Sangamon Sun

Ball-Chatham Community Unified School District 5 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging Committee met March 5

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

CRDC Submission - The district’s 21-22 Civil Rights Data Collection has been submitted. This data collection was delayed due to COVID. The CRDc report collects data from the district on a wide range of topics, including the number and type of math, science, and computer science courses, in-school and out-of-school suspensions, acts of violence including shootings and homicides at school, and more.  Each data set is reported using several metrics including gender, race, ELL, IEP, and 504. The next data collection will occur after the 23-24 school year and will be repeated every two years. During this collection, it was determined that there is a better method to complete the report using Skyward reports. 

Holiday Parties - During the holiday parties, the activities should offer students the opportunity to honor their preferred holiday. During holiday parties do all students have the opportunity to have a choice? How can we allow for choice without minimizing choice for others? For example, if students are making a beaded bracelet, do the bead color choices allow all students to make a bracelet that is symbolic to each of them?

Bias within suspensions - Dr. Lamon presented the district’s vaping data for this year. We have had 153 incidents of students caught with vapes - 131 at GHS, 21 at GMS, and 1 at GIS.  The actual number of students who vape is much higher. The vaping data was examined by race.  

All Incidents (Could Contain Multiple Incidents per Student) - 153 incidents

The rate of Black/African American students who have been caught with vapes is disproportionately higher when compared to the overall student population. Next, Dr. Lamon will pull the suspension data that excludes vaping to look at data trends. Additionally, the data on how often the vape detectors are set off will be collected.

Equity of ELL Technology - GHS was originally not provided translator devices because they were not requested. They have been provided since then. Staff are indicating that they do not have enough. DO will work with GHS administrators to see if they are being checked out and if more are needed. Dr. Lamon provided an update on the ELL Coach and ELL Committee.  The district is working towards offering students the opportunity to receive the Seal of Biliteracy.

Racism and Bullying - How do we get all buildings on the same page? Do we need to explore a curriculum to provide consistent content and messaging to students? We will start by reaching out to the DEI Coordinators and educational experts to examine what is available and what is being discussed in the field. 

https://go.boarddocs.com/il/cusd5/Board.nsf/Public