Springfield Public Schools is committed to supporting an academic environment that recognizes each member of our learning community brings unique experiences, strengths, and ideas to enrich learning within our classrooms AND empowers them to meet their full potential.  These differences can be along dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, ability, religion, personal beliefs, or other different ideologies.  

In order to work toward this goal, we are looking for parents, students, and teachers to join this special council to support our work as we build a school system that honors the student experience in Springfield, and works to build systems that strengthen access and inclusion for equitable learning opportunities for every student!

Here are some of the terms we are using in this initiative:

- DIVERSITY is defined as the presence of differences within a given setting.

- EQUITY is ensuring that everyone has ACCESS to the same opportunities, with the understanding that some members of a community may need support in order to access that opportunity.

- INCLUSION is about students with different identities feeling and/or being valued, leveraged, and welcomed within a given setting. Inclusion involves EMPOWERING students and members of the learning community to participate in dialogue and learning experiences.