By Lisa Rice
The Warwick Valley Central School Board welcomed Dr. Gess LeBlanc, Associate Professor of Developmental and Educational Psychology at Hunter College to the regular meeting held virtually on Thurs., Mar. 4 to discuss culturally inclusive education. A Dutchess County resident, Dr. LeBlanc has worked with other school districts in Orange and neighboring counties to assess and advance cultural equity in the school climate.
“I prepare people to be teachers, school leaders and counselors, primarily school counselors and mental health counselors,” Dr. LeBlanc said. He stated that it is important to realize that many students and their families are dealing with stress and trauma right now and how the district must be a support system for all families and give everyone a feeling of connectedness.
“When I think about equity work, that’s the big goal that I always use,” he continued. “Equity is large and so there may be a number of different factors that may be influencing why certain children and their families don’t feel a level of connectedness and a level of support; but it’s critical that the big goal of this work be to ensure that all of our children and families, regardless of background, feel that level of connectedness and support.”
Raise Awareness & Knowledge
He commended the district on the number of extracurricular activities provided given the current pandemic restrictions. He said that schools should be centers of healing and there should be psychologically safe spaces as well as physically safe spaces for students.
“The first aspect of the work that I see is really to raise our awareness,” he said. “I realize that the reason I am here is because some concerns have been brought forward and raised. I think it is critically important for us to think strategically about how to advance equity work. That takes time, it takes inclusivity, and it takes data collection.”
“Another aspect of our work in terms of raising our awareness, is also raising our knowledge,” he said, adding that he could provide workshops and similar activities for faculty and staff.
As a getting-to-know-you exercise, Dr. LeBlanc suggested the board ask him questions. Superintendent Dr. David Leach asked how they would ensure that focus groups are representative; Dr. LeBlanc said that the district putting a call out to the community for multiple voices to participate in focus groups by way of a letter works better than the district identifying representatives. He said that better data would be collected with a “wider net.”
Board member Denise Ginley asked how to help make sure teachers are not fearful that these efforts will add to the already heavy burden of work they already handle. LeBlanc said that the first phase will be to establish a committee, probably by the end of the academic year. He said he starts with the perspective that wonderful things are already happening in the district. There needs to be an assessment done on where changes need to be made to move forward. Once broad goals are established, subcommittees will be formed to identify specific workstreams and eventually implement change.
At the end of the meeting, eleven public comments were read, all in response to a recent email sent out by Dr. Leach in which he stated that the district will “continue meaningful conversations about equity, diversity and inclusion.” While the majority of the comments were in support of the action, a couple expressed concern for the school implementing radical and/or political stances in the classroom.