DEI.exe Has Crashed

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Initiating LWPTSA System Upgrade …

💻 As I complete my term as Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee Co-Chair for LWPTSA Council, I’m not just closing a file—I’m passing on a responsibility.

This isn’t an uninstall. It’s a system upgrade.

What follows is a download of everything I’ve learned, wrestled with, and been taught by our families, educators, students and our great speakers. No pop-ups. No corporate jargon. Just a step-by-step patch kit to reboot equity in a way that actually serves people.

Let’s debug this. Together.

🧩 Step 1: Run a Self-Diagnostic

  • Who’s always in the room?
  • Who’s missing?
  • Who gets to decide who belongs?

🎯 Outcome: Inclusion begins with self-awareness, not spreadsheets.

🛠️ Step 2: Reinstall Community

  • Do all families feel that they are valued in PTA spaces?
  • Are we pulling up more chairs, or redesigning the table altogether?

🎯 Outcome: Inclusion isn’t a welcome mat. It’s a redesign from the ground up.

🛠️ Step 3: Patch the Defaults

  • Are events planned with single caregivers, multilingual families and working-class schedules in mind?
  • Who gets to define “professional” or “appropriate”?

🎯 Outcome: Equity becomes structural, not situational.

🧠 Step 4: Filter the Language

  • Avoid jargon.
  • Don’t say: “We aim to leverage culturally-responsive engagement modalities.”
  • Do say: “Let’s help every family feel like this is their school, too.”

🎯 Outcome: People don’t just nod, they connect.

📡 Step 5: Broadcast Belonging

  • Who didn’t speak today?
  • What structures, perspectives, assumptions or biases in our gatherings kept them quiet?
  • How do we create space for them next time?

🎯 Outcome: Belonging becomes built-in, not hoped for.

📟 Step 6: Ignore the Pop-Up That Says “Too Political”

  • Inclusion isn’t politics. It’s people.
  • Push back (kindly, but boldly) when equity gets labeled “divisive.”
  • Reminder: Justice ≠ drama.

🎯 Outcome: You don’t just protect the work, you reclaim the narrative.

🧭 Step 7: Pause and Reboot

Here’s what inclusion isn’t:

  • A hall pass for harm
  • A blank check for “just being real”
  • A one-hour professional development training with no follow-up

🎯 Input: “Bring your whole self”
🚫 Output: … as long as it doesn’t erase or endanger someone else’s.

📦 Final Download

  • Some days diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) is advocating for change in policies and helping all students and families.
  • Some days it’s asking, “Where’s the translation?”
  • Some days it’s noticing who didn’t speak—and making sure they can next time.

💾 Every line of code counts. Every voice matters.
Even yours. Especially yours.

🧠💻 Written with affection, lessons learned and tech metaphors from someone who knows: Diversity without belonging is just a glitchy interface. Let’s debug it. Together.

✨ Term ending with gratitude—and one last system update:

LWPTSA Council now uses DEIB to reflect the full picture:
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

Let’s keep rewriting the code.

— Zahra Eslami
DEI DEIB Co-Chair, LWPTSA Council