Dear Families,

I am writing to update you on our Equity Relaunch. Many thanks to everyone who has participated thus far in any aspect of the Equity Relaunch—survey, meeting, discussion, or just thinking through ideas. We are deeply appreciative of your contribution. If you have not been able to participate thus far, please consider joining us now. Our next in-person meeting will be on Thursday, January 9 th from 7-9 pm.
 
Our last meeting in November generated lots of ideas. The attached document contains all the post-it note ideas from all four parent/teacher and student sessions on the 5-lane proposal for organizing ourselves around equity work at TCS. As usual, the TCS community (adults and young people both) astounds me with their insightful, creative, and compassionate ideas .

To get (or stay!) involved, you could choose one lane or one issue that you’re most interested in, or read the whole document for a more complete view, or don’t read at all and just come on January 9 th to listen and learn.

Please come to our January 9 th meeting ready to pick Lane 1, 2, or 3 (for now) and with your top 3 ideas for actionable items the group can take up in Winter/Spring 2020. These could be things that can be planned and implemented quickly (e.g, a specific event or discussion) or more long-range ideas that you think we should start working on immediately.

On January 9 th , the three lanes will meet separately for an hour. Then we will come together to share each lane’s plans for moving forward from there.

I know everyone is busy, but it is so important that we take up this work together as a community. Even if all you do is read, think, maybe talk with other parents about equity issues, you are contributing to a culture at TCS that values and holds equity as a core and crucial value. That said, please mark your calendars and join us on January 9 th !
In-school Learning
Faculty is dedicating time at our regular faculty meetings to discuss equity issues, including structural considerations such as an earlier start time. Additionally, we will devote half of our January 6 th Institute Day to curriculum—deepening and strengthening our commitment to social justice throughout all aspects of teaching and learning at TCS.

Consistent with our social justice curricular goals, teachers are working hard to make sure students learn from and about diverse people groups, and to build students’ capacity for analyzing and addressing inequities around them. Some recent examples:
  • Our second trimester middle level electives are underway as of this week. The Living History elective, led by Billy Brooks of the Oak Park Public Library Living History project, is full with 16 students who selected it as their first choice elective.
  • Our Pond classrooms enjoyed a field trip to Pilsen this week, visiting the National Museum of Mexican Art and a tortilla factory, looking at many beautiful murals, and eating lunch at a local restaurant.
  • Our Fahrenheit Forest classroom took a field trip last month to the Little Black Pearl Academy where they learned all about glass blowing for their current project.
Equity Page on TCS Website
I am pleased to announce the launch of a new page on our website dedicated to Equity work at TCS. Please check it out! This page will house all minutes/notes from Equity meetings along with other information as well. The hope is to keep you well-informed so that you can participate whenever and however much you are able.

See you on January 9 th ! 


Sincerely,
Ms. Christina E. Martin
She/Her
Director of Curriculum and Instruction
The Children's School
708-484-8033
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Contact Us
ph. 708-484-8033 or visit www.thechildrensschool.info