working through the productive struggle, the team was successful with creating a draft of what they think Equity should mean at Milton Public Schools.
Leadership Retreat for the 2021-2022 School Year!
On August 23rd, 2021 the districts leadership came together for the first in-person professional development day of the school year. The central theme for the retreat was EQUITY. The team considered priorities, curriculum and instruction, professional development, systems and structures, learning and evaluations through the lens of EQUITY.
Making a Case
The leadership team spent some time identifying their priorities in the district's strategic plan through using the Making Your Case protocol. Each team identified five priorities and made a case for each priority. It was amazing to hear the theme around all priorities was equitable access to teaching and learning.
Superintendent Engaged!
Superintendent Jette authentically engaging with listening to the leadership team identifying and communicating what they think the priorities of the district should be. He also made it clear that Equity was a non-negotiable and a priority in the district. Thank you Superintendent Jette for focusing on ALL learners!
Learning and Laughing Together
The district's leadership team actively listening and authentically engaging in the learning experience. The team took this time to review and calibrate on some of the District's data that impacts our plan to becoming a more equitable district.
The First Day!
It was early morning around 8am when I received a text from a co-worker. The text said, "I'm sorry. I won't be able to submit the document on time as I will be driving my daughter to college. It's her first year." As soon as I read this text, I automatically empathize with her situation. The text then read "I'm a mess." It was the first day! The first day of her daughter's college life and the first day my colleague realized her daughter was not coming home for many months. I have four children and the first day never get's any easier. Knowing this feeling all to well, I advised her to stop working and use this ride to give her daughter some last minute advice, reinforce the love, remind her of your forever presence and enjoy each other before the gut wrenching good-byes. For many of us, the first day of school is very emotional. There are a multitude of emotions for students, parents, and educators.
Here is an opinionated article written by a parent about the psychological impact of the first day. You may find some relevance in her story.
Here are some resources that may help prepare you and your children for the first day:
Cultural Events
- Sept. 6th is West Indian Day Parade
- Sept. 7th is Brazil Independence Day
- Sept. 11th is German Language Day
- Sept. 13th is European Heritage Day
- Sept 15th is Shout of Dolores Day
- Sept 16th is Malaysia Day and Mexican Independence Day
- Sept 20th is German World Children's Day
- Sept 21st is the Harvest Moon Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival
- Sept 22nd is the Fall Equinox
- Sept 26th is Johnny Appleseed Day
- Sept 27th is Day of the French Community
- Sept 28th is Statehood Day
Religious Observation Days
- Sundown Sept. 6th through Sundown Sept. 8th is Rosh Hashanah
- Sept. 10th is Ganesh Chaturthi
- Evening of Sept. 15th through Evening of September 16th is Yom Kippur
- Sept. 20th is Pitru Paksha and Sukkot
- Sept 26th is Hoshana Rabbah