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Diversity, Inclusivity, and Racial Equity

Since the 2020-2021 school year, the Highland Central School District Diversity, Inclusion, and Racial Equity Committee (DIREC) has served to identify and address issues around equity and inclusion in Highland Schools. Consisting of students, parents, community members, the committee meets quarterly to weigh in on building, district, and board-level decisions through an equity lens.

If you are interested in joining the HCSD DIRECommittee, please reach out to our DEI Liaison, Harriett Meyer.

Mission

The mission of the Highland Central School District Diversity, Inclusivity, and Racial Equity Committee is to identify and disrupt systemic barriers, eliminate disparities based on student and family characteristics, and create a safe school climate where all students feel safe and can thrive.

Vision

The Highland Central School District aspires to:
  • Confront bias and bigotry with firmness and clarity.
  • Value diversity. Present many stories and perspectives.
  • Use an equity lens to approach curriculum content, as well as learning modalities and assessments.
  • Furnish welcoming and student-centered physical spaces. Reflect student identities and celebrate multiculturalism in the school environment. Represent all types of families and experiences in books and materials in the classroom, libraries, and on the curriculum.
  • Build comfort having and facilitating difficult conversations about power, privilege, identity, and society.
  • Empower students to speak up about inequities.
  • Recruit and retain a faculty that is reflective of an increasingly diverse student body.

 

Initiatives

In 2023, the HCSD Board of Education passed Board Policy 3430, prioritizing Culturally Responsive Sustaining Educational Practices in both curriculum and disciplinary practices. The Policy also lays out annual equity reporting, collecting and monitoring measures of educational achievement as well as disciplinary referral data, analyzing disparate outcomes for student demographic groups.

HCSD contracts with Panorama Education for an annual survey of all stakeholders (families, students, and staff) that monitors district climate and culture, student sense of belonging, and similar criteria, as well as student’s feelings about equity and inclusion in the district.

Reporting

Equity Concerns?

Required

Whatever your stakeholder role (student, family, staff member) we want to hear from you with any concerns, questions, or ideas about fairness in school. 

If you'd like a response, please include your email here.

Student Artwork

Student artwork of hands holding one another
Student artwork of diverse people standing together
Student artwork of people working together