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MSDWT Board Presents Statement at Board Meeting
This statement defines the Board’s philosophy regarding equality and equity.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (February 27, 2015) – Recently at the regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting, the MSD of Washington Township School Board, voted to approve an Equality and Equity Policy. This policy, drafted by the Board, reaffirms the District’s continuing commitment to equality and equity in the classroom as well as its business arrangements. As Board President Jay Hill observed, this policy is to make public “the mind” of the Board and to ensure that current and future actions taken by the district are viewed through the lens of equity and equality.
Statement of Philosophy – Equality and Equity
MSD Washington Township continues to be a culturally, religiously and racially diverse school district. Our students have continued to achieve at a high level due in part to the hard work, over the course of many years, of the faculty and staff, the administration, and the Board of Education in seeking to eliminate barriers to student development. In an effort to continue to provide an exceptional education for all students, it is the desire of the Board of Education to directly address and define the Board’s commitment to issues of equality and equity in the District’s curriculum, instruction, and educational programming.
The Board of Education believes that it is critical to the District’s mission that we continue to focus on the elimination of barriers to student development to ensure that all students, regardless of their socio-economic status, race, gender, sexual orientation/identity, disability, or religious belief are provided the opportunity to achieve and develop at their highest level. The Board of Education believes that accomplishing this goal requires that all stakeholders—parents and guardians, students, administrators, faculty and staff, District-affiliated educational organizations, and the Board of Education – commit themselves to recognizing and positively embracing the rich opportunities that cultural diversity brings to the District.
The Board of Education is dedicated:
1) to requiring and continuing processes that evaluate District policies, curriculum, instruction, and educational programming using a lens of equality and equity;
2) to using the outcomes of the above-referenced evaluative processes to determine if we as a District are falling short in providing equal and equitable educational opportunities for all students, and when necessary to determine the most effective, efficient, and cost-effective manner of meeting our important goals in this regard;
3) to carefully study District policies, curriculum, instruction, procedures and programs to ensure that those which present barriers to the full development of each student, or do not clearly state the Board’s commitment to educational equality and equity among all stakeholders are carefully studied, and when necessary revised or eliminated;
4.) to providing and allocating, to the highest degree possible and reasonable, the resources necessary to achieve and support the full incorporation of International Baccalaureate (IB) in all of our schools in the belief that this curricular and instructional program is designed with equality and equity for all students in mind and that IB will best promote the achievement of the District’s educational goals.
Adopted 02/25/15
