School Board Questionnaire
Question Seven
If you are an incumbent school board member, what have you done to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in WCS?
Joe Brinkman
N/A
Michael Evans
N/A
Illya Thomas
I was on the Strategic Planning team which included Social & Emotional Learning and maintained focus on Climate and Culture within the Strategic Plan, and have supported putting detailed actions and measures into our yearly plans to make progress.
I have been member of the Belonging & Inclusion Committee, working directly with Tim Weber our Superintendent and other board members, to include Professional Development trainings and other tips in what is shared with teachers and administrators so they are more inclusive.
I have participated in WCIA events like Juneteenth and supported other efforts that bring cultural awareness into focus within our district.
I have advocated for increasing the number of diverse educators and administrators, so that our leadership reflects the diversity of the students in our district. Overcoming this challenge is a long term effort that requires daily focus, and could benefit from WCIA, parents, teachers and administrators recommending great leaders to apply for roles that come up within WCS.
I seek to be visible and present within WCS events of all types, trying to embody our values and support our students being themselves.
Jeanie Zoller
It took us five refinements, but to begin the search for a new superintendent we on the board finally wrote as our opening,” The next Superintendent of Wyoming City Schools must model three strengths – vision, leadership, and interpersonal relationships. “ That search took a year and I am highly supportive of the clear detailed vision, the committed leadership, and the culture of belonging that Tim Weber brings to this district. I served as the coordinator of the search. His first year was meant to be on-boarding and establishing a welcoming culture, but we also found ourselves in a novel pandemic neither expected nor hardly welcome. I served on the doctors advisory where our team dealt with diverse opinions leading to some division in our community.
I believe those lessons were helpful in shaping the strategic plan with its five pillars encompassing all elements important to learning. I had been part of a first group called Implicit Bias. Tim introduced us to One Degree Shift, adding the guidance of an equity coach, development of a community/school committee now known as the Belonging and Inclusion Collaborative. Realizing the importance of this work, we added a superintendent committee on Belonging and Inclusion to share with all board members the important work being done. I helped on an anti-racism bibliography in a summer letter. I served on the design team of the strategic plan. As the Board President, it is my responsibility to respond to community communications about our programs and actions. These communications help us to better articulate our beliefs and actions, while some reactions have pushed past comfort zones thus igniting fierce discussion and at least for me, a confrontation at a restaurant.
Please take note that Boards of Education speak with one voice so no one member’s opinion should ever be taken as a board decision. This current board supports the Superintendent, the Belonging and Collaboration initiatives, and the Strategic Plan.
John Feldmeier
In June 2022, I was appointed to fill the Board of Education (BOE) seat vacated by Justin Buckner, who left his elected position for a job opportunity in California. For the past 15 months, I have served on the BOE, thereby making me incumbent-ish. During that time, I have worked to advance and protect the diverse interests and stakeholders of our community by (1) serving on the Superintendent’s Belonging and Inclusion Collaborative; (2) serving on the BOE’s Citizen Advisory Committee; (3) identifying disparities and under-inclusion concerns; (4) speaking out on these practices during board meetings and other settings; and (5) voting in opposition to proposals that I find are insufficient to remedy unjustifiable disparities in our school communities.
