“In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist. We must be anti-racist.” Angela Davis
We, the View Ridge Community, understand that racism and ableism are systemic. As we challenge ourselves to be anti-racist, we invite you to read, listen, and learn how to undo the racism that is indoctrinated in our system. We strive to do the work to bring those who are furthest from educational justice to equitable access for all children in our school. We will do our best to create a community that is inclusive and respectful.
Our goal of inclusion is to foster positive, authentic relationships with our diverse population and create a transformative culture that values education, celebrating differences, and providing a safe space for all children.
Anti-Racism is work we need to do within ourselves to undo the structures of racism that affect us every day. This work cannot be done without the willing participation of our families, students, and staff. We are working to engage the community in this crucial journey.
Please join us.
About Us
Resolution Statements from PTA Affiliates
About Us
Diversity Equity Inclusion Committee
DEI Committee is dedicated to creating a conversation within our community and rooted in the guidelines of our National and State PTA.
ALL ARE WELCOME, COME AS YOU ARE
Learn more about who we are on our Website Page
Please email dei@viewridgeschool.org for a zoom link or learn about DEI committee work.
In addition, if you would like to add more resources to this list please email dei@viewridgeschool.org
Keep up with Special Education PTSA
Keep up with SCPTSA (Seattle Council PTSA)
Resolution Statements from PTA Affiliates
2018 Seattle Council PTSA on Black Lives Matters
2018 Seattle Council PTSA on Equity
2020 WA State PTSA Dismantling Institutional & Systemic Racism
National PTA Position Statement – Say Their Names : Addressing Systemic or Institutional Racism
From WSPTA Legislative Principal:
Washington State PTA shall identify and initiate education and action on public policy that provides safe and supportive settings and climates for children and youth. The association shall support:
- Anti-bullying and anti-harassment
- Multi-cultural education
- Student and parent education regarding internet safety
- Media education
- Traffic and pedestrian safety
- Substance abuse prevention
- Safe and healthy schools, which reduce environmental hazards
- Consistent, age-appropriate, unstructured play opportunities
- Prevention of trafficking, sexual exploitation, and abuse of minors
- Social Emotional Learning
- Integration of internet safety and electronic communications into school curriculums
- Anti-racism, anti-discrimination, anti-oppression
Resources for Growing and Learning
SPS Addressing Instances of Hate and Bias
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Seattle Public Schools/District News/Addressing Instances of Hate and Bias
Addressing Instances of Hate and Bias
Posted:
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Updated:
Summary: SPS stands against all forms of intolerance, bullying, and harassment.
Creating Welcoming Schools to Ensure Students Feel Welcomed and Safe
Seattle Public Schools believes that having a school community where your child feels safe and respected, regardless of race, religion, gender, immigration status, language, sexual orientation, political view, social economic standing, or ability, is an important foundation to their academic success.
SPS is committed to advancing inclusion and belonging for all of our families. We stand against all forms of intolerance, bullying, and harassment. This letter provides additional resources for students, families, staff, and community to address instances of hate and bias.
Each school and school leader have been provided with information on staff reporting requirements; steps for family, school, and community engagement; the investigation process; and development of a plan for moving the school community forward after an incident.
Across the city and state, we have seen an increase in hate speech and crimes in the form of discrimination, police brutality, institutionalized racism, anti-Asian and anti-Blackness, among other incidents, that has created tragic loss of life for members of our community. Seattle Public Schools feels deeply for any members of our community who continue to experience the hurt, anxiety, uncertainty, and fear from these unwarranted acts.
It is clear we have an opportunity to be a force for change within schools and communities — and we are taking an important step forward by creating movements and initiatives that align with Board Policy 0030 to combat bias, racism, and violence in our district.
Steps to Report Incidents of Hate or Bias
If your child feels overwhelmed or afraid due to recent events, please encourage them to talk with a trusted adult at school or at home. If you or your child were to witness, become aware of, or be the target of harassment, intimidation, violence, and/or discrimination, we ask that you act immediately.
The following list includes some of the steps you may take:
- Call 911 if you are the victim of a crime (including hate speech and hate crimes) on your way to or from school, and notify the school as soon as you can.
- Inform a school leader if the event takes place at a school or during an SPS program, service, or activity.
- Contact the Washington State Commission if you want to report hate incidents. The Washington State Commission on Asian Pacific America Affairs has developed resources for reporting hate and discrimination.
- Use the SPS Office of Student Civil Rights webpage to report instances of harassment, intimidation, and bullying.
Additional Resources
Below are a variety of resources that are available for our students and families should you need additional support:
- Information Media & Reporting Hate Incidents: The Chinese Information and Service Center-Seattle website (CISC-Seattle) shares information including informational flyers and videos about hate and bias. Their content is available in Vietnamese, Mandarin, and Cantonese.
- Responding to Bullying: The U.S. government website Stop Bullying provides resources to guide discussions you may wish to have with your children about what they can do in response to bullying they experience or witness.
- Anti-Racism Resources: Resources for talking to children about race and racism.
Reporting Concerns to District’s Office of Student Civil Rights
How to report concerns of discrimination
If you believe that you or an SPS student has been discriminated against within a district service, program, or activity, the concern may be reported to a school leader or the district’s Office of Student Civil Rights, 206-252-0306 or OSCR@seattleschools.org. If a staff member believes they have been discriminated against, they may report the concern to the Labor and Employee Relations Team within Human Resources via email at laborrelations@seattleschools.org.
Contacts Outside of the District
If you would like to talk with someone outside of the district about concerns of discrimination you may contact:
Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Equity & Civil Rights Office, 360-725-6162, equity@k12.wa.us
U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 206-607-1600, OCR.Seattle@ed.gov
Where we stand today will not limit how far we can go.
Sincerely, James Bush
Chief of Equity, Partnerships & Engagement
Seattle Public Schools
- The Children’s Community School Social Justice Resources – They’re Not Too Young to Talk about Race
- Video : What is Implicit Bias?
- Video : Check Your Bias to Wreck Your Bias (TRT2:54)
- White Supremacy Culture Characteristics
- When White Feminism is White Supremacy in Heels
- The Power Flower
- Video : The Problem with Racial Color Blindness | TED Talk
- Racial Literacy – Key Terms from The Conscious Kid
- 6 Things White Kids Say about Race That Parents Should Call Out Now by Kelsey Borrenson
- Podcast : Seeing White
- Podcast : Talking About Whiteness (Eula Biss)
- Black Lives Matter Toolkit : Get Educated | Compiled by Micaela Pierce
- Teaching Tolerance
- Raising Race Conscious Children
- Embrace Race
- Teaching for Change
- One Out of Five (WA State Education Disability History and Pride Project)
- Black Lives Matter at School
- Black Lives Matter Toolkit
- Zinn Education Project
- Anti-Racism Resources from Greater Good
- Join “The Conscious Kid” or follow them on Instagram | @theconsciouskid
- 7 Things to Do When Your Kid Points Out Someone’s Differences, by Rachel Garlinghouse. (Racism)
- How Talk to Kids about Race – Conscious Kid (Anti-Racism)
- Talking With Children About Racism, Police Brutality and Protests, by Laura Markham. (Black Lives Matter)
- Racism and Violence : How to Talk to your Kids about the News by Child Mind Institute (Black Lives Matter)
- 7 Reminders for White Parents Talking to Their Kids About Police Killing Black People
- 6 Things White Parents Can Do to Raise Racially Conscious Children, by Bree Ervin (Anti-Racism)
- How to Talk to Little Girls, by Lisa Bloom. (Feminism)
- Mama, Ella Has A Penis! How To Talk To Your Children About Gender Identity, by Marlo Mack (Gender Identity)
- 6 Things White Kids Say about Race That Parents Should Call Out Now by Kelsey Borrenson
- 100 Race-Conscious Things You Can Say To Your Child to Advance Racial Justice by Raising Race Conscious Children (Racism)
- School to Prison Pipeline : My son has been suspended five times. He’s 3. by Tunette Powell.
- Speaking “Mexican” and the use of “Mock Spanish” in Children’s Books, or, Do Not Read Skippyjon Jones, by D. Ines Casillas.
- When My 8-Year-Old Gay Son Taught His Class About Harvey Milk, by “Amelia.”
- Socio-Economic Bias It’s Not Just About Delaying Gratification, by Geek Feminism.
- (Also see To Predict Success in Children, Look Beyond Willpower, by Simon Makin.)
- It’s Okay to Be Neither, by Melissa Bollow Tempel.
- My Son Wears Dresses; Get Over It, by Matt Duron.
- How Does White Supremacy Survive and Education? by Sarah Winchester
- What Does “Defund the Polic” Mean and Does it have Merit by Brookings Institution
- How Kids Learn Prejudice (NY Times) by Katherine D. Kinzler
- Seattle Special Education PTSA
- The Idea Project
- The Idea Project Overview Video
- One Out of Five (WA State Education Disability History and Pride Project)
- Crip Camp (Documentary on Netflix Curriculum)
Non-Fiction Books for Adults (Racism)
- So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
- Women, Race and Class by Angela Davis
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
- A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
- The Myth of Race, the Reality of Racism by Mahmoud El-Kati
- Stamped: Antiracism, Racism, and You by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds
- Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X Kendi
- White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
- Caste : The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson
- The New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
- You Failed Us: Students of Color Talk Seattle Schools by Azure Savage
- When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
- Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California by Ruth Wilson Gilmore
- Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement edited by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
- Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde, Foreword by Cheryl Clarke
- My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma And The Pathway To Mending Our Broken Hearts And Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
- Racism Without Racists: Color-blind Racism And The Persistence Of Racial Inequality In America by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
- Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen (white author)
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do The Work by Tiffany Jewell*
* Young Adult (YA) Books
Books for Children
- Conscious Kids’ Anti-Racist Children’s Books
- The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
- Something Happened In Our Town by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard, illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin
- Anti-Racist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi, illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
- The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Rafael Lopez
- Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People To Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
- New Kid by Jerry Craft
- Race and Social Justice Books for Kids K-5 by Seattle Public Library
- Black Experiences : Affirmation and Resilience, Activism and Resistance for PreK-12 by Univ. of WI Cooperative Children’s Book Center
- 31 Children’s Books to Support Conversations on Race, Racism and Resistance
- Nice White Parents and Discussion Guide
- Safe Space Radio “Talking to White Kids about Race & Racism”
- 1619 Project & Curriculum
- Talking Race with Young Children (NPR)
- Revisionist History 3 Part Series on Education (Malcolm Gladwell addresses socio-economics, endowments, and resource hoarding)
- Revisionist History (Carlos Doesn’t Remember)
- Revisionist History (Food Fight)
- Revisionist History (My Little Hundred Million)
- Interchangeable White Ladies (Local Tacoma Podcast)
- Episode 81 Getting Comfortable with Discomfort
- Ep. 77: Racial Healing Is A Crucial Component for Achieving Equity
- Seeing White
- Nerd Farmer Podcast: Nate Bowling
- Episode 6 : Families in Chaos, Undocumented Students, Uncertainty & Liberal Indifference
- Episode 72 : Teacher Diversity (and the Lack Thereof) in Washington State
- Look Listen and Learn
- How to Explain Racism to Kids | CNN + Sesame Street
- 21 Anti-Racism Videos to Share with Kids | We Are Teachers
- K-5 Lesson : Let’s Talk About Race and Racism | John Rodgers Elementary
- People’s Institute Speech
- Vox : How US Schools punish Black Kids
- Jane Elliot Experiment
- The Root: School to Prison Pipeline
- Origin of Race in the USA (PBS)
- Systemic Racism Explained (YouTube)
- KidLit4BlackLives Rally (YouTube)
- A Conversation About Growing Up Black (NY Times)
- How Racism Makes Us Sick (TED)
- The Trauma of Systematic Racism (TED)
- History of race: The Origin of Race in the USA (YouTube)
- Systemic Racism Explained (YouTube)
- Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools (Documentary)
- Crip Camp : A Disability Revolution (Documentary)
- 13th (Documentary)
- Just Mercy (Narrative Film)
- When They See Us (Narrative Series)
- White Like Me : Race, Racism and White Privelege in America (Documentary)
- America to Me (10 part documentary series about Race in American High Schools)
- Race : The Power of Illusion (PBS)
- I am Not Your Negro (Documentary) & Trailer
- Miss Representation (Documentary on Feminism)
- Poor Kids (PBS Frontline)
- The Mask You Live in (Documentary on Dismantling Toxic Masculinity)
Local Organizations for Engagement
- People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond
- Urban League G.R.O.O.M.
- The Village of Hope
- European Dissent
- Youth Undoing Institutional Racism
- Real Rent Duwamish
- Think Big Wedgwood
- Covid-19 Mutual Aid
Support Black-Owned Businesses
- Find and support Black-owned restaurants and businesses via Support Black Owned and Intentionalist
- Want to buy anti-racist books? Purchase from Black-owned book stores including Estelita’s Library and Duende District and Eye See Me (Great for Kids)
Support Black Community-Led Efforts
For Youth By Youth – Prioritizing the Voices of Black Youth and Other Students of Color
- WeAPP Public Service Announcements:
- Coyote Central Student Videos