The Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance (IDEA) is an active committee of High Plain Elementary parents, staff, and teachers who work in collaboration to strengthen the cross-cultural understanding of our HPE community, to encourage pride in our diversity, and to celebrate the increasing benefits of our multicultural identity.
OUR MISSION
IDEA promotes respect and appreciation of differences, at school and at home, in order to foster a strong supportive community for all HPE students, so that all of our children may feel safe and valued, learn skills needed to succeed in an increasingly diverse world, and grow to reach their full potential as empowered and compassionate members of society.
OBJECTIVES
We help the students, parents, and faculty to promote cross-cultural inclusion by:
- Learning to understand and value multiple perspectives;
- Cultivating a sense of community and belonging;
- Identifying and rejecting stereotypes and prejudices;
- Fostering mutual respect and appreciation of our differences and similarities; and
- Creating an environment in which everyone feels empowered and encouraged to share their stories and traditions.
We carry out our objectives by exploring topics that span race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, abilities, socioeconomic diversity, and current events.
ACTIONS AND INITIATIVES
IDEA takes on achievable goals to support the school’s work toward equity and justice for all our children.
Current Initiatives:
- Decorating the school for a more inclusive range of holidays and seasons;
- Facilitating parent-led lessons and celebrations of a diverse set of festivals (e.g. Diwali, Lunar New Year, Nowruz, Eid) in classrooms;
- Publish a periodic newsletter for the HPE community about our efforts, news, and upcoming observances;
- Diversifying both the HPE Library’s and individual classroom’s book collections to reflect greater diversity and broader representation in characters that span race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, range of abilities, and socioeconomic diversity.
Previous Actions:
- Assist with and support assemblies and other programming that aligns with our mission (e.g. Cultural Diversity Night, “Book-Tasting” + Movie Night);
- Fundraise for and contribute more diverse school supplies:
- Art supplies, such as multicultural-toned markers and crayons, which would allow students to represent themselves and their friends more freely;
- Social studies supplies like world maps with more equitable proportions and orientation (such as Peters Projection maps) in classrooms;
Join Us!
Email ideahpe@gmail.com to get on our distribution list.