Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Board members, administrators, teachers, and staff in the Johnson Community School District are committed to looking at all district work and initiatives through a lens of educational equity so all learners have the skills, opportunities, and access to experiences that will help them reach their full potential and achieve success. JCSD will partner with families and the community to gain a better understanding of and eliminate barriers rooted in social constructs and cultural misunderstandings that can interfere with a student’s learning or reduce his/her willingness to persist academically. By applying this lens of educational equity to all teaching and learning experiences, Johnston Schools will be able to achieve its mission of commit all district resources to guide the learning of all students to graduate as confident learners with character, knowledge, and the skills to excel in any endeavor they pursue.

Defining Educational Equity

In the Johnston Community School District, all learners will have access to rigorous and challenging learning opportunities, which lead to measured growth and high achievement without predictable links to race, culture, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. Learners will acquire an awareness of their own cultural identity and value racial, social, cultural, and ethnic diversities so as to understand, communicate with, and effectively interact with people across cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds.

In Johnston, we believe that we must:

• PROMOTE HEALTHY SCHOOL CLIMATES, providing the best opportunity for learners to be culturally aware as they interact with a diverse society;
• ESTABLISH HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR ALL LEARNERS, integrating high quality, rigorous and relevant curriculum that reflects the diversity of the student population, which in turn best prepares each learner to achieve success in college, career and life;
• ERASE BARRIERS that impede all students from being successful and instead honor beliefs and practices that support our district vision to create a culture of excellence where students come first.

Focusing on Educational Equity

“The Board of Education is focusing on two areas of educational equity during the 2024-2025 school year. The first area of focus is to educate and engage all staff in leading and teaching for educational equity. In order to continue our work in this area, we will continue our work with the district equity advocates, staff members will receive a bi-weekly update that includes an educational equity touch, department leaders and principals will identify training their team would benefit from in the area of educational equity, and the school board and Cabinet will complete the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). The second area of focus that the board has identified as a goal is to foster a culture of advocacy and inclusivity that leads to greater care and support across the school district’s community. In order to continue work in this area, the district will focus on the many partnerships they have to support all learners in the district. Artifacts will include PTO agendas, SIAC agendas, conducting a joint city council/school board meeting, and demonstrating the partnerships with community partners that the district engages in to benefit the opportunities and access for all students to a high quality education.