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Burlington School District Equity Statement
In the Burlington School District, equity means meeting the needs of ALL members of our educational community. Educational equity is a districtwide and individual commitment to an assets-based approach defined by personalized support and equitable access to opportunity. In the BSD, we strive to ensure that everyone receives the support needed to develop socially, emotionally, and intellectually inclusive of race, class, ability, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, language, culture, and creed.
The means to achieve the goal of educational equity in our schools includes:
- Actively work to remove the predictability of success or failure that currently correlates with any social, racial or cultural factors.
- Acknowledge and address bias and discrimination that negatively affect our students, their families, and our staff
- Work to dismantle systems of oppression and white supremacy culture in schools.
- Continually examine and re-examine biases to interrupt and replace inequitable systems, practices, policies, and procedures with those that are just and equitable;
- Create inclusive, anti-racist, culturally relevant curriculum and school environments for adults and children;
- Redistribute District resources based on academic, social and economic data to better serve our most marginalized students and families;
- Partner with students, families and community members to build a truly inclusive community where all voices are included
LGBTQ+ Task Force Report Spring 2022
Statement on LGBTQ+ Advocacy
We at the Burlington School District (BSD) stand committed to transforming BSD into a national model for holistic wellness for LGBTQ+ people, youth, and adults. We stand in solidarity with LGBTQ+ students, staff, and community members and believe that schools can truly be safe only when every student is assured access to an education without fear. We stand behind our BSD staff who pursue a safe and supportive environment for all students. We also stand behind our educators who teach an inclusive curriculum that features LGBTQ+ people, history, and events and raises awareness to counter discrimination, stereotypes, bias and harassment.
Equity and Inclusion Data Report 2021
2021 Safety-Task-Force-Final-Report
Summer Racial Justice Academy 2022
What We Are Working On……Fall 2022:
Youth Leadership
- Carrying out and overseeing the implementation of the student recommendations from the Summer Racial Justice Academy 2
- Working in partnership with Up for Learning and the Burlington Community Justice Center to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in suspensions (this includes the work of the Youth and Family Engagement Team as well as EMS/HMS youth RP leadership teams)
- Expanding YPAR (Youth-Participatory-led Action Research) to Horizons and BHS in partnership with EMS YPAR team and UVM
- Create opportunities for youth to be involved in leadership positions including the onboarding of a Office of Equity Student Intern
- Expanding Peer Mediation program to BHS and continuing existing program at EMS to allow for youth to be involved in restorative practice accountability processes with school discipline
Professional Learning
- Work with Truss Leadership Collaborative to provide anti-racism professional development to school leaders
- Work in partnership with the Department of Teaching and Learning to facilitate anti-racism professional development strands for all middle school, high school, paraeducators, early educators, school counselors and Unifed Arts teachers
- Preventative Hazing, Harassment and Bullying work including presentations from the Organization for Social Media Safety to raise awareness and prevent cyberbullying and continuation of Stop the Hate campaigns
- Conduct an Equity Audit in partnership with Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium
- Culturally Responsive Curriculum Audit of American Reading Company (ARC) K-5 new literacy program
Community Connections
- Increase accessibility and transparency of non-discrimination policies on BSD websites and handbooks
- Continue offering Virtual Equity Workshop series to involve families and community members in equity conversations
- Work with parents of the global majority with the continuation of the Black Parents Task force
- Offer a series of community workshops in person to explore contemporary Social Justice issues such as race and LGBTQ+ advocacy
- Work in partnership with Parent University to co-facilitate learning series
Restorative Practices
- Restorative Practice Specialists piloting programs at elementary, middle and high school
- Implementation of the Restorative Code of Conduct to reimagine behavior responses with a restorative lens and transition from traditional punitive responses to Restorative Practices
- Revisiting the Restorative Practices Collaborative to ensure RP is practiced with fidelity and to facilitate learning and resource sharing across teams
- Continue to offer district-wide graduate courses in RP
- Reduce racial and ethnic disparities in discipline and suspension with support from DCF Grant and partnership with Up for Learning and BCJC
Advocacy Work:
- Carrying out and overseeing the implementation of LGBTQ+ Recommendations from Task Force Report
- Pilot creation of Equity Advisors program to follow through with Racial Justice Academy recommendations
- Expand use and documentation of Equity Request Tickets and focus on increasing student use and accessibility
- Work with the Coordinated School Health Team and use the Health Curriculum Analysis Tool to audit BSD’s Health Curriculum and advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusion
- Ongoing fundraising and grant pursuits to create sustainability in programming
