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An Apology To Our Members
July 9, 2020
Dear NWKE Community,
A few years ago, NWKE was asked by some of our members and colleagues to have a conversation about race. We handled it poorly, and as a result, we lost several valuable Black & Brown members, board members, members within the LGBTQ+ community, and those speaking up for them. We’re sorry. They deserved better from us as colleagues and friends. Their voices are needed and we weren’t listening. We are seeking to hear them now and make it right. Our membership, if not a diverse community, is not a whole one, and we are committing to rebuilding relationships.
NWKE hosted an event at which language was used that caused people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people in our community to feel marginalized. The response of the NWKE board to the people who were hurt by this workshop failed to address the concerns of our community and caused further damage to the educators who raised these concerns. We acknowledge that we made mistakes in how we tried to repair the harm. Our attempts were not enough, and we hope to do better in the future.
Beyond our actions as a board or a professional organization, we are also all music educators who work every day with incredibly diverse populations of students. We need to hear the voices of diverse educators in order for us to offer the kind of responsive music education that our students deserve. We feel the absence of these leaders and recognize their contribution to our organization. By speaking up and speaking out, they have helped us realize how much work we must do in order to make all identities and voices feel equally valued in NWKE.
Music education can be transformative in the hearts, minds, and lives of teachers and students alike: we seek to understand and implement culturally responsive teaching practices, anti-racist pedagogy, and practices aligned with decolonizing the music classroom within the framework of our Kodály teaching.
This is the call of Kodály in the 21st century.
We invite you to join us.
Recent News
New Teacher Discount for workshops –
Are you a first year teacher? We are excited to announce a new discount for first-year teachers. If you are in your first year of teaching, you can preregister for $15, or pay $20 the day of. This will show up as one of the checkout options on the main registration page.
Looking for a discount? – Want to help make these workshops happen and attend for a lower cost? Volunteering is a great way to become more involved in NWKE! Click here to sign up to volunteer at a workshop!
About NWKE
Northwest Kodály Educators is a chapter of the Organization of American Kodály Educators.
