Tomorrow night the PTO holds a meeting that I encourage every family to make an effort to attend. Lexington Public Schools’ Director of Equity and Student Supports, Johnny Cole, will join us to talk about Cultural Values and Educational Equity. While many white people believe they have no “culture”, that is not the case. Culture is much more than the foods we eat or the clothing we wear that represents our heritage. Culture includes the deeply rooted set of values we live by, teach our children, and expect in our communities. It binds us to others and it can keep us separated from others as well.
We teach children values by what we say and what we do. These values can play a big role in how children approach learning. Some values are defined by one’s culture while others come from one’s identity. We all want those learned values to help students thrive in their academic achievement and social development at home and at school. During this PTO meeting, we will engage in collaborative learning and discussions to explore these topics with parents, caregivers, and staff members.
For us to move forward and continue to grow as a school it is critical that we all examine our own culture as well as seek to more deeply understand the cultures of those in our community. Hastings teachers are working on this aspect of relationship building, and I invite you to join the conversation tomorrow night at 7pm on Zoom.
Join at this link: Zoom Meeting
Louise Lipsitz