‘Acknowledgement Calendar’ aims to recognize cultures, history

The KLSD ‘Acknowledgement Calendar’ provides a month-by-month outline of groups and topics to be focused on throughout the district. Courtesy of KLSD

By JEFF MORRIS 

The Katonah-Lewisboro School District now has a district “Acknowledgement Calendar.”

The calendar breaks down, month by month, which groups and concepts will be celebrated in the schools.

The Board of Education had an enthusiastic response to the effort at its June 18 meeting, in a report from the district’s Equity and Racial Justice Committee.

Neill Alleva, assistant superintendent for human resources, gave the end-of-year report on the committee’s work and said the group’s intention to create a consistent, district-wide Acknowledgment Calendar ultimately evolved into the year’s formal goal. 

What it does

A statement of purpose, which Alleva said was developed through intensive, back-and-forth discussions at meetings throughout the year, explains the function of the Acknowledgment Calendar. 

“The KLSD Acknowledgment Calendar is an invitation to reflect, learn, and connect with our community and beyond,” it says. “Our schools are stronger when students learn about the communities, cultures, and histories that shape the world. It creates space throughout the year to deepen learning and to prepare our students to engage with empathy, curiosity, and respect as global citizens.”

Alleva explained that the committee is composed of teachers, students “from time to time,” parents, community members, board members, support staff and administrators, and he has been meeting with the committee for the better part of the last five years. He said two years ago, with the arrival of Superintendent Ray Blanch, “we certainly took on a kind of a different approach — an approach where we’re landing tonight, which has been very helpful and given it a lot of direction.”

Alleva credited co-facilitator Keturah Proctor, director of leadership and equity from Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES, with encouraging thoughtful discussion of a wide spectrum of issues. He said those discussions can be traced back to “thoughtful and authentic conversations that began in the winter and spring of 2025.”

“We really focused down on that empowerment action that we created, which is identifying monthly celebrations of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging themes and activities in all schools,” Alleva said.

The decision to create a statement of purpose had just been made in April, said Alleva. The statement goes on to say, “We believe this work brings us closer to our shared humanity,” and emphasizes it is “a beginning, not a finish line. It will grow and evolve, guided by the voices of our students, families, and staff.”

Equity and Racial Justice Committee’s work, based on the State Education Department’s “Culturally Responsive-Sustainable Education Framework,” was focused on the “Belonging” pillar of the district’s “Pillars of Light,” which states, “KLSD will foster an inclusive and connected community where everyone belongs and thrives.”

Alleva said he thinks of it as if you have a pizza. “It’s not that you’re cutting up slices and making the slices smaller,” he said. “It’s that you’re adding more dough and making the pizza bigger.” 

Implementation, said Alleva, is really going to be at the school level. 

“So what Katonah Elementary does will look different from Increase Miller or Meadow Pond, which is invariably going to look different just from developmental reasons at the middle school and the high school.”

He also said they are looking to have more involvement from students, possibly by changing the Equity and Racial Justice Committee’s meeting times next year. 

“We just need to create a system that allows more direct student participation,” he said.

Board reaction

“I have such an immense amount of gratitude for this,” school board member Arwen Thomas Belloni said.

She recounted going to one of the first meetings of the district’s diversity, equity, and inclusion committee years ago.

“It was very disjointed,” she said, and though she didn’t want to criticize anybody who was part of that, “They never seemed to get to that purpose statement. So thank you very much for that purpose statement.”

Belloni said if people don’t understand “why we are engaging in this work — this is why. It is so meaningful to see yourself represented in the things that you are learning and in your student body. And it means so much to me because I have a multiracial background.” She recalled her boys having been one of very few minorities in their KLSD graduating class — and while they were comfortable and felt very accepted, nonetheless, when they went to college, “they both said to me, ‘It was nice to be around people who looked like me.’ That’s why this stuff is so important.”

Student trustee Hudson Lutz said he appreciated Alleva wanting to include students, and he thought a lot of people want to be involved, the way they are already involved in reading passages during Black History Month. 

“People listen more when it is coming from students,” he said. 

Board President Lorraine Gallagher was surprised it wasn’t already happening. “Hindsight is always 20-20,” she said. “To have a committee about equity and racial justice with our students who are living it in the high school not being involved; I don’t know why we didn’t do it before, but thank you.”

Trustee Stacey Isaacson said she was impressed with Universal Human Rights being included in the calendar, as it is more inclusive than things with which everybody is more familiar, like Women’s History Month.

“There are many people who won’t necessarily feel that they fit so neatly into some of these other boxes,” she said.

Trustee Barbara Williams wanted to acknowledge teacher James Panzer’s remarks at the John Jay High School graduation ceremony, which were delivered partly in Spanish. 

“It was such an unexpected and nice moment when he just started speaking in Spanish and acknowledging the families that might have been there celebrating their children, who might not understand most of what was going on, but just acknowledging their presence, acknowledging that they’re part of this community — and that we see them and we’re happy to have them with us,” she said.