Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month
At DC Public Schools, celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month is about recognizing and honoring Latinos in school communities and throughout the city. It is also a time to learn from cultures and traditions outside of your own, immerse yourself in a rich history, and work collectively to shift mindsets and remove barriers affecting Latino students. Whether you identify as Hispanic, Latino, Afro-Latino, Latinx, or consider yourself an ally, join DCPS in celebrating and learning this Hispanic Heritage Month.
DCPS is nearly 21 percent Afro-Latino/Latino. This means one in five DCPS students identifies as Latino, and they attend schools across all eight wards. As we work toward becoming an anti-racist district, we must ensure that our workforce mirrors our community demographics and our policies reflect our mission that all students feel safe, love, challenged, and prepared.
DCPS proudly hosted an inaugural educator summit, ¡Adelante!, ahead of the new school year for a couple days of learning and celebration led by our Latino educators, school leaders, and Central Office staff. The summit was part of our commitment to support our diverse students across racial lines, ethnic backgrounds, documentation status, socio-economic background, and language ability. Here are some takeaways from participants in their own words:
“It was so great to hear from different Latino leaders across the district, in a variety of roles. I enjoyed all the school leader spotlights, as well as the keynote speaker. Feeling inspired to connect more within the Latino community!” — Mayra Chong-QuiTorres, Director, Special Projects
“Thank you very much for organizing this event. I found the number of sessions and topics that they offered incredible. It all connected to the importance of our work in our communities and learning from district leaders and our schools.” — Ana Flores, Educator, Bancroft Elementary School
“The most meaningful part for me was sharing our stories at DCPS and witnessing all the good that we are doing for our Latino Community. We need to continue to lift these stories in all groups represented in our district. — Cesarina Pierre, Educator, Bruce-Monroe Elementary School
Learning and collaboration will continue this fall as we launch the Latino Professional Learning Community. More information is forthcoming, but in the meantime, please reach out to Leslie Ayorkor Edwards at leslie.edwards@k12.dc.gov if you are interested in joining.
This fall, DCPS will also launch the Latino Families Committee to create a space where Latino English Learner (EL) families can share their experiences, perspectives and opinions on a variety of topics related to DCPS and the education of their children. The meetings will be conducted in Spanish and seek to include the representation of the diverse Latino culture that makes up DCPS student and family population. Spanish-speaking families can learn more at dcps.dc.gov/page/comitedefamiliaslatinas.
We want to know how your schools are celebrating and learning this Hispanic Heritage Month — tag @dcpublicschools across on social media so we can share in the joy. Included below are some resources to get started.