Sheffield — Southern Berkshire Regional School District Superintendent Beth Regulbuto and Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development Julie Dolan recently completed a Diversity and Inclusion Certification online program from Cornell University.
According to a press release, the two-month program offered by the Ithaca, N.Y.-based university includes the four online courses “Improving Engagement,” “Counteracting Unconscious Bias,” “Diversity and Inclusion at Work,” and “Fostering an Inclusive Environment.”
In an interview with The Berkshire Edge, Superintendent Regulbuto said that the training is critically important to her work.
“This training has been an initiative in the district for several years at both the school committee and district level,” Regulbuto said. “It has been part of our strategy for the district’s improvement plan that we have been talking about. We wanted to start training with members of our central office team to pass our training down to other administrators in the district. But this training isn’t something where you just take a class and you’re done. This is just the very beginning.”
Regulbuto said that the coursework for the certification included interactive tools.
“It had you look and analyze your style of leadership,” Regulbuto said. “The classes made you look at your school district’s culture and made you analyze it to look at it through the lens of inclusiveness and equity. It made you reflect on your practice and the practices of your team and how it all translates all the way down through your organization.”
Regulbuto said that the topics of diversity and inclusiveness are both something that she has always looked at in being a school administrator.
“For a while, I have been looking for tools to help me with this work,” she said. “This is all sensitive work, and people want to feel like they are doing it well and genuinely. I think that this is what I’m trying to learn is the best way to look at diversity and inclusiveness. During the school year, we want to be reflective and have open and honest conversations so we can understand everybody’s viewpoints. To me, it’s all about listening and learning.”
Regulbuto said that she would be open to the possibility of other school administrators getting their Diversity and Inclusion certifications.
“I think we both learned a lot from this training,” she said. “Everybody is looking for these kinds of tools for their toolbox.”
