Building an Inclusive Community

Timberline Middle School Diversity and Inclusion Policy

We believe all students have the right to participate in the Timberline Middle School Community embraced, supported, and valued by their unique identity, background, and experiences. We believe it is the collective responsibility of students, staff, and families to:

• Grow in our own personal understanding of others who are different from us.
• Nurture an inclusive school experience that values the unique story and experience of each student and family. 

We strive to create space where:

• Students are empowered to learn about those who are different from themselves.
• Space is intentionally created so that students from different lived experiences have opportunities to interact, develop relationships and develop understanding of how we come to be in this world.
• Individual differences are valued and respected.
• Students are provided with opportunities to tell their stories and incorporate their family’s values, beliefs, and experiences.
• Representation is a priority, and less dominant voices are intentionally elevated.
• Perspectives are intentionally balanced within conversations, curriculum, and practice.
• Students understand the impact of implicit bias, stereotypes, microaggressions, prejudice, and systems of privilege so that they can help to create a more inclusive community.
• Students have the opportunity to learn from and experience accountability when their actions deny others of safety or respect.
• The community actively pursues removing systematic obstacles, behaviors of intolerance, or passive attitudes that continue habits of division.
• The community actively pursues learning about the identities, backgrounds, and experiences of all students.