During the pandemic, many Lynnwood Elementary students had been through “levels of trauma,” said their art teacher, Krista Gillis. She came up with a project that would show them, on their return to school, “They belong here and we love them.”
We encourage our local school districts, all of them, to make black history an integral part of social studies curricula as well as lessons taught in other subjects.
The Guilderland school district has just begun to work with a black consultant about how to increase its racial and cultural diversity and inclusion. Some African-American parents think it has a long way to go.
Guilderland’s teaching staff, like those of Voorheesville and Berne-Knox-Westerlo, remains overwhelmingly white, a pattern seen at schools across the country.
An event co-sponsored by the Voorheesville Public Library and the First United Methodist Church will feature a local Muslim activist in the hopes of kickstarting a discussion about diversity that will be followed with other events on the subject.
