A few hours after the conviction of ex-police Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, I saw a statement on Instagram that’s been on my mind ever since. I can’t remember the exact wording (nor the author, unfortunately), but it was something like this: “Remember, before Black people are criminalized by the police they are criminalized by schools”.
This is true. While the number of suspensions fell during the 2018-2019 NYCDOE school year, racial disparities are still significant. Black students comprised almost 45% of the city’s suspensions , despite making up only 26% of the student population. (Chalkbeat). Black girls are no exception. The Georgetown Law Study in 2017 and 2019 found that “Nationally, black girls are suspended more than five times as often white girls, and black girls are 2.7 times more likely to be referred to the juvenile justice system than their white peers.”
While these statistics loom large, I see an open door; an amazing opportunity for schools to shift gears and create proactive accountability and equity in your schools. We can commit to not returning to “business as usual” or even “the new normal”. Schools can take steps to move forward intentionally toward equity. This blog post covers just two of many steps your school can take NOW in planning for the fall.
Create a healing-centered school culture.
When children under 18 experience adverse childhood experiences (ACES), such as neglect, witnessing violence, racism, or growing up in a house mental health problems, trauma can result, increasing risk for academic, mental and physical challenges. After a year like 2020 and the start of 2021, we all need some time and space to heal. Please keep in mind that not only youth, but BIPOC school staff, may be exhausted, hurt, and/or angry and need space and support to heal from trauma as well. I recommend schools start thinking NOW about creating a healing-centered school culture. I particularly like the Community Roadmap to Bring Healing-Centered Schools to the Bronx, authored by the Healing-Centered Schools Working Group, a coalition of parents, students, advocates, educators, and mental health providers working to bring healing-centered practices to all Bronx schools. This blog wont touch on restorative justice practices, nor sustained anti-racist training for all staff, but those elements are essential to building a healing-centered, anti-racist school.
Listen to the experts: Youth
Not only have young people showed amazing resilience and skill building this year, they have also gained expertise on what school systems, staff, and sessions make them feel respected, seen and valued. If you want to build an anti-racist, equitable school, you’ve got to center youth voice. Here are a few steps I recommend.
1) Design surveys and hold focus groups this spring to ask students about their experiences at the school. Do they feel included, respected, valued and seen at school? To what extent do they see their race/religion/gender/etc represented in the curriculum? Which policies seem fair and which hurt their chances for success? What do they notice about racial dynamics at the school? Do they feel the discipline system is fair? To what extent do staff address racial bias between students? To what extent do their teachers talk about race and racism in class? When thinking about anti-racism and equity, what are their suggestions for the school this fall?
2) Offer students decision making power. This may look like a student government, Advisory Council, or student members on the Restorative Justice or Equity teams. You may ask students to join the hiring committee.
3) Create a culture of feedback. By this, I mean feedback from students to school staff. Course evaluations, post-unit feedback forms, and focus groups with teachers about content and methodology all build engagement, youth power, and equity. Chris Emdin’s book For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood…and the Rest of Y’all Too thoroughly lays out ways to integrate feedback and youth input in the classroom.
4) Design structured opportunities for youth to explore race, and racism, while also highlighting BIPOC success and resilience. This should be happening in class, and it’s also important for discussions to be held in spaces where students are not graded. I’ve been impressed with Learning To Work, (LTW), a community based organization partnered with Satellite Academy in NYC, which has developed an open forum called “I Matter”. I Matter acknowledges the personal agency/sovereignty of the individual voices of the community. According to Shanika Blount, LTW Program Director, “I Matter themes revolve around race, class, gender and culture in general. We draw from current events but the meetings are student driven. As students share, the space takes shape and it can be one where common threads are very apparent and it's a love fest or it can be one where healthy debate takes place- many times it's a mix. In any event, our goal is not to create an echo chamber but to make space for critical thinking-even if it leaves some folks uncomfortable. I Matter represents the place for this to happen and nothing being 'held against' you for sharing or having diversity of thought”.
Learning To Work’s “I Matter” virtual forum for youth. Satellite Academy, NYC