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INCLUDE INCLUSION

Diversity in K12 schools is more than race and ethnicity. Our schools are a broad mosaic of differences that include socioeconomic status, athletic ability, personality, gender, academic levels, religion and so much more. It seems that the idea of helping our youth understand the concepts of diversity has been weaponized and politicized. In fact, we know that teaching inclusion helps students learn how to be open to a wide variety of perspectives and engage in critical thinking. Homogeneous thinking stifles creativity and problem-solving.


Ultimately, our educational system has the responsibility to help students learn how to respect one another. Diversity and inclusion rests upon respect as a central pillar and evolves into relationship building skills that celebrates each unique individual. Inclusion is a core concept that applies to creating a welcoming learning environment that maximizes the success and individual experience of EACH student. Kinect ED believes that inclusion must be framed by both visible and invisible dimensions that form the uniqueness of each student, staff member and caregiver. Some of these dimensions include:


Abilities/Disabilities Religion Education

Culture Parent/Family Status Political Beliefs

Age Socio-Economic Status Learning Styles

Personality Ethnicity Language

Military/Veteran Status Appearance Race

Gender/Gender Identity Sexual Orientation Nationality

Culture Life Experiences Relationship Status


When school systems actively welcome, support, respect, and value each unique member of the community, academic success and engagement will follow.

What can you do?


1. Form an Inclusion Team in your district and create a plan.

2. Meet with parents and the community to share your plan and engage them in the work.

3. Share the plan and inclusive expectations with district teachers and staff.

4. Share expectations for inclusion with students.

5. Use passive education to communicate school values about inclusion.

6. Prepare teaching staff through professional development to teach inclusion to students.

7. Provide inclusion curriculum at all grade levels to help operationalize your efforts.


Be prepared for push-back, but be steadfast in your goal to include ALL students, staff, and community members in the quest to provide a positive educational experience and a love for learning for ALL students.


If you are looking for more resources, check out these new step-by-step guides:




TEACH INCLUSION is an inclusive resource that gives you tangible lessons for 6-12 graders. Split into two sections, you'll find eight full lessons for 6-8 graders and eight for 9-12 grade students. Each lesson tells you the learning outcomes, supplies needed, worksheets, and full facilitation instructions. We even give you the words to use to introduce the activity and provide directions to your students. In between each activity, you'll find a ready-made poster with a quote, fact, or message that you can post for students and staff. Use this resource to provide a full year of monthly lessons about how students can become "Includers" and what it takes to create an inclusive learning environment.But wait! It's not just about the students. The DEI Staff Education section includes pre-written email lessons for staff, too! Get your copy at:




CHOOSE INCLUSION is a book that will help engage your educational community in the quest to increase student success for ALL students. Step by step, you'll be armed with the tools that you need to walk your teachers, school board members, and community members through the process of actualizing an Inclusion Plan that reflects the needs and desires of your district. In addition to facilitation tips, you'll get worksheets that help you articulate:


Inclusion Plan Mission Statement

Core Beliefs

Common Language

Inclusion Needs

Tangible Goals


The final product: A Transformative Inclusion Plan that serves as a roadmap for success.


The added bonus to this book is cultural competency content for teachers, understanding the power of subtraction and understanding policy review.


Accompanying this workbook is a full copy of our trademarked Equity Rubric and one consultative meeting with one of our Kinect ED experts. We will walk you through the process of inclusive excellence and answer the tough questions that you face as you strive to achieve student success.








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We Don’t Talk About “Bruno”, But We Should


Across the world, students, teachers and even parents have taken an extreme liking to the song, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” from Disney’s latest streaming release, Encanto.


From the song's relatable topic, and irresistible beat, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” has everyone ironically talking about just that, Bruno.


Personally, the song bore striking similarities to an experience from my time working with students. On one occasion, a group of American Indian students overheard a person without color, call them a slur. When asked what they heard, some students heard the staff member refer to the group as “scavengers”, the others overhead the group being called “savages.” Tomatoe, tomato, right? Wrong!


At Kinect ED, we have a mantra, If You Permit It, You Promote It, thus, to keep things honest and authentic, I had to confront the staff member about their comments and to my surprise, not only did they acknowledge that they had indeed used one of the phrases the students heard, they ended their apology with a statement that has stuck with me, even now, “It’s just one of those things we said at the dinner table,”.


I wondered to myself, then, if this could really be a thing? I had always known that there were certain topics you shouldn't bring up at the dinner table, but I hadn’t been privy to the list of critical conversations reserved for the dinner table.

As I dug a little deeper, I learned that not only did a hidden list exist, the list contained all the things by and large we should be talking about, not just at the dinner table, but in the classroom, in the workplace, with colleagues during training, with fellow educators in the struggle, at the school board meeting, with the equity committee on the equity committee for the equity committee.


Things like racism, stereotypes and microaggressions.
Things like sexism, gender identity and sexuality.
Things like politics, political differences and religion.
Things like family and what makes each of our families unique.

In America, there has been this growing, and innate assumption that in order to stay “united”, we can’t discuss our differences or the things that are often used to divide us as a people.


Things like racism, stereotypes and microaggressions.
Things like sexism, gender identity and sexuality.
Things like politics, political differences and religion.
Things like family and what makes each of our families unique.


But the truth is, if we aren’t talking about all the things society says we shouldn't be talking about, then what are we really talking about?


If we can’t have the critical conversations about race, how can we have courageous conversations about racism? If we can’t talk about sex, how can we start to talk about sexuality and gender identity? If we can’t talk about class, how can we begin to explore, learn and grow in our thoughts and actions around classism?


While it might be easy to emphasize the semantics, the reality for BIPOC communities, intersecting identities and communities that have historically been marginalized, is that -isms (racism, sexism, classism), racial slurs, derogatory phrases, microaggressions, stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, the list is endless, but largely shaped and accelerated by a Western culture that says, White is Right and therefore, there are somethings we just don’t talk about, even if they are important.


This fine line between the appropriate and inappropriate, the right and the White, further demonstrates that we haven’t come nearly as far as we think we have as a nation, as a people.


Until we get comfortable, talking about that uncomfortable thing, the elephant in the room, the Bruno at the dinner table, we can never really begin to break bread and bond as a diverse society. We can never begin to seek first to understand, as opposed to seeking to be understood. We can never move beyond the performative acts of inclusion that we see today, and begin to truly disrupt the systems that continue to marginalize.


So no we don’t talk about “Bruno”, But We Should.







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Back to School Snack Break!

What’s Popping in Education?!



We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for a SNACK BREAK* !


*News, tips and information you can digest during a short break in your regular day.




Variant vs. Vaccine

Even with the recent FDA approval of Pfizer's COVID Vaccine, districts, schools and organizations across the nation scramble to protect against the Delta variant. With a rise in diagnosed cases amongst vaccinated individuals, residential communities like nursing home and colleges are implementing new restrictions like mandatory vaccinations for faculty and staff, risk of termination for non-compliance and increased testing and continued masking for those who choose to exercise a medical or religious exemption to vaccination.


CDC to Everyone:

You're on your own.


Receive and provide documentation of completed COVID-19 vaccination by Oct. 1 (tight window) or be terminated without the possibility for rehire.


Bye. Bye. Bye (well sort of...)


The current university policy in place for the 2021-2022 academic year requires "all students who live, learn, or work in person at the university" to be fully vaccinated.

Of the 238 incoming fall semester students who were disenrolled, just 49 (20%) were enrolled in classes meaning most likely weren't planning to attend this fall anyways.



K-12 School Districts Reconsider Remote Learning

After one district found themselves with seven times more positive COVID-19 cases among students and staff than the district had at its highest case count last school year, remote learning didn't sound so bad after all.


The solution? Distance learning will take place during regular school hours through Google Classroom.


All school staff are asked to return to work on site.

"The virtual learning process will be much different than it was in March of 2020," said Scott Spence, superintendent of Glynn County Schools. "Our teachers will be in their classrooms and will be fully available online to our students during the school day. We also have several layers of support in place for students, teachers and parents if issues arise."


NEW! All trainings are now offered with a virtual option!








September is.... National Hispanic Heritage Month

National Hispanic Heritage Month traditionally honors the cultures and contributions of both Hispanic and Latino Americans as we celebrate heritage rooted in all Latin American countries.


The histories of Latino and Latinas in America are diverse. They include the experiences of people with cultural, religious, and linguistic traditions from Spain, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua, among other nations from Latin America and Iberia. It is impossible to tell the experiences of these various groups with a single history.


The day of September 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September18, respectively.


Latinxs are the country’s second-largest racial or ethnic group, behind white non-Hispanics according to the latest 2020 census.




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Blog Appreciation Discount Code

September25

Use this code and take 25% off your total purchase.





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