Lisa Sahasrabudhe has dedicated many years of her career to the Ithaca City School District. She worked for over three decades as a classroom teacher and even more years as an instructional coach. Prior to her current role as the Ithaca City School District’s newly appointed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion officer, she spent three years as the principal of Cayuga Heights Elementary School. In a recent interview, we discussed the work being performed in her new position, the importance of a culturally responsive learning environment in social development, her insights on current district initiatives, and her transition into one of ICSD’s newest administrative roles.
Cornelia Ye ’27: To start, what do equity and diversity mean to you?
Lisa Sahasrabudhe: Equity is a really interesting concept. Often what I think of is that picture showing the difference between equity and equality, and it’s three children watching a baseball game, but there’s a fence in front of them. One [child] is taller, allowing them to see over the fence, but the other two children can’t. What will you do for the other children to let them see the game, too? They’re going to get what they need based on who they are, and it’s not going to be equal. All three children are not going to get the same thing, and that’s okay. That’s kind of what equity is: giving people what they need based on who they are, their lived experiences, and their own individual life requirements. And in schools, that sometimes is a really hard thing.
Diversity to me just means exactly that: lots of differences. Differences are really important. I think differences are really great. We should be embracing them and making sure that we have a lot of differences. A lot of the time, people say diversity, but what they really mean is people of color. When I say diversity, that’s not what I mean. It’s not just how many black children are sitting in that class or how many Asian children are sitting in that class, but is it diverse gender-wise, socioeconomically, ethnically, or racially?
CY: How would you describe your job to people who aren’t aware of these concepts?
LS: Well, I’m in this role for the first time, but all the things I do were done by Mary Grover, who is the assistant superintendent for inclusion. All of our equity initiatives, all of our diversity initiatives, and all of our inclusivity initiatives were all taken care of by Mary. And that’s a huge job. So, right now, I get to take some of those things off her plate.
But all of those things are intertwined. An inclusive classroom is one that is equitable and diverse. I think diversity, equity, and inclusion are all over the place now. And for us, it’s not new. The Ithaca City School District has been working towards these things as goals for a very long time. Whether there is someone in the Equity and Diversity Officer position or not, all the things that I’m doing right now were being done before I started doing them in my role with my title.
Some of the things that I’m responsible for include the professional development of teachers and administrators. I structure, create, and invite experts to give our teachers and administrators cutting-edge knowledge about how to teach children in a way that’s culturally and linguistically responsive. We do a lot of talking about racism and anti-racism and how that plays out in a classroom. How can you ensure that all your students are achieving at a high level? Are you giving every child what that child needs to be able to be the most successful?
CY: In your experience, why are diversity and equity important in the learning environment?
LS: I think that learners of all ages, little children or older students, have to be prepared for the world. They have to understand what [diversity, equity, and inclusion] mean. Diversity means being able to learn and grow with all different kinds of people, people who are different from yourself, so that you can go anywhere in the world and be successful as a learner.
CY: What can students do to promote diversity and equity within schools and to make the environment of our schools more inclusive?
LS: Yeah, almost every school has a student equity team. So you should find out about it, what you can do, and how you can participate, because I think students learning about equity, diversity, and inclusion and trying to figure out how to get along with everybody is the ultimate goal, right? Learning and being kind to other folks.
CY: What are your current priorities in the administration?
LS: Right now, the biggest thing that we are focused on is what is called the Ithaca City School District Micro-Credential. We have developed a structured professional development framework around culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and learning. The micro-credential has three strands right now, and we’re hoping to expand it.
The first strand is a study circle about identity. We are contracting with an outside provider. All three strands are text-based. We all read the book by Beverly Tatum: Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? It’s all about identity development of all groups, how children and grown-ups move through pretty distinct stages as they become familiar and comfortable with who they are, how their identity intersects with your identity, and how we can learn best with all of us sitting together.
Strand two is about reaching out to families, and strand three is curriculum writing. For strand three, we also engage with an outside provider to come in and do workshops for our teachers around writing curriculum that is not marginalizing. How do you take those students who are often on the margins in public schools in our country and focus them on learning? We think about what we’re teaching, how we’re teaching it, and why we’re teaching it. While simultaneously giving teachers good professional development in teaching and learning of all kinds.
A fourth experience that isn’t a strand yet, but I’m hoping will be soon, is culturally and linguistically responsive teaching pedagogy. For that, we also contract with an outside agency, and they come in and teachers are coached. And that’s a very effective program, too. That micro-credential is occupying a lot of my time right now.
CY: And what do you hope is the long-term impact?
LS: I want to change teaching and learning so that all children are reaching their potential.
CY: How do you think the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down affirmative action will affect the future of both higher education and the ICSD community?
LS: Supreme Court stuff is really interesting. We’re at a very interesting place in our country right now. The Supreme Court ruling was definitely unfortunate and is having some repercussions in higher education, but not so much here because we didn’t change anything. We don’t have an affirmative action office, and we haven’t for a while, so we didn’t have to change anything because our hiring practices are the same as before. I think that’s all I will say because hiring is not in my job description. It’s not something that I focus on.
Gladira Velazquez handles our HR department, retention, and recruitment, and she’s done a tremendous job. She does a lot of active recruiting. She goes to job fairs all over the country, looking for really good, diverse candidates. Because ultimately, we know that children learn best when they’re being taught by somebody they can relate to and who looks like them. We want our teaching force to look like our student population. That’s what we’re aiming for, and what we were aiming for before the Supreme Court decision, and that hasn’t changed.
CY: Many people know you as a long-time educator and the principal of Cayuga Heights. How have those experiences impacted your current projects and goals?
LS: The three years I spent at Cayuga Heights was only a little blip in my thirty-five-year career. I was a classroom teacher for thirty years. I was a teacher on special assignment for culturally and linguistically responsive teaching practices, and that job was really similar to some of the things I’m doing now. I was also an instructional coach, so I spent a lot of time helping teachers to perfect their art. And then I was a principal. Being a principal gave me a bird’s eye view of what happens in a building. As I’m helping teachers and developing experiences for teachers to perfect their teaching, I now have a better understanding of what that looks like from the building level.
I have a classroom perspective, I have a building perspective, and now I have a district perspective. It all worked together to get me where I am now. When you go to administrator school, they always ask you, basically, “What do you want to be when you grow up? When you finish this, what do you want to do? What’s your dream job?” And this was my dream job, so I feel like I’m living the dream. It’s awesome.
CY: Was that transition between positions smooth?
LS: It was smooth, but it was difficult because I don’t have a lot of contact with children. I felt that same change when I left the classroom. I missed being with students. Then I got used to being at the building level. I had all the Cayuga Heights students, and I miss them. And I miss having that sense of community. Every building has its own community, and you go, and you say hi to all the people you know, love, and are with all day long, and I miss those people. But other than that, it’s been smooth.
CY: Closing off, is there any message that you would like the community to draw from this?
LS: During a Zoom Parent-Teacher Association meeting at Cayuga Heights, we were talking in small groups about what it means to belong somewhere. Everybody was talking about how when you belong, it’s because you’ve been welcomed and because people have made a space for you. A parent said, “You also have a responsibility with that sense of belonging. You have to participate in the community as well.” So you can’t just say, “Oh, they’re not welcoming me. I don’t feel like I belong,” if you never go to events, if you never have conversations with people. That sense of belonging is reciprocal. You’re going to do something, and I’m going to do something, and together, we’re going to have that shared sense of belonging. That really stuck with me. Sometimes, when people say that they don’t feel that sense of belonging, whether it’s with a school, a club, or just a group of friends, it’s because they haven’t taken that risk to put themselves into that situation. I’ve been thinking about those words a lot.
Equity and anti-racism work is really hard. There’s a lot of pushback. People sometimes get really frightened. People get worried that if you talk too much about equity, you lose something. If things were working well for you already, they don’t want that apple cart disrupted because it’s working well for them. Going back to that picture of the children looking over the fence at the baseball game, to let those other two children see the game does not require taking the box away from the child who already has the box. That first child is standing on the box, and they can see, but the others are also getting what they require. Children who already have what they need will still have what they need. And I think that’s the one thing that’s difficult for some folks to understand. I think that that is my message: that it’s not a zero-sum game. We can do a really good job for every child. And every child can learn and grow and succeed in our school district if we all work at it.
I would like to sincerely extend my gratitude to Ms. Sahasrabudhe for taking the time to share her thoughts with me. It was extremely insightful to speak with her, and I am excited to see what is to come in the realms of diversity, equity, and inclusion in ICSD.