Principal Ellen Smith and teachers Sally Donnelly, Amy Juengst, Beth Sanderson, and Crystal Moore presented at National Council of the Teaching of English conference in November 2021. Here is their presentation:
Empowering Teachers and Students: Action Steps to Anti-racist Teaching
Today’s classrooms rest on centuries of oppressive design. Diversifying your library is not enough. Join five educators as they lay out an equity action plan. Learn about steps they are taking to gain administrative support, undertake meaningful professional development, discover mentor texts, and rethink curriculum. Participants will leave with tools to support equity-based classroom decisions.
Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) Intersectional Social Justice Collaborative invites both middle and high school students from the U.S. to meet monthly to participate in an integrated social justice youth leadership development experience, culminating in a network-wide social justice action research fair at the end of the program.
A student from each middle and high school in APS participated in this social justice collaborative, where various topics were discussed each month. The group met from October to April. The last session schools and/ or districts presented their Equity Action Plan. 
APS students decided to work collaboratively as a district for their project, entitled APS Student Collaborative Equity Action Plan. The 2 middle school students from Dorothy Hamm designed the website. All students contributed information for the site. The homepage provides the overall scope of the project along with resources. The feedback page provides survey links for teachers and students to give feedback on various topics and ways for our district to improve. There is also a video to provide a student perspective. To view APS Student Collaborative Equity Action Plan click the link.
RESOURCES
Helpful resources during traumatic events:
- National Association of School Psychologists Talking to Children about Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers
- American Psychological Association: Helping your children manage distress in the aftermath of a shooting
- Common Sense Media: How to Talk to Kids About School Shooting
- The National Child Traumatic Stress Network: Age-Related Reactions to a Traumatic Event
Other resources for traumatic events provided by our partners at The Anti-Defamation League:
- Empowering Young People in the Aftermath of Hate
- Helping Students Make Sense of News Stories about Bias and Injustice
- Table Talk: Gun Violence and Mass Shootings
- Table Talk: Propaganda, Extremism and Online Recruitment Tactics
Here are some resources for GSA materials/guidance:
