Task Force Facilities Focus on Inclusiveness
New teacher-run program fighting to increase equity for students and teachers across campus.
By Abigail Shlimenzon
New teacher-run program fighting to increase equity for students and teachers across campus.
By Abigail Shlimenzon
Pioneer, like many schools across California, has been implementing initiatives to become more inclusive and welcoming to students of all identities.
The Mustang Way Equity Task Force is one of the ways teachers at Pioneer are trying to make the high school experience more positive for students from all walks of life. This task force is composed of English and history teachers that teach grades 9-12.
“We all have the same goal. We want students to feel that they are included and seen on campus and we want to push for more inclusivity while also bringing other staff members along. We’ve also had some new teachers join us which was really awesome,” said history teacher Lillian Luu.
In order to achieve the goal of improving the campus environment at Pioneer and creating a more open and inclusive space, the task force has to begin with evaluation of the environment at Pioneer.
“Right now we are collecting data to see what areas of campus we need to make changes about and for,” said English teacher Stephanie Harvey.
Although the general goal of this task force is to create a warm and open environment for all students at Pioneer, the task force is starting with a focus on helping LGBTQ+ students feel more heard and comfortable.
“We are focusing on specifically LGBTQ+ students and what we can be doing to help them more,” said Harvey. “So we are making sure people are having open and inclusive conversations, we are using our pronouns, we are helping people make sure that we have to be really clear about our conversations because we want to make sure our students and our staff feel like they are safe here on campus.”
In order to help with this goal the Mustang Way Task Equity Force has employed the knowledge of Professor Robert A. Marx, PHD, an Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Development at San José State University.
“We’re working with a professor from San Jose State who specializes in this kind of area, like equity, LGBTQ issues and other things of that nature, and he has been working with the task force to help us come up with strategies that we can use around campus,” said English teacher Theresa Kurzawa.
Professor Marx has also been able to use their knowledge to give the task force new ideas and background information on the challenges LGBTQ students face.
“They have been able to provide us with feedback that they’ve researched in the past that they are working on in their own PhD,” said Harvey. “Being able to have that feedback from him has been really wonderful, just to be able to think about what we can do further for our class community.”
The Mustang Equity Task Force have most recently been working on taking and analyzing a demographic and experience survey for students at Pioneer.
“We have looked at data, we put out a survey last month and we had over 800 students take it on campus. And from there we ask them about how you feel safe on campus, who do you feel safe talking to, have you ever been harassed because of X, Y or Z,” said Harvey. “We also use the administration to talk to them about what they are doing at a higher level, so we are using as many resources and people as possible to make sure we are reaching all the people we need to.”
The Mustang Way Equity Task Force is one of the ways teachers at Pioneer are trying to make the high school experience more positive for students from all walks of life. This task force is composed of English and history teachers that teach grades 9-12.
“We all have the same goal. We want students to feel that they are included and seen on campus and we want to push for more inclusivity while also bringing other staff members along. We’ve also had some new teachers join us which was really awesome,” said history teacher Lillian Luu.
In order to achieve the goal of improving the campus environment at Pioneer and creating a more open and inclusive space, the task force has to begin with evaluation of the environment at Pioneer.
“Right now we are collecting data to see what areas of campus we need to make changes about and for,” said English teacher Stephanie Harvey.
Although the general goal of this task force is to create a warm and open environment for all students at Pioneer, the task force is starting with a focus on helping LGBTQ+ students feel more heard and comfortable.
“We are focusing on specifically LGBTQ+ students and what we can be doing to help them more,” said Harvey. “So we are making sure people are having open and inclusive conversations, we are using our pronouns, we are helping people make sure that we have to be really clear about our conversations because we want to make sure our students and our staff feel like they are safe here on campus.”
In order to help with this goal the Mustang Way Task Equity Force has employed the knowledge of Professor Robert A. Marx, PHD, an Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Development at San José State University.
“We’re working with a professor from San Jose State who specializes in this kind of area, like equity, LGBTQ issues and other things of that nature, and he has been working with the task force to help us come up with strategies that we can use around campus,” said English teacher Theresa Kurzawa.
Professor Marx has also been able to use their knowledge to give the task force new ideas and background information on the challenges LGBTQ students face.
“They have been able to provide us with feedback that they’ve researched in the past that they are working on in their own PhD,” said Harvey. “Being able to have that feedback from him has been really wonderful, just to be able to think about what we can do further for our class community.”
The Mustang Equity Task Force have most recently been working on taking and analyzing a demographic and experience survey for students at Pioneer.
“We have looked at data, we put out a survey last month and we had over 800 students take it on campus. And from there we ask them about how you feel safe on campus, who do you feel safe talking to, have you ever been harassed because of X, Y or Z,” said Harvey. “We also use the administration to talk to them about what they are doing at a higher level, so we are using as many resources and people as possible to make sure we are reaching all the people we need to.”