SARANAC LAKE — Last Thursday evening, the committee that met at the high school auditorium sat at tables off the stage, as close to a circle as you could get, jammed between the stage and the rows of fixed seating. It was a pretty good metaphor for the meeting itself, of the Saranac Lake Central School District’s new Diversity and Inclusion Committee — its cumbersome but accurate working title.

Nancy Bernstein chaired a meeting that for over an hour-and-a-half sought to establish the ground rules for a groundbreaking idea: to both address and challenge racial injustice within the local public school system.

The committee was formed in response to a petition signed over the summer by more than 600 community members asking for a reckoning regarding systemic racism. It is a nine-member subcommittee of the Board of Education, a steering committee that reports to the board and also forms smaller, task-specific working groups.

The nine members are comprised of three SLCSD board members: Bernstein, Jeff Branch and Joseph Henderson; three faculty members: Jessica Jakobe, Temnit Muldowney and Dwight Stevenson; and three community members: Cheryl Braunstein, Ernest Hough and Cindy Shortell. All but one are parents; some have biracial children or grandchildren. Muldowney is the only person of color on the committee. She is also the only person of color on the school district’s faculty.

Superintendent Diane Fox is an ex-officio member of the committee; she also brought snacks.

Exactly what the committee can and should try and accomplish was the focus of the meeting, which became a kind of roundtable discussion about issues of diversity in a region that doesn’t have much of it.

Bernstein took a measured yet circumspect approach, quickly establishing basic tenets and then widening the conversation. The meetings, which will be held every three weeks, are open to the public — as this one was. All meetings will have a public comment component — and will in turn establish and oversee various working groups composed of volunteers from the school and local community. The only authority the committee has is to make recommendations to the school board.

“A big thing is finding out how our students of color feel,” said Muldowney. “It’s not a very diverse district.”

Hough brought up the issue of cultural competency, while Jakobe stressed the need to help people realize their own blind spots.

“The term I use with my students is cultural humility,” said Henderson, a parent and a professor at Paul Smith’s College. “A lot of what I experience is unawareness.”

A theme that quickly came to the forefront was the need to prepare students for life after graduation.

“We’re a global world and our children are not necessarily staying in Saranac Lake,” said Bernstein. “I’m excited that what’s going on in society is pushing us. It’s going to be uncomfortable for the community — the school community and the larger community.”

Other issues that came up included the need to engage the parents as well as the students and teachers, and the need to diversify the school district itself.

An important next step is adding a student component to the committee to better gauge and reflect the practices, concerns and goals for the future. One possibility is also to invite recent graduates to participate, as well as current students.

“Their ears, eyes and hearts are open to what is happening,” said Stevenson. “They are aware and want to be heard.”

Another issue was the scope of the committee itself.

“The focus in the beginning is racial equity,” said Bernstein, as it was the mandate from the petition. But as Henderson and others pointed out, there are myriad issues that intersect, including ethnicity, gender, class, economics and students with different needs.

Among the issues on the agenda: a review of the K-12 curriculum, including the New York State school curriculum; a review of school board policies; a consideration of the school’s mission statement; interviewing current students and recent graduates from differing backgrounds; speaking with other school districts that have experienced racism; collecting data to include a broad scope of topics, including purchasing practices; and considering what support structures students and staff of color have.

“We need to make clear that this is going on,” said Bernstein. “Just having this committee sends a message.”

The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 29 at 5 p.m. at the high school auditorium at 79 Canaras Ave.