JEDI Workshop

A major initiative of the A4LE Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) committee is to host workshops on JEDI-related issues in the design of learning environments. This year’s workshop will build upon the success of the workshop session held at LearningSCAPES 2022 and subsequent online workshops at various levels of the organization, including regional and chapter conferences. The goal of these workshops is to go beyond raising awareness of JEDI – to identify and generate specific, useful, and actionable ideas for implementing JEDI into design processes and design outcomes. Participants will be asked to consider how inherent bias creates our architecture – and schools in particular – as they explore a broad range of topics which will include:

Welcoming and Belonging, including issues of culture, language and terminology, and connecting to the community;
Integrating Health and Wellness for All Learners, including issues of universal design, physiological needs, sensory diversity, and individual needs;
Normativity – Gender and Hetero, focusing on issues of gender and sexual orientation/identity/bias/roles in spaces, places, activities, and building elements, from finishes to materials, colors, etc.;
Climate Justice – Ensuring a Future For Learners, focusing on demands of the youngest generations, including issues of carbon, shade, rising temperatures, indoor air quality, wildfire smoke, etc.;
Supporting Students Facing Housing Insecurity, focusing on issues of support, re-purposing school facilities, co-locating housing with schools and community services, stigma, supporting basic physiological and living needs, etc.

Small groups will focus on individual topics to take a deeper dive for focused discussion and exploration on one topic per group. Each group will be facilitated by an A4LE JEDI Champion who will report out to the whole group at the end. Please bring your ideas, questions, and challenges you see in specific areas of JEDI – a word, thought, sketch, or photograph. If there is an additional topic you would like to bring forward, please reach out to the individuals listed. After the conference, the discussions, ideas, and solutions will be compiled into a white paper/report to be published online as part of a compilation of reports from past workshops.

Learning Objectives:

Develop awareness of a broad spectrum of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in design processes and outcomes.
Develop the capacity to identify and address issues of JEDI in design processes and outcomes.
Learn to consider alternative experiences and perceptions of design processes and outcomes.
Develop awareness of key considerations to consider when designing for equity and inclusion of diverse stakeholders.

Ross Parker, AIA, ALEP, LEED AP, NOMA

Principal | Education Studio Lead, Arcadis

Ross is a co-chair of A4LE’s JEDI Committee. He has a passion for culturally relevant experiential design of educational facilities. His 3-decade architectural portfolio spans from northern Canada to the US West Coast and South, and includes three James D. MacConnell Awards projects – recipient in 2010 and finalists in 2004 and 2020. Ross is passionate about creating inspiring places that promote and embody empathy, and connect learners to their curriculum and the natural environment.

Julia Hawkinson, AIA, ALEP, LEED AP O+M, WELL-AP

Senior Facilities Development Manager | Los Angeles Unified School District

Julia is a co-chair of A4LE’s JEDI Committee. Julia has been working for school districts for the past 20 years to positively impact the learning experiences of the students she serves. She leads the effort to develop, update and align LAUSD’s design standards and educational specifications with its instructional vision. In her professional and personal efforts, Julia advocates for inspiring learning environments that provide all children the opportunity to learn, to grow and to dream.

Kerrie Frymire, CPSM

Associate Principal | K12 Marketing & Business Development | Perkins Eastman, Washington DC

Rachel Pampel, ALEP

Architect | Perkins&Will, Chicago IL

Taine Wilton, AIA, ALEP, LEED AP

Capital Projects Director | Edmonds School District, WA

Track: Resiliency

This track focuses on Resiliency and addresses how learning environments support the development of students and communities that have the strength and flexibility to withstand adversity and adapt to change. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the essential role that schools have in stabilizing communities during a time of crisis. How do schools support the development of strong community culture among teachers and students? How do schools foster physical and mental health and wellness to ensure all are ready and supported to learn? How do we create learning environments that are strong in intent yet adaptable to change? How do we learn from what does not work and further, learn to take risks daily to expand our comfort zone? What can we learn from research and our responses to past events to inform how to build toward a resilient future where we can withstand what crises and challenges the future brings? Topic areas, seen through the lenses of both Art and Science, include sustainability, physical and mental health, community, school climate and culture, safety, and security.

Primary Core Competency
Educational Facility Pre-Design Planning: Manages a master planning process that combines educational planning, facilities assessment and utilization, demographic research, capital planning and educational specifications with a community-based vision to establish a plan for learning environments. This includes the ability to translate existing or aspirational instructional models to specific programming and spatial relationships.