President’s Message Armalyn De La O, CMEA President
T
he challenges facing all of us, including the economic and personal impact of the ongoing pandemic, devastating fires, social unrest, has made the opening of the 2020 – 2021 school year unlike any other. Throughout this summer, the CMEA Executive Board has been reflective and proactive in relationship to these challenges to the present and future of music education. The work at the CMEA Board of Directors meeting in August reminded me of John F. Kennedy’s words about times of crisis: “the Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger—but recognize the opportunity.” It is an honor to work side-by-side with the leadership of CMEA as we move forward in addressing urgent needs, while building upon the opportunities for the future of music education in the state of California. In the July President’s message, I shared that the CMEA leadership would begin to examine our practices identifying and articulating the injustices and inequities within California’s music education system. We began the important first steps in crafting CMEA’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Access (DEIA) Initiative at the August meeting by considering the following questions: 1. What will move CMEA, as an organization, into action that will lead to systemic change? 2. What do we believe are barriers at this time? 3. What does DEIA mean in the organizational context of CMEA? 4. Identify CMEA specific inclusive leadership behaviors. CMEA’s Board of Directors worked in breakout groups facilitated by Executive Board Members and utilized recommendations of the Cook-Ross study commissioned by NAfME in our conversations. When we returned from the breakout sessions, many thoughts, responses, and questions surfaced in the discussion. The
following is a sample of the initial input from the Board of Directors gathered during the session regarding CMEA leadership behaviors, as well as general barriers to DEIA:
General Barriers – Beginning Responses:
Membership cost concerns; lack of funding support from schools/districts; not connecting to the needs of the profession; CMEA is not diverse because music educators in CA are not very diverse; and, we do not have many people of color in CMEA
DEIA Ideas – Beginning Thinking:
Diversity: How we are educating (pedagogy). What does a culturally relevant pedagogy look like in music teaching/ learning? Equity: Intentionality – making sure viewpoints are at the table and considered (even if not at the table). Inclusion: Need to feel like ALL are invited without having to have an invitation. Access: Which members of our population do we exclude as a result of the pedagogy, the curriculum we offer?
Leadership Behaviors – Beginning Thoughts and Questions:
• We need to see people of color invited to serve on CMEA boards. • Leaders have to model a sense of community. • Ageism - Does age define board member readiness? • Create protocols to follow and review all processes to ensure everything we do supports DEIA. • Go beyond immediate leadership groups. What is the state protocol for identifying and choosing leaders?
The work at the August meeting is the beginning of a CMEA DEIA Initiative. The proposed timeline below outlines the 2020 – 2021 activities related to moving this
Fall Issue 2020
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