Meridian educates global citizens in an equitable, inclusive, and increasingly diverse community. Yaneth Vrentas, Director of Equity and Inclusion yvrentas@meridianschool.edu.
January 25, 2021
Meridian’s approach to its equity and inclusion commitment has evolved throughout the years. This evolution is reflected in our institutional practices, program, professional development, and family engagement. This journey requires challenging ourselves, taking a close look at our systems, and making personal and institutional choices in alignment with our mission and values. Among other actions, after the killing of George Floyd, Meridian sent out a statement of solidarity for Black Lives Matter. It includes specific actions to address affirmation of Black identity and fight systemic racism. One of the ways we plan to do this is by engaging in the national Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action celebrated from February 1-5. The Black Lives Matter at Schools Week of Action is a movement created by educators inspired by, but not formally affiliated with, the Black Lives Matter Global Network. It started in Seattle in 2016 at John Muir Elementary and now is a national movement. The engagement that started with one day of action, evolved to a week of action, and now expanded to a “Year of Purpose” in order to ensure that BLM becomes part of education. BLM at Schools adopted the thirteen guiding principles of the BLM network as teaching points. Laleña Garcia, NY Kindergarten teacher, published a book for elementary school students called What We Believe A Black Lives Matter Principles Activity Book in which she translated the principles to kid-friendly language. In her intro “A Letter to Grown-Ups Talking to Children about Black Lives Mater,” Garcia says that these guiding principles deliberately concentrate on the strengths of Black people and that they provide a framework for a more just society. She also encourages making race, power, and justice regular topics of conversation to enable children to think critically and respond in healthy ways to these conversations. At Meridian, we are using a quote from author and educator Bettina L. Love to inspire our work: “How will we implement anti-racist curriculum that centers the beauty, joy, and resiliency of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people?” Abolitionist Teachers Network This quote implies the intentionality that is required to offer a curriculum that represents a positive and affirming narrative of Black identities, and curriculum that questions systems that perpetuate racism and helps children to develop critical thinking skills to view and change the world. In preparation to our BLM at Schools Week of Action, Jesse Hanopian attended our staff meeting on January 19. Hanopian is an award-winning educator and a leading voice on issues of educational equity and the Black Lives Matter at Schools movement. He is an editor for Rethinking Schools magazine, an author, public speaker, organizer, and Ethnic Studies teacher at Seattle’s Garfield High School. Jesse is the co-editor of the books, Black Lives Matter at School and Teaching for Black Lives among other publications. Meridian faculty
members are integrating lessons and conversations based on the principles with the intention to initiate this engagement and continue beyond the week of action. Furthermore, our faculty and staff are participating in a training on ethnic studies that includes understanding of critical race theory and culturally sustaining pedagogies. In addition to the classroom conversations, we have two guest speakers during the Week of Action. On February 4, at 5 pm, Dr. Joy DeGruy will present a webinar on the Historical Impact of Racism in Present Day America: The Illusion of Inclusion. Please RSVP. This talk will help the participants understand the history of race in the US and how anti-Black racism became the backbone of structural and institutional racism in America. Jesse Hanopian will be our guest speaker for the Friday Morning Meeting on February 5. We also shared with our community the family book club with focus on BLM. We will offer book conversations after the midwinter break.
E&I Padlet under BLM column ‘Black Lives Matter at Schools: a new book on Anti-racist work in education article by The Washington Post What We Believe A Black Lives Matter Principles Activity Book and Teacher guide and author’s website: https://www.rootedkids.org/ about-me Guiding Principles for elementary Book List -The Conscious Kid Elementary List of books with descriptions and age level. https://neaedjustice.org/black-lives-matter-school-resources/ https://www.blacklivesmatteratschool.com/