School District No. 35

Dear Students, Staff, and Parents/Guardians,

The Langley School District proudly celebrates Diversity and Respect Week in all of our schools. In 2017, the Board of Education approved a motion to implement Diversity and Respect Week “to coincide with Pink Shirt Day in February to promote awareness, reconciliation, and inclusion for all members of the school community.”

Students and staff will be learning together in and out of the classroom and taking part in activities that support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). It is a time to highlight the importance ofkindness, compassion, connection as well as an opportunity for us to learn about each other, be proud of our own identities, and celebrate what makes us unique.

As a positive learning community, we strive to create an environment where students can walk into their schools feeling safe, valued, loved and cared for. We recognize that the lived experiences of Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour, 2SLGBTQ+ individuals, and individuals with diverse abilities may have been challenging. We know that more work is needed to help everyone feel like they belong in our schools, not just during Diversity and Respect Week, but every day of the year.

The District’s continued actions to support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as a system include the following:

• Administrators and school staff have begun completing the BC Ministry of Education’s Learning to Be Anti-Racism online training.
• Administrators have implemented new practices for reporting and resolving acts of racism in schools using the Ministry of Education and Child Care’s Racism Response Guidelines.
• The District has hosted its first 2SLGBTQ+ Student Voice event to hear from students about how to create healthy, safe, and positive learning environments and strategies to support them.
• The District is continuing to engage with secondary students to implement priorities and actions that came out of past Anti-Racism Student Voice events over the last school year.
• Implementing and streamlining Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in all schools, which is an approach whereby lessons are designed so that all students can access the lesson and show what they know, understand and can do.
• Building on teacher resources to promote discussions, dialogue, and the understanding of one another in our schools.

We want to take this opportunity to thank all staff and the parent community for your collaborative efforts in this work. I am grateful to DPAC and school PACs for putting on initiatives including but not limited to anti-racism workshops, multicultural events, and fundraisers in support of anti-bullying. Our goal is to help our students feel proud of who they are and have a sense of belonging. We know that working together will help us demonstrate how every child matters in our schools.

Sincerely, 

Mal Gill
Superintendent of Schools