DeKalb Times

City of Dekalb Human Relations Commission met July 10.

Here is the minutes provided by the Commission:

The Human Relations Committee (HRC) held a Meeting on July 10, 2018 (rescheduled from July 3) in the Executive Conference Room at City Hall.

Chair Larry Apperson called the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m.

A. ROLL CALL

The following members of the HRC were present: Larry Apperson (Chair), David Barrow, Joe Gastiger, Lisa King, Maurice Bailey, Norden Gilbert. Members absent at roll call were: Robert Williams.

The following City staff members were present: Management Analyst Aaron Stevens.

Notes were taken by Analyst Stevens.

B. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA – ADDITIONS / DELETIONS

The agenda was approved as is.

C. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Bessie Chronopoulus spoke about the impact of poverty on Children. She suggested the HRC should discuss how to help parents in the community alongside current initiatives taking place such as COMPASS. Chronopoulus stated that DeKalb has a lot of potential and numerous resources to offer parents especially in the way of educational programs. Chronopoulus thanked the HRC members for all of their contributions to the community and their continued commitment to issues effecting the wellbeing of residents. Chronopoulus stated the work of the HRC is of the upmost importance and should be used effectively by the Mayor and City Council.

Ellingsworth Webb suggested that the D28 School Board members should also participate in the diversity training that is the main item for discussion on the meeting agenda.

D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes from the June 5, 2018 meeting were approved.

E. OLD BUSINESS

1. AGN Revitalization Plan Update

Analyst Stevens stated that staff had just received the draft plan the week prior and is currently in the process of reviewing the draft for basic edits. Stevens will send the draft plan to the Task Force for review in the coming week. Once the Task Force has received the draft and been provided time to review and make comments, Stevens will send the draft plan to the HRC for review. Staff plans to hold another Task Force meeting in August to review the final draft before taking it out to the community and to future commission and council meetings for final approval. There will be a very robust Task Force and community commenting process taken before presenting the plan as final to the City Council.

F. NEW BUSINESS

1. DeKalb Unit Community School District 428 – Diversity Plan

Dr. Jennie Hueber, Director of Curriculum and Instruction represented DeKalb Community Unit School District 428 to present the Diversity Plan (hereafter cited as “Plan”) to the HRC. The Plan was recently developed and adopted by the school district. The Plan provides seven core recommendations based on a study led by Dr. Cohen of Northern Illinois University. Hueber stated the process of developing the plan began with reviewing other school district plans that could be used as a model. It was collectively determined that the D28 Plan needed to be something educators and stakeholders could easily use as a working document on a ongoing basis in all areas of school district operations. The plan needed to be something that provides guidance for educators, social workers, and all school district staff through all facets of their work. The school district intends for the plan components to be imbedded within day to day teacher developed instruction plans.

As one outcome, the school district will be providing strategic professional development that carries forward elements of the diversity plan. The school district is also organizing instructional coaching for providing teachers guidance with classroom management including cultural awareness in all areas of teaching and youth development. Staff will also be completing a book study on a book titled “Equity”.

The school district is in the process of instituting two-way dual language programs in their schools, beginning with the most culturally diverse plans with intent to extend throughout the district.

Hueber stated that the school district is translating the plan document into several languages and will also create an abridged version to offer families with students

Commissioner Lisa King asked Dr. Hueber to make a recommendation to the school district administration that teachers and employees of the school district should have a more direct tie to the community. King suggested the recommendation include that district teachers and staff should be residents of the City of DeKalb so that they are more knowledgeable about the community themselves and can refer their students and families to resources they might be better prepared to recommend through personal experiences of their own.

There was discussion on how to make new residents of DeKalb and families with children entering the school district feel welcome and connected. It was stated that there should be a “welcome center” or “welcome package” type of initiative that can be used to help new residents discover community resources, and basic living and community functions such as recommended health care providers, recreational programs, etc. Analyst Stevens stated that a “Welcome Package” based concept has been discussed at length through the Annie Glidden North Revitalization Plan meetings and committed to starting that initiative as a result of the project.

Chair Apperson thanked Dr. Hueber for informing the HRC about the Plan and said that the HRC is willing to assist the school district with the Plan in any way they believe it would be helpful.

G. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at: 8:32p.m.

https://www.cityofdekalb.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_08072018-1410