Following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others, and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, the BEST/VTPBIS State Team has become acutely aware of our responsibility to interrupt racism by disrupting and addressing issues of inequity, hate, and bias in schools. We honor the lives and contributions of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color and acknowledge the painful history and ongoing impact of colonialism, enslavement, discrimination, and injustice. We are committed to centering equity and justice within our work.
We acknowledge that when implementing PBIS without fidelity and without intentionally centering equity, unintended acts of oppression and harm can occur. VTPBIS is diligently engaged in strengthening and transforming our systems and practices to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion to achieve equitable outcomes for all students.
You can find our Equity Action Plan below, our evolving Equity Resources here, and our land acknowledgement page here.
VTPBIS Equity Action Plan for 2021-2022:
- Continue VTPBIS State Team professional learning on diversity, equity, and inclusion to build greater awareness, sensitivity, and opportunities for reflection
- Create a communication and dissemination plan to share information about equitable systems, policies, and practices within the PBIS framework
- Establish principles connected to the core components of equity that will guide all training, TA, and coaching
- Continue to share how systems and practices of PBIS include voice, choice, and ownership of all students, families, and staff;
- Collect, analyze, problem solve, and act on fidelity and student outcome data in order to decrease disproportionality in Vermont schools using culturally responsive fidelity tools and student outcome data measuring race and ethnicity
- Listen and learn from the educational experiences of Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color to help guide our work in selecting strategies that are grounded in equity, honor different cultures, and teach anti-bias