Submitted by: Susannah Flicker

In preparation for our discussion during this meeting we read the first section of the book, Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad. I prepared a slideshow of some of the key terms and concepts and reflective prompts that stood out to me. At the end of our discussion of the slides, I posed the questions to the department:

How can we bring these ideas and questions to our work as individual learning specialists?

How can we affect change as a department and in the institution to better support and include BIPOC?

One topic that was brought up as a relevant area of focus for our department was to work on how we partner with families, particularly when students are struggling to be successful in our school and require additional support. We all feel a need to better understand why trust is often not established, and the ways in which race and class impact these relationships. We all feel that there is a need to explore this both as individual practitioners and from the institutional/structural perspective.

We will continue to read sections of the book, and in our next meeting, will work on identifying areas of change and inquiry we want to focus on. I will be following up with all members of the department before winter break to get specifics from them before our meeting in January.