Anti-Bias Anti-Racism Committee

Anti-Bias and Anti-Racism Advisory Committee

  • The purpose of the Anti-Bias and Anti-RAcism Advisory Committee shall be to provide feedback and recommendations to the Governing Board for projects associated with Anti-Bias and Anti-Racism. The Anti-Bias and Anti-Racism Task Force was formed by the Board in August 2020 to examine issues related to bias, racism, and inequity in the District and to make recommendations about these issues to the Board. The Task Force was intentionally developed to center a diverse set of community perspectives, and to leverage inclusive community dialogue about equity concerns within the District. The Task Force identified four priority domain areas in the objectives. These domains were: (1) FUSD staff diversity, (2) professional learning for FUSD staff, (3) curriculum, and (4) student behavior and social-emotional learning.

Diversity Statement

  • The Flagstaff Unified School District values the diversity of our community, staff, and students and is committed to equity, inclusion, dignity, and respect for all. We believe that to be prepared for today's global society and workforce, students and staff must be able to understand, appreciate, work with, and learn from people with cultures and backgrounds different from their own.

The Four Domains of Our Work

    • CURRICULUM 
      • Goal 1:  Establish a consistant process (forum) to address issues that are concerns of the students and stakeholders related to curriculum.
      • Goal 2:  Conduct a thorough review of the extent to which students with dis/abilities have full access to the general curriculum, and make changes where needed for full access.
      • Goal 3:  Intergrate ethnic studies into the curriculum, including in elementary grades.

    • STAFF DIVERSITY
      • Goal 1:  Strive for staff demographics that reflect the student body, and specifically, increase staff (including leadership position, cabinet, etc.) diversity by 10% in each staffing catagory in year.
      • Goal 2:  Improve recruitment efforts to reach and attract diverse candidate for all positions.
      • Goal 3:  Increase retention of diverse staff by 1% over the current rate.
      • Goal 4:  Conduct an annual staff culture and climate survey, and report findings each year to the Board.
      • Goal 5:  Match every new hire to FUSD with a mentor who has similar background/identity characteristics.
      • Goal 6:  Create affinity groups for faculty and staff to share experiences and provide support to one another.
      • Goal 7:  Develop a "grow your own" program that encourgaes diverse FUSD students to pursue educational degrees/careers.

    • PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
      • Goal 1:  Collect baseline data to gather information about staff knowledge of racism and bias issues, attitudes and interest in learning about anti-bias/anti-racism, and their current practice with respect to equity.
      • Goal 2:  Create a funded 9-month plan for mandatory Professional Learning around anti-racism and anti-bias that involves all District employees and is intergrated into the school district and each school, as eveidenced by the intergrated school district and individual school action plans.
      • Goal 3:  The District will utilize an external committee/organization to annually evealuate the effectiveness and integrity of the implementation of the Professional Learnig offerings.

    • STUDENT BEHAVIOR & SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL CONSIDERATION
      • Goal 1:  Create an ongoing district-wide committee that includes students and staff members to review behavior infractions as they relate to racism and bias, while ensuring restoritive pratices are in place.
      • Goal 2:  Implement a process to have an on-call advocate/mentor (community member, staff member, or student) that a student can identify with in one or more identities. This person would be coordinated through the counselor or administration for students that may need it. Students and/or can determine need.
      • Goal 3:  The District will hire an external expert/organization to conduct an assessment of policies, practices and procedures already in place related to student behavior. Based on the assessment, FUSD will then create a prioritized list of research-based practices for improvement of those policies, practices, and procedures.
      • Goal 4:  The District will provide ongoing training for families on restorative practices to promote understanding, partnershp, and encourage families to implement restorative practices at home. 

JEDI Updates:

Committee By-Laws

Committee Members

  • Committee Secretary - Kurt Steele - ksteele@fusd1.org

Committee Meeting Dates

    • June 1, 2023
    • August 3, 2023
    • October 5, 2023
    • December 7, 2023
    • February 1, 2024
    • April 4, 2024
    • June 6, 2024

Anti-Racism and Anti-Bias Advisory Committee Meeting Agendas & Minutes

Agendas and Minutes Pre-October 7, 2021

Agendas and Minutes Post-October 7, 2021

Task Force Recommendations for Ongoing Work

  • Citing the need to dismantle barriers that negatively impact Indigenous students, students of color, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ+, the Governing Board of the Flagstaff Unified School District established an Anti-Racism, Anti-Bias Task Force at its July 14th meeting. The purpose of the task force is to create and apply a shared understanding and commitment to equity, inclusion, and anti-racism - a key FUSD commitment outlined in the District strategic plan adopted by the Governing Board in early 2018.  The work and recommendations prepared by the Task Force are available here.