Kent School District
Kent, Washington

Diversity Task Force II Meeting Minutes

October 19, 1999

Purpose: The DTFII shall focus primarily on the recommendations of the first diversity task force, should study diversity issues of the district, analyze and evaluate the district’s efforts relative to diversity, and make recommendations to the superintendent on matters related to diversity.

Members present: Terry Cheshire; Fred Davis; Norman Fowler; Barbara Grohe, cochair; Arthur Harvey, cochair; Lynda Flores Llavore; Shilpa Nagaraja; Oleg Pynda; John Walker; Shal Walker; Harry Williams III; and Renée Penman, recorder.

Guests present: Monique Beane, multicultural education TOSA; Gwen Dupree, assistant superintendent for secondary education.

Next Meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for 7:00-9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 16, 1999, in the Rainier room.

Welcome

Barbara Grohe opened the meeting and asked members to introduce themselves by using a descriptive adjective that begins with the same letter as their first name.

Barb welcomed and introduced new student member Shilpa Nagaraja from Kentridge High School.

Debrief of Board Presentation

Arthur Harvey and Norman Fowler were thanked for doing such a great job in presenting the goals and achievements to the Board of Directors on October 13, 1999. Barb shared that the board was impressed with the outline that the task force developed. The task force will decide at a future meeting when it will present the 1999-2000 accomplishments to the board &emdash; either in the spring or next fall.

Amendment of Bylaws

When the bylaws were amended to expand the membership of the DTFII to 17 members, the number needed for a quorum should also have been amended. A motion was made and seconded to increase the number of members present in order to have a quorum from seven to nine. A copy of the adopted bylaws will be sent with the minutes of this meeting (attached).

Clarification of student membership was made. In order for every high school to be represented at all meetings, each high school will have one primary student representative and one backup. The two students from each school will count as one member. Gwen Dupree will work with high school principals to select their two student members.

City of Kent Diversity Group

Gwen Dupree provided a brief overview of the city of Kent’s diversity group. KSD’s DTFII was invited to attend the city’s diversity meeting to provide input regarding such things as where the group needs improvement, what should it be doing that it is not doing, what should it do in the future, etc.

The city’s diversity group provided a workshop for all city staff, and Gwen is working on inviting the same presenter to provide a workshop for KSD’s management team. Gwen will draft a letter inviting the city’s diversity group to attend the January 18, 2000, DTFII meeting. Once the invitation has been accepted, Arthur will make arrangements to meet with the chair of the city’s task force to develop the agenda for that meeting.

Institute on Disproportionate Representation

Barb distributed information regarding a conference addressing the knowledge base and current practices in assessment and placement of students who are culturally and/or linguistically diverse. If the district does not already have plans to send someone to this conference (Gwen will check with instructional services and student services), it was agreed that someone from the DTFII should attend. Terry Cheshire tentatively volunteered. Gwen will also check the web site for additional information about the conference and inquire as to whether this particular part of the conference will be offered at any other site.

T.R.O.O.P. (Total Respect of Other People)

Fred Davis distributed material outlining the Total Respect of Other People Association and answered questions about the agency. Fred is currently working on projects at Kentridge and Sequoia and made a presentation at Mattson. Anyone wishing to attend the "Part of the Solution" fall conference on November 4, 1999, should contact Fred at 425-277-8248 for registration information.

Subcommittees

At the last meeting, each DTFII member was asked to determine a first- and second-choice goal subcommittee on which he/she would serve. Following is the list of goals and names of members for each subcommittee:

  • Questions from the Voice Poll® Question Pool were given to subcommittee members present. Several questions will be submitted to Renée for potential use in the telephone survey. The closing notation of the survey should include where and when a report of the results will be made available. A draft survey will be presented to the DTFII at the next meeting.
    •
  • Norman and John will contact Becky Hanks, community connections, to discuss marketing strategies. One suggestion was to put brochures in the Welcome rooms at elementary schools.
    •
  • Monique described the cultural snapshots as a panel of folks with diverse backgrounds talking to school students, parents, and staff about their own school and life experiences. Due to the turnover in KSD’s principalships in the past couple of years, it was suggested that the Cultural Snapshot program be presented to the management team members in order for them to be aware of the program and its value.
    •
  • Areas to be covered include: enrollment in honors and advance placement courses, discipline, grade point averages, student achievement and testing, and high expectations for all students.
    •
  • Once the subcommittee has a list of resources, a communication plan will be developed.

    Attached is each subcommittee’s report on the work accomplished at tonight’s meeting.

    •

    December Meeting

    The task force cancelled its formal December meeting. Each subcommittee will decide whether or not to meet in December.

    Agenda for next meeting

    Sharing of Subcommittee Work

    District Diversity Data

    rp

    Enclosures: Subcommittee reports

    Amended Bylaws

    Enclosures for members not present:

    T.R.O.O.P.

    Institute on Disproportionate Representation

    The Wing Luke Asian Museum

    c: School Board

    Steve Siera