Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

>Equity consultant to school districts is an actual job. Can you handle
>it?

>Hindsdale is a western suburb of Chicago, largely upper middle class.
>It's never been in the news in recent years, if ever, for incidents of
>racial discrimination.

>But the superintendant of the high school district hired an equity
>consultant, who discovered that the community is "dangerous". The
>superintendant, therefore, wants to hire an anti-racism consultant.

>https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/ct-dhd-hinsdale-district-86-equity-meeting-tl-0203-20220129-rtjvcpbkzfejxnvhwpacp3f6ee-story.html

My public library is working Blackberry Collection (which I am unable to
find in a goog) to assess Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

Get the people the library potentially isn't anti-discriminatory enough
about:

Black, Indigenous, or other People of Color (BIPOC)
LGBTQIA
Transgender and nonbinary community members
Non-Christians
People with disabilities
Neurodivergent community members
Non-native English speakers
Immigrants

I'm not a Christian. This means I've been discriminated against. I just
had no idea. Of course I have something to say about how their policy of
removing every bit of furniture as a pandemic response harmed my mother.

I'm really tempted to participate. I'm quite certain there's very
serious discrimination taking place that needs to be addressed.

In article <td1vbf$2376g$1@dont-email.me>, Adam H. Kerman
<ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>
> >Equity consultant to school districts is an actual job. Can you handle
> >it?
>
> >Hindsdale is a western suburb of Chicago, largely upper middle class.
> >It's never been in the news in recent years, if ever, for incidents of
> >racial discrimination.
>
> >But the superintendant of the high school district hired an equity
> >consultant, who discovered that the community is "dangerous". The
> >superintendant, therefore, wants to hire an anti-racism consultant.
>
>
> >>https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/ct-dhd-hinsdale-district-86-
> >equity-meeting-tl-0203-20220129-rtjvcpbkzfejxnvhwpacp3f6ee-story.html

"THIS IS EXCLUSIVE CONTENT RESERVED FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS"

A Friend wrote:
>Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

>>>Equity consultant to school districts is an actual job. Can you handle
>>>it?

>>>Hindsdale is a western suburb of Chicago, largely upper middle class.
>>>It's never been in the news in recent years, if ever, for incidents of
>>>racial discrimination.

>>>But the superintendant of the high school district hired an equity
>>>consultant, who discovered that the community is "dangerous". The
>>>superintendant, therefore, wants to hire an anti-racism consultant.

>>>>https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/ct-dhd-hinsdale-district-86-equity-meeting-tl-0203-20220129-rtjvcpbkzfejxnvhwpacp3f6ee-story.html

>"THIS IS EXCLUSIVE CONTENT RESERVED FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS"

I revived this old thread because my public library appeared to hire a
consultant for diversity, equity, and inclusion just like Hinsdale High
School District 86.

The article cited in the root article of this thread is still on the
Web. Chicago Tribune enforces access to its Web site with javascript
which means secure access isn't being enforced at all.

Turn off javascript to read the article. You should be using a browser
that gives the user the ability to turn off javascript.

Residents rally against superintendent at Hinsdale District 86 board
meeting while some support need for equity: 'So much anger in this room'
By Zareen Syed
Pioneer Press
Jan 29, 2022 at 6:35 pm
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/ct-dhd-hinsdale-district-86-equity-meeting-tl-0203-20220129-rtjvcpbkzfejxnvhwpacp3f6ee-story.html

On 2022-08-11 9:10 AM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
> A Friend wrote:
>> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>
>>>> Equity consultant to school districts is an actual job. Can you handle
>>>> it?
>
>>>> Hindsdale is a western suburb of Chicago, largely upper middle class.
>>>> It's never been in the news in recent years, if ever, for incidents of
>>>> racial discrimination.
>
>>>> But the superintendant of the high school district hired an equity
>>>> consultant, who discovered that the community is "dangerous". The
>>>> superintendant, therefore, wants to hire an anti-racism consultant.
>
>>>>> https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/ct-dhd-hinsdale-district-86-equity-meeting-tl-0203-20220129-rtjvcpbkzfejxnvhwpacp3f6ee-story.html
>
>> "THIS IS EXCLUSIVE CONTENT RESERVED FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS"
>
> I revived this old thread because my public library appeared to hire a
> consultant for diversity, equity, and inclusion just like Hinsdale High
> School District 86.
>
> The article cited in the root article of this thread is still on the
> Web. Chicago Tribune enforces access to its Web site with javascript
> which means secure access isn't being enforced at all.
>
> Turn off javascript to read the article. You should be using a browser
> that gives the user the ability to turn off javascript.
>
> Residents rally against superintendent at Hinsdale District 86 board
> meeting while some support need for equity: 'So much anger in this room'
> By Zareen Syed
> Pioneer Press
> Jan 29, 2022 at 6:35 pm
> https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/ct-dhd-hinsdale-district-86-equity-meeting-tl-0203-20220129-rtjvcpbkzfejxnvhwpacp3f6ee-story.html

Someone, somewhere declared the library endemically
racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic so it's automatically true and
beyond dispute, just like the existence of 87 genders and the ability to
change your gender on a whim. That means the library has to hire a
person - and soon a department of high-salaried individuals - to
oversee everything the library does to make it as "DIE" ("diverse",
"inclusive" and "equitable") as only they can make it. All library
programs will be "refocused" to make them DIE and all hiring will use
the same lens to make sure that none of those horrible straight white
people will ever work there again so that all their minority client
groups can feel comfortable at the library. (Strangely, there will not
be any major increase in the presence of those minorities in the library
and a massive DECREASE of those horrible white straight people but it
will nevertheless be reckoned a spectacular success right up until the
library goes under due to lack of sufficient patronage, at which point
the DIE experts will move on to some other institution that they can
suck the life out of.)

--
Rhino

On Thu, 11 Aug 2022 06:27:38 -0400, A Friend <nope@noway.com> wrote:

>In article <td1vbf$2376g$1@dont-email.me>, Adam H. Kerman
><ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>
>> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>
>> >Equity consultant to school districts is an actual job. Can you handle
>> >it?
>>
>> >Hindsdale is a western suburb of Chicago, largely upper middle class.
>> >It's never been in the news in recent years, if ever, for incidents of
>> >racial discrimination.
>>
>> >But the superintendant of the high school district hired an equity
>> >consultant, who discovered that the community is "dangerous". The
>> >superintendant, therefore, wants to hire an anti-racism consultant.
>>
>>
>> >>https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/ct-dhd-hinsdale-district-86-
>> >equity-meeting-tl-0203-20220129-rtjvcpbkzfejxnvhwpacp3f6ee-story.html
>
>
>"THIS IS EXCLUSIVE CONTENT RESERVED FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS"

What's the net benefit of that? In my book (pun intended) the ONLY
information in a public library catalog that should be private is the
borrowing information of specific patrons. What is the public benefit
in limiting knowledge of whether the library has a specific book only
to subscribers? (Particularly since our metro area has separate
libraries in each of the 20+ municipalities and a working
"inter-library-loan" system?)

I've posted links in this newsgroup to our local public library
catalog to show people the covers of books I've referred to and
appreciate getting referred to books that might be of interest.

I've said several times in soc.history.what-if that a user's posting
that sends me to the library for further reading is a personal "win"
for me.

Since book titles are not unique having a link showing the book's
cover is useful information to ensure you actually reference the right
book :)

On Thu, 11 Aug 2022 06:27:38 -0400, A Friend <nope@noway.com> wrote:

>In article <td1vbf$2376g$1@dont-email.me>, Adam H. Kerman
><ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>
>> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>> >>https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/ct-dhd-hinsdale-district-86-
>> >equity-meeting-tl-0203-20220129-rtjvcpbkzfejxnvhwpacp3f6ee-story.html
>
>
>"THIS IS EXCLUSIVE CONTENT RESERVED FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS"

Apologies - didn't realize the 'our subscribers' applied to the
newspaper not the library itself.

On 2022-08-11 2:45 PM, The Horny Goat wrote:
> On Thu, 11 Aug 2022 06:27:38 -0400, A Friend <nope@noway.com> wrote:
>
>> In article <td1vbf$2376g$1@dont-email.me>, Adam H. Kerman
>> <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Equity consultant to school districts is an actual job. Can you handle
>>>> it?
>>>
>>>> Hindsdale is a western suburb of Chicago, largely upper middle class.
>>>> It's never been in the news in recent years, if ever, for incidents of
>>>> racial discrimination.
>>>
>>>> But the superintendant of the high school district hired an equity
>>>> consultant, who discovered that the community is "dangerous". The
>>>> superintendant, therefore, wants to hire an anti-racism consultant.
>>>
>>>
>>>>> https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/ct-dhd-hinsdale-district-86-
>>>> equity-meeting-tl-0203-20220129-rtjvcpbkzfejxnvhwpacp3f6ee-story.html
>>
>>
>> "THIS IS EXCLUSIVE CONTENT RESERVED FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS"
>
> What's the net benefit of that? In my book (pun intended) the ONLY
> information in a public library catalog that should be private is the
> borrowing information of specific patrons. What is the public benefit
> in limiting knowledge of whether the library has a specific book only
> to subscribers? (Particularly since our metro area has separate
> libraries in each of the 20+ municipalities and a working
> "inter-library-loan" system?)
>
> I've posted links in this newsgroup to our local public library
> catalog to show people the covers of books I've referred to and
> appreciate getting referred to books that might be of interest.
>
> I've said several times in soc.history.what-if that a user's posting
> that sends me to the library for further reading is a personal "win"
> for me.
>
> Since book titles are not unique having a link showing the book's
> cover is useful information to ensure you actually reference the right
> book :)

It depends on the context, doesn't it? In my home town of Kitchener,
Ontario, there is a major ongoing kerfuffle about the school board and
its policies of what books are in the school libraries. A teacher
working at one of the schools administered by that board tried to bring
the attention of the board and public to various school library books
that she thought were cause for concern and got booted out of the
(virtual) meeting. She promptly resigned and, a few months later, filed
a substantial lawsuit against the school board and some individuals on
it for suppressing her speech at the meeting. Simply trying to read some
brief passages from books caused this whole hullabaloo.

I can well imagine that libraries - whether in schools or public - would
be very sensitive to accusations that they're making "problematic" books
easily accessible to the young and impressionable. They might well
decline to limit access to anything that might get them tarred as
"groomers" or whatever slur might get thrown at them.

--
Rhino

On 2022-08-11 18:48:03 +0000, The Horny Goat said:
> On Thu, 11 Aug 2022 06:27:38 -0400, A Friend <nope@noway.com> wrote:
>> In article <td1vbf$2376g$1@dont-email.me>, Adam H. Kerman
>> <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/ct-dhd-hinsdale-district-86-equity-meeting-tl-0203-20220129-rtjvcpbkzfejxnvhwpacp3f6ee-story.html
>>>>>
>>
>> "THIS IS EXCLUSIVE CONTENT RESERVED FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS"
>
> Apologies - didn't realize the 'our subscribers' applied to the
> newspaper not the library itself.

It isn't. The link worked fine for me without any "subscriber only"
block appearing .. not that it's of any interest to bother reading.

Possibly those getting the block message have already visted the
newspaper's website too many times - simply deleting the website's
cookies usually gets around that.

Residents rally against superintendent at Hinsdale District 86
board meeting while some support need for equity: 'So much anger
in this room'
----------------------------------------------------------------
At Thursday's Hinsdale High School District 86 board meeting,
speakers on both sides of the issue regarding hiring an
anti-racism consultant made their case, with some calling for
the resignation of Superintendent Tammy Prentiss.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, several
community members expressed frustration with Prentiss' decision
to publicly read a letter from Valda Valbrun, a Charlotte, North
Carolina-based equity consultant, at the Jan. 13 meeting, in
which Valbrun called Hinsdale "dangerous." Residents said
Prentiss was "pushing an extreme agenda" by sharing the
"divisive" letter.

Valbrun was scheduled to give a virtual presentation at the
Jan. 13 board meeting about diversity, equity and inclusion
after the Culture and Equity Leadership Team recommended her
proposal following an interview on Nov. 17. But after receiving
unpleasant online messages from community members after one of
Valbrun's social media posts condemning the Republican Party
surfaced, Valbrun emailed Prentiss that she would not be
furthering her relationship with District 86 and gave Prentiss
permission to read the letter out loud.

Hinsdale resident Fred Boshardt said the letter "defamed the
community" and took issue with Valbrun's claims of receiving
hate mail and threats in an interview with Pioneer Press.

At the meeting, Boshardt said the board should conduct an
independent investigation to get to the bottom of Valburn's
allegations.

"To be clear, the superintendent who created this mess should
have nothing to do with this investigation. A disloyal and
destructive superintendent working with the complicity of the
board cannot continue one second longer," he said.

Boshardt continued to speak past the two minutes that were
allowed per speaker when board president Terri Walker tapped
the gavel telling him his time was up. He added that removing
Prentiss from her position would be a fix to the current
situation.

Residents also called out Prentiss' comments to the media as
"damaging," referring to a statement Prentiss made to Pioneer
Press about community members opposing equity work.

"From an ideological standpoint, the individuals who attended
the meeting on Jan. 13 represent those in our community who
have always opposed this work, regardless of what we have said
to them publicly or privately," Prentiss said in the statement
dated Jan. 18. "That does not mean that we stop standing up
for what we believe in. It simply means focusing our time,
effort and energy toward having a productive dialogue about
the issues and challenges our students and staff have faced
for far too long."

Another resident, Angela Sartori, said Prentiss "needs to go."

"Hiring a Republican-bashing consultant ... who then purports to
want everyone to thrive has no place in our district or any
school district. Why the superintendent feels that it's
appropriate to then give a public forum to that vendor is
exceptionally poor judgment. She is not fit to lead this
district anymore," Sartori said.

While most of the community members present at the meeting
exhibited an unflagging opposition to Prentiss and the hiring
of an equity consultant, a select few spoke up about the need
for diversity training.

One of them was Jacqueline Bruns, a 2013 Hinsdale Central
alum, who said she was compelled to share her own "homogeneous
education" experience having attended St. Isaac Jogues,
Hinsdale Central and University of Notre Dame.

"All of these schools are predominantly white. Upon entering
my professional life I was surprised to encounter a workforce
that looked much different from the people I had been
surrounded by thus far and I felt unprepared to work with
people of different cultures, and I am not the only one,"
Bruns said. "The way the community treated Ms. Valbrun as
well as the way they are treating the superintendent tonight
demonstrates to me that we do in fact need a diversity equity
and inclusion consultant to help us learn how to respect
people of different backgrounds and help us communicate
different opinions."

Rev. Pam Rumancik of the local Unitarian church, spoke
directly to members of her community.

"It's very interesting to find myself here and to hear all
these white voices saying 'we are not racist, nobody would
ever feel afraid in Hinsdale.' How hilarious is that?" she
said. "I hear so much anger in this room, and anger usually
covers up fear, so what is the base of your fear? What are
you afraid you're going to learn? Are you afraid that you're
going to learn that there's more to this world than what you
were told in your catechism or when you were growing up."

Rumancik also attempted to explain the tangible importance
of equity education that school districts across the country
are trying to elevate.

"How many of you know about Black Wall Street where hundreds
and hundreds of wealthy people were killed and all of their
stuff was taken away?" she asked. "That was not taught in my
school. How many of you know what happened in Reconstruction
- I learned about the carpetbaggers that came from the north
and did terrible things. (But) you never learned about the
Black people who were elected to Congress and then were later
lynched by the white people. There is so much to learn,"
Rumancik said.

Before Valbrun Consulting Group stepped down, District 86′s
efforts to hire an equity consultant encountered a previous
setback during the fall, which also had something to do with
an anti-conservative social media post causing concerns
within the community.

On Thursday, board members Kathleen Hirsman, Erik Held and
Cynthia Hanson did not address the issue of Valbrun's letter
being publicly read at the Jan. 13 meeting, while Jeff
Waters, Debbie Levinthal and Peggy James criticized the
handling of Valbrun's situation.

James said she contacted Prentiss with questions about why
she read the withdrawal letter out loud and didn't receive a
response, and Waters said the board didn't give permission
for the letter to be read at the Jan. 13 meeting.

Hirsman urged community members to get back to the core
principles of equity and inclusion work, which is essentially
designed to foster a sense of understanding between different
groups of students, including those of different races,
ethnicities, abilities and disabilities, religions, cultures,
genders and sexual orientations.

"Just dial down the temperature, and instead of focusing on a
consultant who is not hired, focus on the work we can do
within our school district," she said.

School officials said the Cultural and Equity Leadership Team
would reconvene in February to review the next steps in
hiring a consultant.

<https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/ct-dhd-hinsdale-district-86-equity-meeting-tl-0203-20220129-rtjvcpbkzfejxnvhwpacp3f6ee-story.html>

On Thu, 11 Aug 2022 16:29:24 -0400, Rhino
<no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

>> Since book titles are not unique having a link showing the book's
>> cover is useful information to ensure you actually reference the right
>> book :)
>
>It depends on the context, doesn't it? In my home town of Kitchener,
>Ontario, there is a major ongoing kerfuffle about the school board and
>its policies of what books are in the school libraries. A teacher
>working at one of the schools administered by that board tried to bring
>the attention of the board and public to various school library books
>that she thought were cause for concern and got booted out of the
>(virtual) meeting. She promptly resigned and, a few months later, filed
>a substantial lawsuit against the school board and some individuals on
>it for suppressing her speech at the meeting. Simply trying to read some
>brief passages from books caused this whole hullabaloo.
>
>I can well imagine that libraries - whether in schools or public - would
>be very sensitive to accusations that they're making "problematic" books
>easily accessible to the young and impressionable. They might well
>decline to limit access to anything that might get them tarred as
>"groomers" or whatever slur might get thrown at them.
>
Of course - and school libraries serve a different purpose from public
libraries e.g. directly assisting the kids' educations. (In my school
days I routinely hung around the reference section of the public
library when I had a project. Being an old fart that was before the
internet)

In our public library they don't restrict what books kids can take out
and they have a 'self check out system' so if a kid is tall enough to
use the machine they can do so.

I can see a teacher speaking at a school board meeting (I've been to a
few particularly in 2007-2008 when I was considering running for
school board but in the end didn't much to the knowledge of my
projected running mate who eventually became school board chair) risks
wrath though given the very limited info here she had to know what she
was risking. And again given the limited info presented she would seem
to be right.