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© 2023 Association of California School Administrators
Safe and inclusive schools
Supporting school communities inside and outside of the classroom
Safe and inclusive schools
Supporting school communities inside and outside of the classroom
May | June 2023
Building safe spaces
Gone are the days of worrying only about grades or whether your team will win the next game. Instead, demands on students’ well-being have added another dimension to schooling. It is now incredibly important to be able to support and deal with the growing concerns that students bring to school with them every day.
By Marco Villegas, Virginia Kelsen and Dora Soto-Delgado
Authentic models of inclusion
To work towards developing positive and trusting relationships with our students and parents, as well as ensuring that families from diverse and marginalized backgrounds have equitable access to participate in their child’s Special Education program, we need our schools to be true, authentic models of inclusion.
By Kristin Vogel-Campbell
There is more work to do
Data from four recent surveys provide a snapshot of how LGBTQIA+ students experience their school environments. As site and district leaders, it is our duty and responsibility to ensure each and every student feels valued, respected, motivated and supported to become successful and reach their potential. What are some steps that may be taken to develop more inclusive experiences for our LGBTQ+ students?
By Michael Tapia
United in inclusion
True inclusion is that sense of belonging that resonates without being called out. You just feel it. It is being comfortable to be your natural self. It is just being accepted so that you thrive. What allows a child to feel they belong in a classroom, on a campus, in school? How does this magic happen?
By Patty Metheny
Finding our focus
Hacienda La Puente Unified School District established a goal to implement an Ethnic Studies course in the 2022-23 school year and integrate and embed Ethnic Studies into all curriculum TK-12. Using the momentum from within our district and the state, it was time to move from a small committee to all of us doing the work together.
By Mark Anderson and Martha Calderon
From gatekeeper to ally
Whether we’re standing in front of a classroom, behind the principal’s desk, or in a hidden corner of the central office, we bear witness to the myriad ways that the system can make our professional preparation seem inadequate and irrelevant. After years of service, small injustices come to seem routine, and we can become inured to even the largest systemic failings.
By Eddie Scruggs Smith and K. Kaaekuahiwi
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