District-Wide Meeting Focuses on Diversity

All of the schools in the Acalanes Union High School District came together virtually for a district-wide diversity meeting on February 19.

Pre-pandemic, all of the sites would convene to talk about diversity issues and share ideas monthly. All students, administrators, or teachers were welcome.

As distance learning began and teachers focused on creating equity-based lessons in Academy Cohort, meetings got lost in the shuffle of changes that have taken place over the past year.

The February 19 meeting focused on Black History Month, sharing experiences about race in our community, and making sure that Ethnic Studies courses move forward at all high schools.

“I think it’s important to ensure that the broader community of our whole school district is on the same page when it comes to issues of diversity and equity. It’s beneficial to share ideas so each campus can maximize our impact on our own respective cities/communitie,” said senior ASB President Sophie Webster.

“1 of the best parts of this is that students are getting to hear other students. So often we think that the way things are at school is the way it is. It gives students the ideas to do things differently,” said Leadership advisor Lindsay Webb-Peploe.

The meeting was hosted by Campolindo and facilitated by seniors Jacqueline Artiaga and Amia Bonilla, the ASB Commissioners of Diversity.

“There are a lot of driven students in our district who are more than willing to put in the work and learn in order to make our communities more equitable and inclusive. Supporting every student and the various cultures/lives that our students represent means more than just acceptance. It means working to expose the systemic biases in our communities and working to shift our understanding of both our history and our present,” said Webster.