Greetings Thompson School District Students, Families, Staff and Community:
Embedded within the core tenets of our Strive 2025 Strategic Plan is the notion of Equity and equitable practices. In fact, we explicitly call this out in Focus Area #2 — Inclusive and Supportive Culture. While there are a myriad of definitions for what Equity means, personally, I see Equity as the insistence and requirement that each student receives what they need to be successful. Some might refer to this as “Justice.” Others may view this as “Equality.” But at the end of the day, Equity is really about creating a safe and supportive environment where each of our students has access, opportunity and necessary supports within all environments to achieve their full potential. It may be easy to say, well… of course… we should want this for all of our students here in Thompson School District. The reality is, however, that many of our students face challenges and roadblocks that create barriers for achieving this ideal. These barriers manifest themselves in a large array of factors including race, ethnicity, culture, gender, gender identity and expression, disability, socioeconomics, sexuality, mental health and physical health.
Arguably, most of our students probably face at least one or more of these barriers that might prevent them from truly realizing their full potential and abilities. The net effect of these barriers manifests itself in different experiences and outcomes among our student population including: variability in graduation rates, student achievement disparities, variability in participation in extra and cocurricular activities, disproportionality within attendance and discipline data, and on, and on, and on. As a system and as a community, it is important to recognize this, call it out for what it is, and then take deliberate and specific action to begin to disrupt any and all of these barriers and disparities that stand in the way of helping each and every one of our students thrive and persevere in our system.
TSD is committed to taking this on, and we are doing more than just talking about it. In the coming months, the Board of Education will be asked to adopt an Equity Policy that represents these tenets and beliefs. Much has gone into the development of this policy including robust input from staff, students, parents and community members. We have also drawn from our student data, surveys, perception data and focus groups to help guide our policy recommendation. The district has created a director-level position that focuses on Equity within the district. We are embarking on a professional development plan for our 2,100 staff members to address Equity within our system and create systems and processes for directly confronting and creating equitable teaching and learning environments. We are also committed to engaging our community and community partners to join with us not only to learn about our initiatives, but to purposefully work with the community to promote these practices and environments within our schools and our communities.
As your superintendent, I know that this is important and necessary work; I am not afraid to take it on. By insisting on making Equity a priority in TSD, we will recommit to ensuring the best possible education for EACH of our students. This shared commitment and underlying belief will help our students and staff, and will also help to strengthen our community. I call upon all of us to join in our work to continue to make Thompson School District a destination school district.
Sincerely,
Dr. Marc Schaffer
Superintendent of Schools
Thompson School District