Bias Incident Response: At the Oct. 20 Corvallis School Board meeting, information was shared about the updated bias incident response process for the Corvallis School District, developed by Melissa Harder, Assistant Superintendent, and Marcianne Rivero-Koetje, Multilingual Programs and
Equity Coordinator. The process was actively shaped by listening to and incorporating students’ concerns – which included feeling unsafe to report incidents, as well as a lack of faith that school leaders would take bias incidents seriously and respond to them appropriately – and input on what needed to change.
The new process prioritizes accessibility, efficiency, and safety of bias incident reporting for students, parents, and community members, allowing them to file a report – in English or in Spanish – online, anonymously or with their name included. There are also efforts to make this form more visible to students to let them know this is a resource that is available to them, and something that puts their needs at the center and reminds them how powerful their voices are
Board Co-Vice Chair Luhui Whitebear, who serves on the Bias Incident Response Team at Oregon State University, was credited as an essential part of this work.
“I was thinking about how the [school] renaming process became so much more than what I envisioned, and I was thinking how last year when SAFE students spoke with some of our Board members about their experiences and things that needed to change – again, so much more than I envisioned,” said Board Chair Sarah Finger McDonald. “What I appreciate from what you’ve said tonight and from seeing the report is that obviously we’re fulfilling a need, and we’re doing so in a way that’s making an impact right away, and then taking the next step and seeing how the results of that trickle down, actively supporting students and making them feel safer.”
“When I think of Goal 2 for this district, Equitable Systems, this is a sterling example of that,” said Board Member Vince Adams. “I’m deeply appreciative of how this system that you’ve created touches all the way from the board room, all the way through district staff, down to buildings, down to classrooms, to kids, and out to families. It truly is a systematic change, and the reality is that what we’re fighting is systematic bias, and you’ve created a wonderful response to that.”
Parents’ Right to Education: Though not part of the meeting, board members recently received a draft proclamation for the Corvallis School District to recognize November as “Parents’ Rights in Education Month” from former school board candidate Ginger Schudel Larcom, the conservative opponent to Board Co-Vice Chair Shauna Tominey.
Larcom, whose former campaign opposed critical race theory, anti-racist curricula, and comprehensive sex education, writes in the draft that declaring November as Parents’ Rights in Education Month would affirm “the constitutional right of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children” in the Corvallis School District. It has not been included in the agenda for this week’s school board meeting, set to take place on Thursday, Nov. 3, at 6:30 p.m.
By Advocate Staff
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