North Cook News

On January 24 the Northbrook School Board approved a contract with Dignity Consulting to carry out a consulting report that stems from the district’s discussion surrounding the future of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion actions at their schools.

The school board discussed the contract and determined that they want to be able to develop training and understanding about the issue across the district, as well as in each building and within teacher teams. This is to go over how they will promote and act on the DEI initiatives. The district was also looking into similar services before the COVID-19 pandemic hit but paused on the search as the pandemic disrupted normal school routines and bigger priorities were afoot.

“They'll work with the admin team and meet with the school board and do some training with the school board,” said Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kris Raitzer. “We think both of those pieces are very important for getting us all sort of on the same page and the same starting point. And from there the authors and the rest of their team, the facilitators on their team, will come and work with school based teams over six half days. And in those six half days, we'll work with the team to first develop deep understanding, strength and knowledge in the area of belonging, dignity as it relates to equity, and then help each school team collect data about their sense of belonging and perceptions with the students and with the staff, and to identify what they call sort of a problem of practice, identify an area in which they can make improvement.”

Raitzer said the school-based team will go about planning for improvement through the support and facility with the facilitators from Dignity Consulting and take action.

“From there, we will determine next steps for expanding the capacity throughout the schools to identify, again, problems of practice or areas for improvement, and helping all staff members to see their place in making improvement, to support kids and to support staff in their sense of belonging and dignity,” Raitzer said.

Dignity Consulting is run by John Krownapple and Floyd Cobb. The company will offer a two year agreement with a menu of options for the district to choose from. It will cost about $50,000 per year and the district can pay for it through federal grant money. The company will examine the district, staff and student needs to create professional development targeted toward areas of needs.

The focus is to create a sense of belonging in the community and their students, which will allow students to be comfortable, feel heard and understand and be able to take risks and step up to challenges. The goal is for them to get outside of their comfort zones in the classroom, playground and throughout everyday life. The board members discussed the proposal, which included talking about how many schools around them use the consulting group and the benefits of using them over others.