AASB Produces Equity Statement Video
Tiffany Jackson, Director of Membership Services
At their November 2021 Board of Directors meeting, the Board adopted the latest version of its long range plan. Goal area 1 of this plan includes, “Empower our boards to prioritize equity and transform educational systems to increase the academic achievement and graduation rates of students who are grounded in their cultural identify so they have the ability to successfully pursue their goals.”
As part of this goal, the Board of Directors developed the following Equity Statement:
AASB believes in educational excellence for all of Alaska’s students. Equity in public education means the fair allocation of resources, based on need, to address opportunity gaps and promote success for every student in Alaska. Students come to us from various backgrounds with different strengths and at varying degrees of readiness. What works for one student may not work for another.
AASB is obliged to support Alaska’s students by providing school leaders with quality educational services such as policy, planning, hiring, and training to ensure successful outcomes for all students by respecting their race, ethnicity, religion, language, abilities, socioeconomic status, country of origin, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity.
AASB offers tools and resources to school boards and school districts to identify and eliminate systemic barriers and discriminatory practices, prejudices, and beliefs.
As part of this goal, the Board of Directors developed an Equity Statement that was adopted at their 2022 Summer Board meeting in Bethel. A video was created to share the statement and was shown to the membership at the 2022 AASB Annual Conference.
AASB Looks forward to working with your districts in a variety of different ways around equity. If your district is interested in learning more about how you can be a part of this work, please reach out to Director of Membership Services Tiffany Jackson for more information.