{"id":38902,"date":"2022-02-07T14:45:23","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T22:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newwestschools.ca\/archive_241212\/?p=38902"},"modified":"2022-02-07T14:48:57","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T22:48:57","slug":"diversity-and-inclusion-the-work-done-and-what-comes-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newwestschools.ca\/archive_241212\/diversity-and-inclusion-the-work-done-and-what-comes-next\/","title":{"rendered":"Diversity and inclusion: the work done and what comes next"},"content":{"rendered":"

To all in the New Westminster Schools community,<\/p>\n

News and events over the last few weeks have again highlighted the continuing need we have to address diversity, inclusion and anti-racism initiatives: from the tragic recent news shared from the Williams Lake First Nations<\/a> to the inspiring activities we\u2019re seeing right now, in support of Black History Month.<\/p>\n

On either end of the spectrum, and everywhere along the way, these are all valuable learning experiences that offer students and each of us opportunities to listen, learn and grow.<\/p>\n

This has also provided us a chance to loop back with you on some related, important work that\u2019s been happening over the last while.<\/p>\n

About a year ago, we started to gather research about where everyone within our school communities stood in their approaches, beliefs and experiences around discrimination and inclusion. The goal of this part of the project was to better understand the community we\u2019re working in and the ones we\u2019re supporting, as we seek to build stronger justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) practices into our policies and learning opportunities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Almost 1500 parents, students, staff and community members participated in the surveys and\/or focus groups! Thank you.<\/strong> The thoughts, concerns and hopes you shared will help inform our processes and desired outcomes as we build our path forward. <\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the things we were most excited to see was the overall interest in this work. Approximately 4 out of every 5 people agreed that this work was important to them \u2013 with our District staff reporting the highest level of agreement around the value of engaging in justice, equity, diversity and inclusion work (at 94%). <\/strong><\/p>\n

Conversely, this work has helped us identify areas where we have some urgent work to do; this includes improving student comfort around bringing up incidents to school district employees \u2026 responding to feedback that points to the need to make the process both clearer and more supportive for everyone.<\/p>\n

As we build out the roadmap of action required, here are a few things you can expect to see:<\/p>\n