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The Racial Justice & Equity Committee 

The Racial Justice & Equity Committee at PS3 is a group of caregivers*, teachers, staff, and administrators working toward improving our community’s understandings and practices regarding racial justice and other forms of equity. The group meets regularly to:

1. Learn, listen, and think together about how ideological, historical, institutional, political, and interpersonal aspects of racism and other inequities shape our children’s learning and our coming together as a community.
2. Develop and revise strategies for maintaining a caring, supportive, continually learning, culturally sustaining, and anti-racist school culture.
3. Plan events for the PS3 community to share, learn, and be in conversation around issues of racial justice and equity.

We recognize that there are many forms of historical and structural inequities that must be addressed to improve the wellbeing of our community. This committee centers racial justice as a priority, given our country’s origins in settler colonialism and slavery, and the enduring consequences of this foundation for public education.  

We invite all interested community members to join. If you are unable to attend meetings at the scheduled time, we have a Slack workspace where you can participate in conversation, share resources, learn about current issues, and catch up on meeting notes (please email for the link!). Meetings are open to all, whether you would like to simply listen, actively speak in discussions, or engage any way in between! We also welcome all whether or not you expect to be able to attend regularly.

2023-2024 Committee Co-Chairs: Jasmine Ma, Tessa Zilla, Jackie Garcia, Catherine Schrager

Contact: rje@ps3nyc.org

*by the term caregivers we mean students' parents (by birth or adoption, step-parent or foster parent) or legally appointed guardian, and any person in a familial or custodial relationship to a student currently attending PS3.

PAST EVENTS:

Diversity + Belonging Learning Events

Opening Social Hour: May 19, 5:30-6:30pm

Closing Panel: May 26, 2021 7:00pm

Selecting Equity: Unscreened Middle School Admissions (Wednesday, February 10, 2021, 5p-6:30p EST)

Please join us for an hour-long panel of experts speaking about admissions and education in NYC public middle schools, followed by time for PS3 community discussion. Become better informed about the landscape and promise of unscreened admissions in public schools to improve education for everyone. Panelists will discuss their diverse involvement in and perspectives on unscreening. Hear from:

Moderator: Shino Tanikawa (District 2 Community Education Council Member and former PS3 parent)

Panelists:

• Dr. Fabienne Doucet (Associate Professor of Early Childhood and Urban Education at New York University)
• Sadye Campoamor (Director of Community Affairs at NYC Department of Education)
• Neal Zephyrin (former CEC District 15 member)
• Tajh Sutton (President of the CECD14; program manager for Teens Take Charge)
• Melanie Gottdenger, (Special Education Teacher at Salk School of Science)

After panelists share their remarks, there will be an audience Q&A, followed by time for smaller group discussions among PS3 families if you choose to stay. Please join us! Zoom “doors” will open at 4:50pm so we can start right on time.