Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at HV
Diversity, equity and inclusion cannot be the stand-alone work of one committee or even a small group of individuals. It is the work of every PTA member who decides to serve the families and children in their community. At Happy Valley PTA, we acknowledge that we are always learning. "The specifics and dynamics of oppression, community, and language are constantly changing," as Britt Hawthorne, Author of Raising Antiracist Children states in the introduction to her parenting guide. We are committed to discovering and addressing ways to make our organization more equitable, diverse, and inclusionary and we hope you will join us on our path.
Initiatives and Resources
Since Time Immemorial Community Event
Happy Valley PTA was proud to be a co-founder of the first Since Time Immemorial Community Event in 2023, held at Happy Valley Elementary. The event has grown to become a District and Community-Wide event, held at larger venues across the city in the following years.
Jason LaClair Truth & Reconciliation Orange Shirt Sales Support
Orange Shirt Day (September 30th) was established as an observance in 2013, to promote awareness and education of the residential school system and the impact it has had on Indigenous communities for over a century. The residential school system has been recognized as a cultural genocide, and continues to this day. The use of an orange shirt as a symbol was inspired by the story of Phyllis Jack Webstad, whose personal clothing—including a new orange shirt—was taken from her during her first day of residential schooling, and never returned. The orange shirt is used as a symbol of the forced assimilation of Indigenous children that the residential school system enforced. The official tagline of the day, "Every Child Matters", reminds us that all peoples' cultural experiences are important.
Happy Valley PTA was honored to partner with Indigenous artist Jason LaClair to help produce and sell products featuring LaClair's Truth and Reconciliation hummingbird design. Proceeds of the shirt sales went to Children of the Setting Sun Productions and to support Jason LaClair's work.
Jason LaClair is a Coast Salish artist from the Lummi and Nooksack communities, who has worked extensively in the Bellingham Schools and within Happy Valley Elementary in particular as a teacher, woodcarver, painter, and muralist. Mr. LaClair has been practicing Northern Formline Art and Coast Salish Styles for more than 25 years. In 2021, he collaborated with local artist Gretchen Leggitt to create the public installation of the “Salmon Run” mural for the City of Bellingham. In addition, he was the artist of the “One from the Heart” mural in Ferndale. Other murals decorate the Boardmill Building in the Port of Bellingham’s central waterfront redevelopment. Mr. LaClair's drive comes from the need to share the art of his ancestors with his People and the Whatcom Community as a whole. He says he loves what he does and that his career is the best way to express himself.
Ongoing Events & Initiatives
Espanol Para Escuelas Primeras // Learn Spanish with Friends!
Wednesdays from 7:30-8am in the library
Resources
Recommended Reading
Websites:
WhatcomCARE (Coalition for Anti Racist Education)
EmbraceRace - https://www.embracerace.org/
Whatcom Peace and Justice Center
Visit this Interactive Boarding School Map
Learn about the impact of historical trauma
Learn more about Lummi cultural resilience efforts and community education projects by Children of the Setting Sun Productions
Books:
I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes, a powerful book that celebrates Black identity, resilience, and self-worth.
Raising Antiracist Children by Britt Hawthorne, A practical parenting guide and interactive road map to incorporating the tools of inclusivity and activism into everyday life.
Stamped (For Kids) and Antiracist Reading Revolution, both by Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul, renowned educator and author
At the elementary level, we center our Truth and Reconciliation day learning around a highly acclaimed book that was written for ages 5-7: My Powerful Hair by Carole Lindstrom. You can access the book in Epic.com or the Bellingham Public Library.
Book list from Bellingham Public Library: Exploring the Impact of Residential Schooling | Bellingham Public Library | BiblioCommons
Send us other useful resources and we will list them here! Email info@happyvalleypta.com
Bellingham School District Resources
Bellingham Public Schools Hate and Bias Speech Policy and Procedure 3209
3209 Procedure – Bias Incident and Hate Speech | Policy Details
Bellingham Public Schools Safety Page
https://www.bellinghamschools.org/about/school-safety
Reporting a Safety Concern to Bellingham Schools
To report a concern related to campus or personal safety you can:
-
Contact the administrator at your school
-
Contact Student Services at the District Office by calling 360-676-6400
-
Use the Vector Alert tip line system to report online, by text, or by phone. Reports are anonymous unless you choose to share your name.
-
Print and complete the HIB reporting form (3207F) for any harassment-related safety concerns.
Tribal Land Acknowlegement
Are land acknowledgements effective or meaningful? We view them as effective as a first step toward education and awareness, but if not accompanied by concrete, action-oriented support for Indigenous sovereignty, they can be viewed as performative. Our group strives to keep our momentum flowing through concrete actions as well as continuing to learn and evolve.
Happy Valley PTA acknowledges that Happy Valley Elementary is located on the ancestral homelands of the Coast Salish Peoples, who have lived in the Salish Sea basin, throughout the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades watershed, from time immemorial. We invite our members to join us in expressing our deepest respect and gratitude for our Indigenous neighbors, the Lummi Nation and Nooksack Tribe, for their enduring care and protection of our shared lands and waterways.
Why do we acknowledge the tribal lands? We gratefully share the following words from our neighbors at Western Washington University's Office of Tribal Relations.
"As Native people, we never owned the land but rather we appreciated the abundance and the beauty this land provided for our people, and we value this practice every day. The land acknowledgement is not intended to be discouraging, but to fairly give recognition and understanding of the first inhabitants on this land. As we move forward, it is essential to continue the recognition of who the first people on this land were, and not forget the enduring gratitude they hold for the land, despite the “ownership.” In our eyes, this land has always been a gift and we hold that relationship sacred."
- Laurel Ballew, Executive Director of Western Washington University's Office of Tribal Relations.