wisconsin music educators association president
Diversity and Inclusion in WMEA Lynn Seidl, WMEA President
“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.”
~ Stephen Covey, author of
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
It has been a concerted effort of our na- tional organization, NAfME, to address diversity and inclusion in the organization, particularly within the past few years. Likewise, our state organization, WMEA, has made similar efforts. Diversity pres- ents itself in many different ways: religion, ethnicity, culture, gender identification and socioeconomic diversity. When your WMEA leadership team talks about diver- sity they also include the rural and urban school factor, the population of the small versus the large school district, and the far northern and northwestern regions of our state, which often seem to be under- represented in our organization, for what-
ever reason. There is also the balance of young and “not-so-young” educators, and the various areas of music education and level, such as higher education, secondary and elementary, public and private school education.
WMEA is striving for greater inclusion and diversity, focusing on the following three areas:
1) WMEA membership and leadership 2) Conference sessions 3) WMEA awards
WMEA’s membership is not as balanced as we would like it to be. The six districts and membership numbers are as follows:
Northwest: 100 North Central: 51 Northeast: 154 Southeast: 294 South Central: 154 Southwest: 45
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...WMEA has succeeded in adding a new subject for conference planning: Inclusion, Diversity, Equality and Access (IDEA).”
WMEA is aware of the need to include educators from all of these districts in our organization. Quite often, educators are asked to serve on committees or run for an elected position, but for many different reasons they decline. Family situations, work on an advanced degree and health all factor into the decision. Many times it is because they cannot be away from their teaching position, both for personal reasons and also because their school dis- trict will not allow them to do so. While exploring the school climate that will not allow an outstanding music educator to be in a position of leadership is a different conversation, the teacher shortage, includ- ing a shortfall of substitute teachers, has impacted how schools function and bears mentioning as it is of growing concern here in Wisconsin and among most of the 10 states in our NAfME North Central Division. The organization’s awareness of the need to increase diversity within the membership and leadership of WMEA allows us to actively work to identify ways in which this can be achieved. If you are interested in becoming a member or pursu- ing a leadership role to help us address this issue while also serving as a representa- tive for your district and education level, do not hesitate to reach out to me or any member of the WMEA Executive Board and Council for more information.
While we continue to work towards in- creasing participation across all regions of the state, WMEA has succeeded in adding a new subject for conference
January 2018
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