Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Resolution Proclaiming LGBTQ+ Pride Month June 2021 Napa County Board of Education

Tribal Consultation Toolkit CA Department of Education

Partner Equity Statement re: Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

1. Establish a process that is bigger than “training” and holds us all accountable to acting on our shared values.
2. Provide opportunities for students and community members to be educated in issues of equity, cultural diversity and understanding.
3. Create resources/ strategies to assist departments in learning about and implementing practices that support diversity, inclusion, and equity.
4. Engage in a sustainable improvement plan that includes data driven assessment of our gaps and inequities, and provides recommendations for the ongoing process(es) that ensures that change continues over time.
5. Have staff, including leadership, that are reflective and representative of the communities we serve.

The work of the DEI Learning Community is conducted by the following four DEI workgroups:

Training, Resources and Accountability: Create resources/strategies to assist departments in learning about and implementing practices that support diversity, inclusion, and equity. Establish a process that holds us all accountable to acting on our values. Contact: Susan Stewart

Student and Community Opportunities: Provide opportunities for students and community members to be educated in issues of equity, cultural diversity and understanding. Contact: Barbara Thorsen

Assessment, Evaluation and Sustainability: Create an improvement plan that includes data driven assessment of our gaps and provides recommendations for the ongoing process(es) that ensures that change continues over time. Contact: Ginny Ariaz

NCOE Recruitment and Hiring: Address having staff, including leadership, that are reflective and representative of the communities we serve. Contact: Lucy Edwards

NCOE Ambassadors Program: The Ambassadors Program engages all staff in Courageous Conversations on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion to foster learning and growth and to build a culture of equity in a safe space. These Ambassadors, volunteers drawn from NCOE managers, received training on cultural equity to prepare them to co-facilitate these thoughtful, small group conversations. Contact: Connie Silva

NCOE Cultural Recognition Calendar 24-25

All Staff Events will be from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. unless noted.

Cultural Recognition at NCOE

Cultural recognition at NCOE is sponsored by NCOE’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Learning Community and encourages an equitable, inclusive and safe workplace that celebrates children, families, and staff of NCOE.

All links open to external sites in a new window.

Black History Month Celebration

NCOE hosts a county-wide Oratorical Contest to give students the opportunity to perform content from original works tied to a yearly national theme, Student art is displayed in public spaces such as the Napa Valley Black History Month Celebration and the Napa County Public Library. Staff education about the impact of Black people on American history and culture is offered through special presentations featuring authors and community leaders.

Black History Month Resources

2024 Oratorical Contest Video
2024 Oratorical Contest Photos
February 8 2024, “African American Student Achievement in Education, a conversation with Dr. Charles Cole III and Dr. Eric Handy” Video
Latino Americans
February 23, 2023 “Hidden History of Napa Valley Presentation with Author Alex Brown” Video

Disabilities Awareness Month

Information and resources are shared with staff and community throughout the month. A special presentation includes a review of NCOE’s work supporting students with disabilities and their families, as well as highlights for the work of the Community Action Advisory Committee through the Special Education Local Plan Area. The CAC is a parent-run collaboration that supports Special Education students throughout Napa County.

Jewish American Heritage Month

The deep roots of Judaism in America are explored through the sharing of education resources, family stories, and expert presentations. Staff enjoy making and serving favorite traditional Jewish foods.

Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration

Students are educated about Asian/Pacific American Heritage through collaborative art projects such as a paper plates and streamers dragon. Staff and community celebration includes student performers and speakers, traditional foods and fun snacks, and the sharing of personal stories.

Pride Month

The raising of the Pride flag at both Camille Creek Community School and the NCOE central office kicks off LGBTQIA+ recognition. The Napa County Board of Education makes an annual proclamation. Student education includes age-appropriate art projects and curriculum. Staff celebrate with a rainbow-inspired potluck, education games and biodegradable confetti fun.

Juneteenth Celebration

Staff honor the history of Juneteenth with a traditional celebration featuring food provided by a local black-owned business, the sharing of information, resources and personal stories, and lively rounds of game playing. Juneteenth is a day of celebration for African Americans and NCOE creates a space to share in this joyful acknowledgement of the end of slavery.

Juneteenth Resources

“Celebrate Juneteenth: Historical and Contemporary Resources“, University of California, Davis, Library.
“What is Juneteenth?“, ABC7 News Bay Area.

DEI Staff Picks

The NCOE Recruitment and Hiring and Assessment, Evaluation & Sustainability Sub-Committees have a few suggestions of stories to read or view about some amazing people.

A Ballerina’s Tale
Suzy Morris – Technology Training and Support Services
“A Ballerina’s Tale” shows the struggles and successes of Misty Copeland, the first Black principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre. The film explores themes around race as well as body image.

Misty started ballet lessons at 13 – which is considered old by traditional standards. I think that is what shines in Misty, she’s not a traditional ballerina – her home life was economically unstable at times, she’s African American, she has a curvy muscular body, she doesn’t fit the ballerina mold…but along the way she had amazing mentors lift her up and she herself had the determination to follow her dream. At a young age, Misty had to learn to navigate stereotypes, micro aggressions, and self-doubt. She not only became the first Black principal dancer of the American Balley Theatre in New York but she has also written two books as well as founded The Misty Copeland Foundation, which provides afterschool programs for children, ages 8 to 10, that combine affordable ballet training, in the communities where they live, alongside health and wellness, musicianship, mentoring and general tutoring components.

Available on YouTube.

The Imitation Game
Movie based on the book ‘The Enigma’ by Andrew Hodges
Ginny Ariaz, Continuous Improvement and Academic Support
This movie is set during WW2 and focuses on the team who crack the Enigma machine that the Nazi’s used to encode messages. The movie focuses on Alan Turning who is gay and the head mathematician on the project. He recruits Joan Clarke to his team, but has to assign her to the female clerk team in order to satisfy her parents. Both Turning and Clarke face hardships and work together to find a mutually beneficial solution and continue their work.

The movie really depicts the discrimination faced by the LGBTQ+ community and women in the 1950s. Despite their brilliant minds and the incredible work they were capable of, society wanted to limit and ostracize Turning and Clarke. I was fascinated by the story and highly recommend it. Not to mention it was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and won Best Adapted Screenplay.

Available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV

Uncomfortable Conversations with Emmanuel Acho
Seana Wagner – Director, Communications & Special Projects
In the past few years, we have been learning together as a country that knowing how to have difficult conversations from opposite sides of issues is vital to the strength of our community. Emmanuel Acho’s videos are a valuable part of that discourse. Emmanuel Acho is the host of the groundbreaking video series “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man” (now “Uncomfortable Conversations with Emmanuel Acho”). He is also a New York Times bestselling author, an Emmy-winning television broadcaster and a former linebacker for the NFL. Acho has a voice of compassion and understanding that he uses to talk about a wide variety of difficult topics.

Available on YouTube.

The First, the Few, the Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America
Author, Deepa Purushothaman
Yuliana Moreno, Continuous Improvement and Academic Support
A deeply personal call to action for women of color to find power from within and to join together in community, advocating for a new corporate environment where we all belong—and are accepted.

Innocent Voices
Author, Luis Mandoki
Manuel Pineda, Early Childhood Services
A young boy, in an effort to have a normal childhood in 1980’s El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life as he desperately tries to avoid the war which is raging all around him.

I wanted to share to show what we lived in my country through the Civil War.

See previous Staff Picks

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Resources

A key component of NCOE’s commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is providing our staff, students and community with access to quality resources. The database below is provided as a starting point for your own personal learning and growth. The resources were reviewed and selected using this rubric. However, the information is provided by external organizations and NCOE is not responsible for the content on these linked resources.

Techniques for revealing and circumventing unconscious bias; tools for eliminating or mitigating conscious bias.

Lessons learned from personal experiences with prejudice or from interventions to address it (includes small group surveys and case studies); cultural heritage and contributions.

Tools and techniques to improve educational outcomes for diverse students.