Knowledge is Power!

The FACE office at GRPS believes that our district is strengthened through our diversity. Part of building relationships is learning more about the diverse groups of students and families that make up our district. “Diversity” can mean many things: Cultural diversity, racial diversity, religious diversity, sexual orientation, ability level, language diversity – the possibilities are almost infinite!

For us in the FACE office, these differences are exciting because they present our school community with the opportunity to form friendships with all types of people, right in their classrooms.

Did you know?

• Approximately 40 million people in the U.S. speak a home language that is not English.
• More than 40 languages are spoken in West Michigan.
• One quarter of GRPS students are English language learners.
• GRPS has families and students from over 70 countries of the world.

Interested in understanding more about the ethnic/racial landscape of our district? Check out this Student Data Fact Sheet from January 2024:

Developing good relationship skills includes knowing how to establish and keep rewarding and positive relationships with friends, family and others from a wide range of backgrounds. Learn more here!

Families with younger children may enjoy this cute video, which shows children sharing their home languages during Show and Tell:

This video might interest families whose children are older. It talks about a project that connects families from around the world. In each family, the kid shows their favorite toy. The founder of the project hoped that “it would connect people, by showing that we all have the same basic needs, but different solutions.” Remind your child that different doesn’t equal worse!