Garfield Heights City Schools Mourns the Loss of Michael Douglas, District’s Chief Diversity Officer
The Garfield Heights City Schools would like to extend its condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Michael Douglas, Chief Diversity Officer for the Garfield Heights City Schools, and proud alumnus from the Bulldog Class of 1984, who recently and unexpectantly passed away. For the past six years, Mr. Douglas played a deliberate and critical role in helping to discuss with staff and students the importance of racial and social diversity and promoting cultural awareness throughout the Garfield Heights City Schools. Mr. Douglas was responsible for conducting meetings with staff in every building, highlighting best-practices for how to deal with potentially tumultuous situations and role playing in small groups and interactive settings. The District views the diversity training that has been deployed with all staff, including teachers, administrators, secretaries, transportation, kitchen and custodial team members to have made a positive impact because of the work of Mr. Douglas. Even more, Mr. Douglas’ emphasis on diversity training extended beyond the staff to include the students of the Garfield Heights City Schools as well. A perfect example of this was the Student Project Mosaic, in which high
school students were invited to learn about diverse situations dealing with
matters of race, culture, social and gender identity and how to positively interact
among others with varying value sets and belief structures. Dozens of students
participated in the Project Mosaic, and as the name of the activity implies,
this opportunity assembled a variety of thoughts and perspectives on different
topics and brought them altogether into one unified discussion. Michael Douglas
advanced and led diversity training at its finest with our staff and students.
Please join The Garfield Heights City Schools in extending its sincerest
condolences to the family and close friends of Class of 1984 alumnus, and Chief
Diversity Officer, Mr. Michael Douglas.
