The Equity & Diversity Collaborative and The Diverse Texts Committee are two new groups within the Hart district that consist of students, staff, parents and administration striving to create a safe and inclusive environment at Hart High School. The main goal of the Equity & Diversity Collaborative is to address issues related to student marginalization on campus and to help make Hart High School a more welcoming place for all students.  The main goal of the diverse texts committee is to increase the diversity in the curriculum in English classes. 

Sydney Franklin is a senior at Hart who first got involved in the committee following a nomination from her Advanced Placement English Language & Composition teacher after she performed several passionate slam poems about black struggles in America.  

“In the diverse texts committee we are working on trying to change the criteria that the district uses to select new novels, short stories, poems, etc. and making sure that the criteria is welcoming to diverse texts from diverse authors. We are trying to make sure that the curriculum represents as many people as possible,” said Franklin. 

Franklin’s role as a student representative is to speak from a student’s perspective and converse with others in the committee to try to come up with the criteria the district uses to determine what texts get included in the curriculum. 

Kevin Umemoto is a student representative in the Equity & Diversity Collaborative. Umemoto became motivated to get involved because of his own experiences with microaggressions on campus. 

“As a minority on campus I was a target for racism and race ‘jokes’ on campus. When I heard about how my voice can be heard to help change our campus for the better, I thought, why not join,” said Umemoto. 

Umemoto’s role in the ED Collaborative Team is to educate the staff and administration about what is going on in the school to help them see inside of our campus from a student’s point of view. The committee is currently meeting once a month to discuss ideas to help change Hart to be more inclusive and a safe space for anybody and everybody.

 “Some goals of ED Collaborative are to make Hart High School a second home for all students. We can achieve this by educating our friends, fellow students and staff about what is acceptable and not acceptable on our Hart High School campus,” Umemoto said.