Diversity was the topic for District 203’s most recent Focus 203 Community Engagement Session.
“We’ve been doing work around diversity and inclusion for a while now. But now we have a renewed focus specifically on that work,” said Dr. Rakeda Leaks, the district’s executive director of Diversity and Inclusion. “So it was important for the community to hear about the efforts that we’ve made to work toward doing more in regards to diversity and inclusion. And to get their feedback and just engage the community to further that discussion to make sure we’re on the right path.”
Four Priorities for Inclusion
Dr. Leaks discussed four priority areas the district is currently focusing on.
Those include examining hiring practices to have a more diverse workforce, looking at systemic inequities to see how they contribute to learning gaps, and holding a district-wide implicit bias training.
“Another is curriculum review,” she added. “So we’ll have a chance to look at what we’re teaching students and how we’re teaching them. [Also] making sure that it’s inclusive of diverse perspectives and experiences as well as representative of the variety of cultures that we have in our district.”
More on the Session
After hearing from speakers, attendees worked in groups to give their input for ways 203 can be more inclusive.
If you missed this Focus 203 session you can find the full presentation on the district website.
Naperville News 17’s Christine Lena reports.
