By WMBD-TV
NORMAL – A student group promoting equity, inclusion and diversity held a presentation at the Unit 5 Board of Education meeting on Wednesday.
Named SEAAT for “Student Equity Advisory & Action Team”, the group is comprised of grade-school and high-school students and led by Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Dr. Shelvin.
Ella Terveer, an 8th Grader at Parkside Junior Highschool explained, “We meet every quarter via Google Meets, we meet for 90 minutes and we share thoughts about our school. At the end of every year, we have an in-person meeting.”
She continued, “During these meetings, we allow students to express their thoughts, concerns and ideas about themselves and feelings towards their school. We encourage students to express their thoughts and concerns regarding emotional learning, race, assuring them that their feedback will seriously incorporated into ongoing efforts to create a more supportive and equitable school community.”
During the presentation, a “Jam Board” was shown with quotes from the team discussing how other students could feel more included and validated.
Several examples from the Jam Board include:
- “People say a lot of racial comments in the hallway. There are fights in the hallways and all teachers do is right them up and tell them stop but that clearly isn’t working”
- “Special Education students could be in included in more things”
- “I noticed that many students who have attention and impulse control issues are unfairly picked on by teachers. I think we need to work on better accommodating neurodivergent students, because I’ve noticed that many of my classmates do not get the help they need to succeed”
- “Providing more access to honors and AP classes to students of color”
The presentation concluded with a call for increased social awareness and address the concerns about student motivation.
Superintendent Kristen Weikle said that SEATT has been around for about 3 years now, and that is has been a great way for students to speak out about what they would like to see change in their schools.
The board also heard a presentation from Cropper GIS about a study done on the district’s school buildings’ capacity.
Weikle said it’s important to have data behind what the true capacity is behind every school building in the district.
“It just kind of helps us look at what buildings do we have space or room to absorb more students if needed. And that’s really important because, as a district, we’re adding portables to several buildings next year because we’re out of space,” she said.
Portables refers to portable classrooms, which are useful for overcrowded schools. However, there are mixed opinions on whether they are long-term solutions.
A school’s true capacity depends on a few factors. For example, Weikle said that if a school with 300 students has special education or dual-language programs, they have a higher capacity than a school with 300 students and no special programs.
The numbers were generally good, but Weikle said that they will have to look at options for the two high schools, Normal West and Normal Community. She said one is above capacity and the other is nearing full capacity.
