We believe in an inclusive environment that honors diversity, equity, and access

I would like to discuss what we have all witnessed happening in our country and across our community these past few weeks. I’ve been struggling to find the right words and determine how the Papillion La Vista Community Schools can best address this critical issue in the most meaningful way.

The issue of race relations and the recent protests are deeply emotional topics. On one hand, I feel a moral obligation to use my position to say what’s on my heart and embrace how we can change to help this situation. On the other hand, I am cautious because words can so easily me misconstrued, and I don’t want my voice to cause pain or to make the situation worse.

We’ve decided being direct is the best course of action.

Racism in any form is deeply wrong and runs completely contrary to our mission as a public school.

I want to be crystal clear about where the Papillion La Vista Community Schools stand.

1.     PLCS exists for one reason and one reason alone: to serve ALL students and ALL families and support ALL staff regardless of their race or background.

2.     Our top priority has always been and always will be educating ALL students and keeping our students and staff safe both physically and mentally.

We may not be perfect and there may be days that we will fall short of these ideals, but it won’t be for lack of trying.  We understand that we still have listening and learning to do.

I would like our community to know the District has been working on this very issue since last February when we re-started our Strategic Planning process. As part of that process, the District identified a goal relating to staff diversity and training.  The committee also updated our Mission Statement and wrote belief statements that will guide everything we do.  There was a specific belief statement around this issue:

We believe in an inclusive environment that honors diversity, equity, and access.

Moving forward we will form a District Diversity Action team to look deeper into our school district and identify what areas we are doing well and what areas we need improvement. We will implement steps in support of this Diversity goal and make certain we uphold our Mission and beleifs.

As your Superintendent please know that we understand these conversations are vitally important and we are committed to being a part of the solution. In short, we want all staff, students, and families to feel welcome and safe here. We are all part of the same PLCS family and community. Please be gentle with one another and help us to disrupt hate and prejudice whenever and wherever we see it. That is the PLCS way. #PLCSgreat