Equity & Family Engagement

 Greetings!

Thank you for visiting our page. The Equity and Family Engagement Department is here to serve students, families and staff.

• Our work is supported by the Lake Washington School Board of Directors and our Superintendent.
• Our work aligns with the district's belief that each student has the potential to achieve at high levels and to accomplish significant academic and personal goals.
• Our district acknowledges that systemic and institutional inequities and bias exist, creating barriers for student achievement, opportunity and well-being.

The Equity and Family Engagement Department is one of many district organizations that is committed to raising the opportunities and achievement of all learners regardless of race, ability, religion, language, culture, ethnicity, income, sex/gender, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation and other aspects of student identity. Collectively, we must interrupt, identify and remove systemic barriers causing predictability of success and failure that currently correlates with these factors.

Sincerely, 

Pablo Ortega 
Director Equity and Family Engagement

2023-24 Equity team annual report

Vision

The LWSD Equity & Family Engagement department is committed to the legacy work of racial, gender and ability equity for all and the intersectionality therein, and the power this work has to disrupt the status quo. We are a community of unified and unrelenting abolitionists working to intentionally achieve educational and social justice to ensure that all students have freedom to choose their paths in the world.

Mission

Together we will engage in intentional, strengths-based legacy work by pushing boundaries through storytelling and abolitionist teaching as we unite to disrupt the systems that threaten the educational freedoms of our community. We will work to harness and include the power and wisdom of historically marginalized and traditionally non-dominate communities. It will take the action of pushing boundaries and decolonizing our policies, processes, curriculum, and mindsets so that we can achieve ultimate freedom from the shackles of a variety of injustices that we, our students, our families, and our communities face daily.

This webpage provides information on many of the activities related to diversity and outreach to close opportunity gaps for students of color, for students with disabilities; and for traditionally underserved student groups.