In recognition and celebration of Black History Month, Westerville City Schools is starting a month-long video series in February where WCS families and community members can learn alongside educators on issues around race, diversity, equity and inclusion.
At the start of the school year, the district hosted a professional development day for staff that covered a wide range of topics including a deep dive on equity. Researchers, historians, professors, diversity practitioners led workshops for Westerville educators. Those workshops have been recorded and as part of the video series, they will be shared with the community.
“We believe there is no better time than right now to be more transparent by sharing our equity work and now you can come along with us and learn together,” said Cynthia DeVese, coordinator of the district’s Educational Equity office.
The schedule of the videos include:
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Feb. 1 - “Defying Definition: A glossary of Terms for Discussing Race, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion” with Tei Street, a national motivational speaker, author, trainer and educational consultant.
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Feb. 8 - “Confronting Hard Histories: Teaching and Talking about Race and Racism in the Classroom” with Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, an associate professor of history at Ohio State University. He teaches courses on the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement.
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Feb. 15 - “The Making of Metropolitan Inequalities: The Formation of Metropolitan Space” with Glennon Sweeney, senior research associate with the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University.
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Feb. 22 - “When They (Fail) to See Us: Culturally Relevant Mentoring for Black Girls” with Dr. Lori Patton Davis, professor and chair of the Department of Educational Studies at Ohio State’s College of Education and Human Ecology.
Following each video, community members can complete a questionnaire, sharing their thoughts on the workshop, what they learned from the speaker and what they would like to further explore.
More information will be on the district's website on Monday, Feb. 1.