Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

 

 

Dear Mercer Island Parents and Community Members,

 

Welcome back to school! We hope that you and your families are excited for the 2023-24 school year ahead!

 

First, we would be remiss in not recognizing that these continue to be challenging times for many parents, teachers, and students. We especially want to acknowledge the disparate impact the pandemic is having on families and students of color. Consistent with our commitment to equity, we are working to advocate and support the entire Mercer Island community to stay diligent in its prevention practices during this pandemic to help MISD move forward with its plan for a safe return to in-person learning.

 

Now, we would like to take this opportunity to provide an update on the various Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives that are being led by our PTA and other partners across the island. We know that DEI is a subject that many of you are passionate about, so we are pleased that there is so much commitment and activity to report. And, we hope that you are inspired to get involved or continue your involvement.

 

DEI Leadership

We are grateful to the PTA Council for establishing the new VP DEI positions at the council level again this year, like last year.

 

We are thrilled to announce the names of the Vice Presidents of DEI and contact information for each local PTA unit are provided below, with encouragement for you to reach out to us and your local VPs to share any questions, concerns, and recommendations you may have. 

 

PTA Council: Cristina Martinez, Vivian Zhou, Robin Li

diversity@miptacouncil.org

 

Mercer Island High School: Jaymee Lundin, Angela Bahng

diversity@mihsptsa.org

 

Islander Middle School: Cathy Chen, Yen-Ling Lee

diversity@imsptsa.org

 

Island Park: Tamar Heyman

diversity@islandparkpta.org

 

Northwood: Shilpa Allimatti, Caroline Muroki Caraballo

diversity@northwoodowlspta.org

 

West Mercer: Mellissa Hill

diversity@westmercerpta.org 

 

Lakeridge: Zhonghuan (Sunny) Sun

dei@lakeridgepta.org

 

Mercer Island Preschool Association

MIPA@mercerislandpreschoolassociation.org

 

DEI Priorities

Over the past year, a dedicated committee comprised of the above PTA DEI Vice Presidents and other committed community members have been meeting regularly to create a mission statement and develop strategic initiatives for PTA DEI efforts on Mercer Island.

 

At the council level, we have established the following statement to guide our work for the remaining school year and to ensure that we are making progress as a community in our shared goals. 

 

The strategic priority for the PTA Council DEI committee is as follows:

 

Foster and embrace diversity, inclusiveness, and equity with a focus on respect and acceptance of every student and their family so they can be unencumbered in reaching their fullest potential, in an effort to dismantle institutional racism and other structural inequities.

 

As a PTA Council DEI committee, we have also identified the following as key DEI issues:

• Community Outreach
• DEI FAQs
• Student Engagement
• Demographic Data Collection
• Information Management  

Each of the individual PTA local units (i.e., each MI school) is also moving forward on creating mission and vision statements to guide their school's unique efforts in increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

 

Town hall meetings

To inform this work, we are working to schedule a series of “town hall meetings” that will invite open discussion on issues of race and diversity. A recent session led by the Northwood PTA on "How to talk about race with your kids" was successfully launched earlier in January, and we hope to help create a safe space for similar discussions at all of the schools. If you are interested in hosting a community listening session or have ideas about this, please do reach out to us or to any of your local DEI VPs. 

 

increasing cultural competency

In addition, we are working with a variety of experts and community members to increase cultural competency on critical issues facing our community. To that end, a number of MISD staff participated in DEI training with Heather Hackman to learn about DEI tools that can be used within Mercer Island School District. Lakerdige PTA is looking for lead volunteers to hold seminars or conferences with families and students to find the best way to broaden the use of the DEI tools. If interested, contact dei@lakerdigepta.org.

 

At Lakeridge Elementary, we have held a Heritage Night event as well as shared DEI related readings with child friendly books that help broaden understanding of people of other cultures and disabilities (i.e. Nina Simone and All the Way to the Top). We plan to have additional events to publish as already made available by the King County Library System as well as events or material that share learnings from the recent DEI training offered to select staff from all schools in the district.

 

At a regional level, our committee members have also had the privilege to participate in DEI meetings with other PTAs in Washington. Most recently, these regional DEI roundtables have shed light on the need to partner with and advocate for inclusivity for all students, particularly those with special needs.

 

recruiting pta council leadership

Each year, the PTA Council seeks parent volunteers to serve in leadership positions on the PTA Council. We are currently recruiting interested candidates, with our goal being to recommend individuals with a commitment to DEI and/or who represent underrepresented groups in our community. Please let us know if you may be interested.

valued partnerships

Finally, we close by highlighting the importance of partnerships with the many dedicated organizations and groups on the island, particularly with the Mercer Island School District, in moving closer to meeting our shared DEI goals. 

The following graphic created by MISD demonstrates the many DEI efforts taking place on Mercer Island by these partners; and our hope is to continue to collaborate closely and expand our effectiveness by not working in isolation. We recognize that this kind of work cannot be successfully done alone.

 

 

 

We welcome your input and questions on any of our current initiatives and questions you may have on getting involved. 

 

 

OTHER DEI WORK