In 2020, the Duanesburg Central School District and members of the district’s Board of Education set forth a strategic plan called “DCS Forward,” which prioritized improving school culture so that staff and students feel safe, welcomed, and included as well as creating an environment where each child has access to the resources they need to be successful.
As part of the DCS Forward initiative, the Board of Education’s Policy committee has presented a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy for the Board’s consideration at the most recent monthly Board of Education meeting held on December 14.
“Before I joined the Duanesburg district in 2020, staff had already identified school culture as something that needed to be improved,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. James Niedermeier said. “Some people may not think that equity work is necessary in a somewhat racially homogeneous district like Duanesburg, but differences between people exist everywhere you look.”
“Equity work goes far beyond race and religion to tackle less visible diversity like socio-economic status, lack of internet access, learning abilities, hunger and malnutrition, students without permanent homes and students who come from abusive or unstable homes,” Niedermeier added. “Every student deserves to feel comfortable in their school community and it is our job to foster a caring and inclusive environment that facilitates success,” he added.
District administrators and staff have participated in a number of professional development sessions over the past six months with Generation Ready to help them learn how they can help bring about positive change in the school community, and ultimately be examples for their students to follow.
Last week, students in grades 6-12 participated in an interactive series of assemblies hosted by Michele Fonda of New Choices Recovery Center, with assistance from the DCS counseling team, including Kristin Mills, peer leader and student assistance counselor at the Jr./Sr. high school, and guidance counselors Kristina Goebel and Kelly Houghtaling. Separate assemblies were given for each grade level, to encourage audience participation and assure age-appropriate content and conversation.
The series of assemblies was not the district’s first effort to include the student body in this initiative. Last year, students in the Jr./Sr. High School participated in PBIS activities designed to define equity and identity and hosted a virtual equity summit attended by students from around the region, and area experts, as well as Sen. Michelle Hinchey. These recent assemblies addressed the concepts of bias and stereotypes to help students understand that sometimes without even meaning to, their words and actions can be hurtful to others.
“The impetus in launching this series of student assemblies now, was the fact that there weren’t just allegations about racist comments in our schools, there were corroborated situations where students admitted to saying racist things,” Niedermeier said. “We simply cannot allow that behavior to continue and it is our responsibility to do what we can to try and address it internally.”
DCS is not alone in this important work. The New York State Board of Regents recently launched an initiative to advance DEI education in schools across the state. School districts in the Capital Region are all at various stages in their equity work, but the superintendents of the region and their Boards of Education have all agreed to incorporate this important work into their school communities and have each signed their name to an Equity Statement of Commitment, which can be found on the DCS website.
“I am proud to take on this very important work at DCS,” Niedermeier said. “I know that we can help Duanesburg become safe, welcoming, and inclusive for all of our students.”