Great Valley SD official outlines progress on three-year equity plan

Dr. Joanna Wexler, assistant superintendent for Great Valley School District, provided an update on the district’s three-year equity plan, saying building-based teams, student leadership training and planned professional learning aim to strengthen inclusive school culture after the plan’s approval in November 2023.

Wexler said building-based equity teams have been formed and are working with consultant Dr. Holland Sims to develop a shared vision for inclusion and belonging across schools. "We started organizing building based Equity teams and working with our consultant Dr Holland Sims," she said, noting the work involves both student and adult audiences.

At the student level, Wexler said high school students from Great Valley joined peers from other schools for leadership training last spring focused on inclusion and belonging. That learning culminated in a student project and a cultural celebration held at the end of May. Wexler said the first-year group also attended a Diversity University and Equity Consortium forum and invited visiting speakers to Great Valley to teach about individual experiences and how they can impact school culture.

Wexler described how student clubs collaborated to plan events and secure an outside speaker for a school-wide program intended to help students learn more about one another’s cultures and identities. "Events like this are super important in letting our student body understand just who we have represented here at the high school," she said, adding many students expressed interest in presenting their own cultures next year.

On the staff side, she said building teams designed content for faculty that reviewed policy definitions and created opportunities for self-reflection. "Moving into this fall, the teams have been working on a more in-depth professional learning opportunity to address the concept of dignity, understanding dignity distortions and how to respond to them," Wexler said.

Wexler said the teacher- and student-focused work responds to incidents the district has observed. "We recognize that prejudices and more serious hate speech have been occurring in our schools; we feel this is a critical first step in not only raising awareness but combating these types of acts," she said.

She said the district will continue implementing the plan, engage additional members of the school community and keep families informed through videos and other updates.

The update did not include a timeline for completion of all plan components, dollar amounts for programming, or external funding sources; those details were not specified in the presentation.