District to hold regional racial and educational justice panels and expand classroom workshops, official says
Summary
Dr. Ava Thomas told the Northshore board the committee will host four regional community panels at high schools and collaborate with three schools to design preschool—12 workshops on identity, empathy and responses to microaggressions; student feedback will help shape materials.
Dr. Ava Thomas, executive director of organizational change and student advancement, gave a quarterly update on the district—s racial and educational justice work, saying the committee will host four regional community panels and is designing preschool-through-12th-grade workshops on identity, empathy and microaggressions.
—This year, the Racial and Educational Justice Committee is planning to host four community panels focused on topics connected to racial and educational justice and months of celebration,— Thomas told the board, adding that panels will be regionalized and held at high schools to broaden access. She said the committee is collaborating with three schools to co-design workshops that will be resources for those schools after the year ends and emphasized that students will provide feedback before materials are shared.
Thomas said the work builds on prior one-off workshops and is intended to bring the conversations into school communities rather than relying on families to travel across the district. Board members thanked Thomas and noted the department—s progress in moving curriculum and staff development toward classroom-level implementation.
