Some 50 members of the Washington Township Public Schools’ Equity Committee convened on Feb. 20 to officially launch the planning process for the district’s first-ever equity audit. The group, under the guidance of consultants Dr. Shelley Zion and Dan Tulino, from Rowan University’s Center for Access, Success and Equity (CASE), and through team-building exercises, laid the ground work for establishing norms and tracing the history of equity in Washington Township through the lenses of global, national, state and local events.
Through the process, the group identified internal forces, including district strengths and weaknesses, and external forces, such as obstacles and threats, that may influence the committee’s equity work.
“We were encouraged by the impact of the meeting when committee members used adjectives such as ‘optimistic,’ ‘grateful,’ ‘curious,’ ‘positive,’ and ‘motivated,’ to describe their impressions of our discussions,” District Equity Officer and Director of Secondary Education Dr. Steve Gregor said. “We will next turn our attention to the important analysis of the results of three climate surveys (students, staff and community) which we circulated. Our committee members truly are vested in in the process, and we are grateful for the dedication and enthusiasm that they are bringing to the equity audit process.”
