Freshman Katie English signs a poster in front of Mrs. Kerpash’s room pledging to be “color brave”.

As teachers entered the cafeteria for a mandatory meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 4, something was visibly different. There was a sign-in sheet, podium and microphone and three faculty members ready to speak.

The meeting began with Counselor Carly Roach showing a powerpoint on how the faculty can no longer be color blind.

With the grand jury’s decision Nov. 24 not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the case of the shooting of Michael Brown and tensions visibly rising, Administrators Jenn Sebold, Kate Piffel and Roach decided that the topic could not be ignored.

“When we decided to start the conversation with the staff, we felt that this is an easy way to introduce the topic,” Sebold said. “It is a big shift in thinking to go from looking at treating everyone the same to treating everyone as an individual that has unique value.”

English teacher Michelle Kerpash took the topics from the meeting to heart, and decided to incorporate them into her lessons, connecting the current unrest in Ferguson to the big picture.

“If we want to talk about the unfair and biased treatment of black citizens in our community and in our world, then we need to stop talking about ‘Ferguson’ and start talking about race relations in our world – however big or small,” Kerpash said.

Choir teacher Brian Parrish also agreed that this was an important topic, and scheduled time during his classes to discuss Ferguson.

“I held a planned discussion a few days ago, and I plan to continue the discussion as more information about the case comes to light,” Parrish said. “I believe that honesty and authenticity is necessary to build trusting and supportive relationships with students, regardless of the subject matter.”

However, Parrish acknowledges  that being “color brave” is not always the easiest topic to bring up.

“It was and still is a difficult subject to approach. I felt obligated to address it in some way, particularly in Leadership class. I wanted to make sure that I chose the right day to discuss the topic, and introduced it in a way that was disarming to strongly opinionated students,” Parrish said.

Moving on from the meeting on the Nov. 4, the administration plans on creating new programs and groups to further support open conversation on these topics.

“As a result of last week, we are going to invite willing staff to be on a building level diversity team. There is still a lot of learning to do as a staff, but we have to start somewhere. Dr. Mitchell is even willing to offer salary credit to those teachers who want to participate. Several teachers have already asked for the opportunity, so we are very excited to begin,” Sebold said.

After attending seminars and camps about dealing with these topics, Sebold and Roach became inspired to improve communication at West.

“This past summer, I spent a full week at a camp learning about oppression and racism. Mrs. Roach and I both serve on the district diversity in action team.  We have spent a lot of time thinking about what we can do to begin the conversation here that we are having on a district level,” Sebold said.

The administrators plan to keep working towards more open communication about issues of race.

“The ultimate goal is for all staff and students to feel safe and valued, no matter what the outcome of the verdict is.  I was personally thankful for the opportunity to address the staff and excited to continue our work,” Sebold said.