(Editor’s Note: To highlight the district’s efforts to spread inclusivity and equity throughout the Pascack Valley community, The PV Student Publication will be publishing opinion and feature articles on various groups and organizations within the district that align with its mission.) 

In January of the past two years, the district began distributing school climate surveys for students to fill out. After analyzing the data from these surveys, many teachers/, including district Supervisor of Mathematics Mark Russo and Student Family Research Liaison Erica Franceski from Pascack Hills, were inspired to form the Student Equity Leadership Team. 

“We had a faculty group that had been looking at the data, and a handful of us had gone to a training, and one of the suggestions in the training was that student action research is a really powerful tool for moving culture forward,” Russo said. 

The Student Equity Leadership Team is open to all students from the Pascack Valley community who are interested in joining. 

“Last year we included the students to analyze the data and looking at the data then the Student Equity Team was able to make recommendations to the superintendent that support our district goals of equity and inclusion,” Franceski said. 

Not only does the team use the data from school climate surveys, but they are also able to have conversations about their experiences.

“The main purpose of the team is communication between teachers, students, and the administration,” Minche Kim, PV sophomore and Equity Team member, said. “We acknowledge problems and events that influence PV and PH and work to come up with effective solutions to problems.”

This year, the students have chosen three goals to focus on that coincide with their recommendations from the previous year: civil discourse, equity in literature, and teacher and student training. 

Russo said that focusing on civil discourse can help students have difficult conversations in a respectful manner. According to Russo, the goal of equity in literature is to advance diversity in books. 

“[Equity in literature means] engaging with a more diverse set of authors and experiences,” Russo said.

Franceski said that Sarah Boumlouka and Jasmine Delgado are working on a campaign called diversify our narrative. They are working to improve diversity in literature. 

“One of our students is working on partnering with the library to display three books per month highlighting a specific race, ethnicity, or minority group, and the student picked a different focus for each month,” Franceski said. 

Russo said that teacher and student training focuses on building relationships and enhancing communication between students and faculty. 

“The teacher and student training initiative can be anything from assemblies [to] small group discussions, but all of it [is] coming from the input we received from students in the school climate survey, and with the goal of equity and inclusion for everyone,” Franceski said. 

Franceski explains that currently the Student Equity Team has around 25 active members and it is an open invitation to any student who is interested in the team’s mission and goals. 

“This year, there has not been a formal process for joining. We don’t really have a clear process,” Russo said. “At this point we’re sort of open to anyone who is interested in the work.”

Although both PV and PH members hold their meetings on Google Meet due to coronavirus restrictions, the pandemic hasn’t stopped it from achieving its goals. 

“[The Google Meets have] stood out to me because they gave me opportunities to learn about diverse perspectives on controversial issues and different cultures,” Kim said. “I also developed close connections with the teachers and students that participate in the program.”

During the 2019-20 school year, senior Angela Song and other Student Equity Team members from PH and PV helped organize and participated in the Black Lives Matter movement, according to Song. Last summer, on the pavement in front of PV and PH, the participants wrote the names of victims of police brutality and racial profiling. The team also organized the “Racial Equity Rally,” working with Pascack Hills alumni. The rally took place at the Woodcliff Lake Town Hall and train station. 

“It was a really empowering moment to see members of the Pascack Valley regional community unite for equality and justice,” Song said.