In How We Talk about Race and Equity
As some of you may know, I have had issues with a small cabal of people who think that loud namecalling and hyperbole can change the landscape around race and equity in this district (state, nation).
Here's the problem with that - it will not work.
The reason I say that with confidence is because as I have seen through the years, many people shrink back from any kind of talk they feel is aggressive. I think some of it is the sensibility of any given person who prefers a more civil or engaging way of talking about issues. Some of it is a dislike of hearing talk about tough issues in a blunt manner.
(And note to everyone - don't even try to engage. It will not work, they will not listen. They seem to hang out at the SPS Community Discussion and Resource Exchange Facebook page. It's a sad thing because that Facebook page in question does sometimes have good information/discussion. But let a couple of these people go at it like whirling dervishes and see people leave in droves.)
Make no mistake, there will be tough talk around race and equity and it will be uncomfortable. But it does not have to demean and tear down. It doesn't have to be "I'm right and you are wrong, wrong, wrong on every single point." There are ways to bring the horse to the water AND get him to drink without shoving his head in and near-drowning him.
To this point is the op-ed in the New York Times by Loretta Ross called I’m a Black Feminist. I Think Call-Out Culture Is Toxic. She explains the situation much better than me. (Bold mine)
But I will also state that in today's overheated climate of chatter, that terrible behavior should not be normalized at any level. The number of truly shitty people in videos saying the worst, most prejudiced things DO need to be called out. Sure, they have First Amendment rights but know that the majority of the country has/is moving on and we embrace the great diversity that built this country and are not standing by while some try to demean others.
As white people, this is one of the key things we CAN do. (I'll have another thread on what white parents can do to support change in their schools.)
She goes on:
Pageviews all time history - 13,003,509
So to my critics, this blog has been around about a decade. It could not and would not have lasted that long if it was all supposition, gossip and "lies." It certainly would not be recognized by the district and others like Senator Patty Murray's office as a media source if there was not integrity here. Charlie and I created that and I have kept it going.
The little blog that could.
Here's the problem with that - it will not work.
The reason I say that with confidence is because as I have seen through the years, many people shrink back from any kind of talk they feel is aggressive. I think some of it is the sensibility of any given person who prefers a more civil or engaging way of talking about issues. Some of it is a dislike of hearing talk about tough issues in a blunt manner.
(And note to everyone - don't even try to engage. It will not work, they will not listen. They seem to hang out at the SPS Community Discussion and Resource Exchange Facebook page. It's a sad thing because that Facebook page in question does sometimes have good information/discussion. But let a couple of these people go at it like whirling dervishes and see people leave in droves.)
Make no mistake, there will be tough talk around race and equity and it will be uncomfortable. But it does not have to demean and tear down. It doesn't have to be "I'm right and you are wrong, wrong, wrong on every single point." There are ways to bring the horse to the water AND get him to drink without shoving his head in and near-drowning him.
To this point is the op-ed in the New York Times by Loretta Ross called I’m a Black Feminist. I Think Call-Out Culture Is Toxic. She explains the situation much better than me. (Bold mine)
Ms Ross is an activist and the author of the forthcoming book “Calling In the Calling Out Culture: Detoxing Our Movement.”From her piece:
Call-outs happen when people publicly shame each other online, at the office, in classrooms or anywhere humans have beef with one another. But I believe there are better ways of doing social justice work.
Call-outs are often louder and more vicious on the internet, amplified by the “clicktivist” culture that provides anonymity for awful behavior.She is both honest and thoughtful in her reflections:
My experiences with call-outs began in the 1970s as a young black feminist activist. I sharply criticized white women for not understanding women of color. I called them out while trying to explain intersectionality and white supremacy. I rarely questioned whether the way I addressed their white privilege was actually counterproductive. They barely understood what it meant to be white women in the system of white supremacy. Was it realistic to expect them to comprehend the experiences of black women?I, too, have been called out, usually for a prejudice I had against someone, or for using insensitive language that didn’t keep up with rapidly changing conventions. That’s part of everyone’s learning curve but I still felt hurt, embarrassed and defensive. Fortunately, patient elders helped me grow through my discomfort and appreciate that context, intentions and nuances matter.
That last paragraph? We ALL have learning to do. I lean on my sons to correct me on new gender nomenclature. When I make a mistake, it's not me trying to be hurtful; it's me trying to get it right and grateful for helpful corrections.
People of color, please help us. Obviously, we need it. But it is rare that people - even those of good faith who DO want to see change in the world and WANT to be part of it - will listen if they are slapped across the face.
Another place where Ross is incredibly brave:
Can we avoid individualizing oppression and not use the movement as our personal therapy space? Thus, even as an incest and hate crime survivor, I have to recognize that not every flirtatious man is a potential rapist, nor every racially challenged white person is a Trump supporter.She then speaks to the greater society:
We’re a polarized country, divided by white supremacy, patriarchy, racism against immigrants and increasingly vitriolic ways to disrespect one another. Are we evolving or devolving in our ability to handle conflicts?The way forward:
The heart of the matter is, there is a much more effective way to build social justice movements. They happen in person, in real life. Of course so many brilliant and effective social justice activists know this already. “People don’t understand that organizing isn’t going online and cussing people out or going to a protest and calling something out,” Patrisse Khan-Cullors, a founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, wrote in “How We Fight White Supremacy,”She makes a really fine point here.
Nor should we use social media to rush to judgment in a courtroom composed of clicks. If we do, we run into the paradox Audre Lorde warned us about when she said that “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”I have found it easy on Twitter to read a quick bite and say (almost), "Well, off with his head." There are very few people in the world who deserve that. I need to stem that reaction.
But I will also state that in today's overheated climate of chatter, that terrible behavior should not be normalized at any level. The number of truly shitty people in videos saying the worst, most prejudiced things DO need to be called out. Sure, they have First Amendment rights but know that the majority of the country has/is moving on and we embrace the great diversity that built this country and are not standing by while some try to demean others.
As white people, this is one of the key things we CAN do. (I'll have another thread on what white parents can do to support change in their schools.)
She goes on:
These types of experiences cause me to wonder whether today’s call-out culture unifies or splinters social justice work, because it’s not advancing us, either with allies or opponents. Similarly problematic is the “cancel culture,” where people attempt to expunge anyone with whom they do not perfectly agree, rather than remain focused on those who profit from discrimination and injustice.She also says this which spoke to me because of what a few have said about me and this blog:
Call-outs are justified to challenge provocateurs who deliberately hurt others, or for powerful people beyond our reach. Effectively criticizing such people is an important tactic for achieving justice. But most public shaming is horizontal and done by those who believe they have greater integrity or more sophisticated analyses. They become the self-appointed guardians of political purity.Am I deliberating hurting anyone? Of course not. Am I powerful? That's an interesting question because, on the one hand "she's just a blogger, no one listens" and yet there's this blunt force attempt to discredit me. Why so much effort if no one listens?
If you use race and equity as a club of righteousness, you can stop
all discussion you don't like or agree with. Congrats to you and how did that work out for you? It's astonishing to see
not only the tearing into of white people but, if you are a non-Black
POC, you, too, will be attacked. That's some "political purity."
At last night's Board meeting, former SCPTSA president, SebRena Burr, called out both me and Julie Van Arcken (separately). Of course, Burr does not have the courage of her convictions to say our names but it was fairly clear who she meant. She used some pretty strong language with zero proof to back her claims (for me, that I am "lynching" one of the D7 candidates and for Van Arcken, that's she's a Trojan horse for HCC). This kind of ridiculous talk doesn't make me recoil for myself - it makes me wonder about any candidate who aligns with people using those kinds of tactics as being a candidate I would want making decisions on behalf of all kids in this district.
What does Ross suggest?
We can change this culture. Calling-in is simply a call-out done with love. Some corrections can be made privately. Others will necessarily be public, but done with respect. It is not tone policing, protecting white fragility or covering up abuse. It helps avoid the weaponization of suffering that prevents constructive healing.Calling-in engages in debates with words and actions of healing and restoration, and without the self-indulgence of drama. And we can make productive choices about the terms of the debate: Conflicts about coalition-building, supporting candidates or policies are a routine and desirable feature of a pluralistic democracy.In 2017, as a college professor in Massachusetts, I accidentally misgendered a student of mine during a lecture. I froze in shame, expecting to be blasted. Instead, my student said, “That’s all right; I misgender myself sometimes.” We need more of this kind of grace.
More of this grace indeed.
In closing this thread, I note another passage for this blog, from my Stats page:
So to my critics, this blog has been around about a decade. It could not and would not have lasted that long if it was all supposition, gossip and "lies." It certainly would not be recognized by the district and others like Senator Patty Murray's office as a media source if there was not integrity here. Charlie and I created that and I have kept it going.
The little blog that could.
Comments
You are not welcome here. Your racist words are not welcome here. It's a free country - go start your own blog.
Cease and desist.
But have you been asleep? Despite everything these groups of people have faced and still face, there are many blacks and latino's flourishing! Latino's are reaching the middle class much faster than previous generations of immigrants, but this is sometimes obscured by the fact that so many poorer latino's are still coming to this country. Previous generations of poorer immigrants came in large numbers then their numbers dropped when they were restricted from immigrating through the terribly racist immigrations acts of 1917 and 1924. And as a professor once told our class back when I went to college, it often takes at least a couple of generations for the poor to be able to get out of poverty in the US.
This country has a rising black & latino educated and middle and upper class. This is DESPITE everything they have had to endure. But your comments seem bigoted and I suspect you really don't want to have a conversation.
Yuck
It's sad, really. I think most readers of this blog would empathize with her struggles to get ethnic studies funded, share her distrust of the JSCEE leadership, and would be interested in helping her achieve racial justice. Instead she just attacks anyone who disagrees with her. She seems to save her most potent venom for POC women. TCG wants power, not change. She would rather be queen of the ashes than have to stand arm in arm with white parents against entrenched white male billionaire power.
Her approach won't get us anywhere, that approach has been tried before and fails every time. The only path ahead is solidarity, and that means treating people with a modicum of respect if you want their aid. It doesn't mean overlooking things that need to be corrected. In a beloved community we can point out where each other needs to grow and improve in order to be successful. White folks have more to do than others. But we all need to working together toward a common goal, because if we don't hang together, we absolutely will hang separately, and at this point, that is not a metaphor.
Porter
Reader
Your language is racist. You use language throughout this post that invokes false and racist tropes of white victimhood and black violence. No one is “slapping you across the face”. There is no “cabal” against you. No one is “tearing into” white people. No one is “taking you to water and shoving your head in and drowning you”. (I know that last phrase what in reference to a metaphorical horse. But in the metaphor either you or other white people are supposed to be the drowning horse.) The use of heightened language to describe the real or imagined suffering of white people at the hands of Black people demanding equality has a long, ugly, racist history. You have played into that racist practice here. I presume you have done so unwittingly. It’s easy to repeat racist tropes because racism is so pervasive. We live in a society where our language and our institutions are all built around the false legacy of white supremacy. That said, unwitting does not mean without responsibility and I think the language here is harmful. White people’s false fantasies of the danger of blackness, and use of language that invokes it, puts Black and brown people in danger and makes their lives harder.
It’s not classy, or fair, to write a column criticizing the racial justice advocacy of a group of people of color, and in the midst of your criticism ask them to help you. You ask for people of color to help “us”. I assume that by “us” you mean white people. White people struggling with racism often look to people of color for help. Racism has taken freedom, wealth, safety and so much more from people of color, for generations. To ask those who have suffered this harm to explain to us why it’s happened, what has happened and how to fix it, but only to do so in a way that we can tolerate emotionally, is asking quite a lot. In the context of this post, it’s unfair.
I hear the natural follow up question; “But if I can’t ask people of color for help how will I get better at being anti-racist and working for racial equity?” It’s a good question. Here is an answer. First – it’s ok to ask people for help sometimes, in the context of relationships, collaborations, trainings, and perhaps others. Context matters. Second there are nearly endless ways to learn how to be anti-racist. Read books. Go to trainings. Listen when people of color talk. Learn from history. Watch movies. Listen to podcasts.
You claim knowledge beyond your expertise. You provide a lot of advice about how people, including people of color, should and shouldn’t advocate for racial equity. But you discount the historical context. Throughout history there have been White people who have claimed that people of color advocating for racial justice would have more success if they were not so “aggressive” and didn’t make people uncomfortable. When history has shown the opposite to be true. You cite extensively a recent article by a Black woman activist, Loretta Ross. She writes about the complexities of relationship building across bias and racism, and how to “call-in” with love rather than “call-out” toxically. However, you seem to misunderstand and misuse her message. She writes “Calling-in engages in debates with words and actions of healing and restoration, and without the self-indulgence of drama.” Yet within this very blog post you employ tactics of insults, exaggerating, dismissing, innuendo and hyperbole.
As you have noted, you have a blog that people read. I think that if you want to change how “we” are collectively talking about racial equity, you have the opportunity and the responsibility to look at your own sphere of influence, including this blog. Lastly, if you want to talk about my comments, please reach out. I believe we are in this together.
Anne
Melissa is stating through this post that she feels attacked. Now before you over interpret my chosen wording of "feeling attacked" as some sort of "racist trope", choose any language you want but don't ignore the message. She has an important message she is trying to relay in this post.
You are not giving the same sort of scrutiny to the people she is referencing who are bullies. You are ignoring them. This is something that is often done to women and although you state you are female, I interpret your ignoring her message as sexist.
Another Reader
I saw the post on the former Soup for Teachers facebook page. It was a disgrace. I'm concerned the same tone is about to get worse.
Yes she is getting attacked. She has been insulted, defamed and threatened.
So are others who disagree with these self-righteous, self-appointed equity police.
They have created their own strain of toxicity.
Some are running for public office. Castro Gill for one.
Bigger picture -- these toxic people are splintering the left instead of uniting it.
Great way to ensure a path for unapologetic racists like Trump to win again.
Great way to ensure the folks at the John Stanford Center can continue to pit SPS communities against each other like they've always done.
It's easier to beat up on Melissa than to tackle the real enemies.
Divided WeFall
This blog is no longer the main educational site for SPS. It has been dominated by those with power and privilege. Other voices are now calling that out.
Dissenting voices here have been met for years with ad hominem attacks and pile-ons, told by Melissa to "move on/find another blog" or even had their workplaces called. See some current posts for examples.
SPS has been divided for eons. These warnings are about three decades too late. In fact, the current political climate is the effect not the cause.
Instead of playing the victim, it is time to own that you are reaping what you have sown.
Enough
Mellissa is a respected member of the community.
It appears to me that there are a few angry people on the SPS Community facebook site. IMO, community members have learned that they will attack those with dissenting opinions. Bao Ng posted about D7 candidates. Comments were turned off.
I fear I should have divided this particular post into two threads. But, I was so taken by this NY Times Op-Ed and the issues that it raises in this particular time and place that SPS sits in, that I thought I would combine the two.
To note:
- We are all racist to some degree. It does take education to alter that thinking as well as raise consciousness of it.
- I admit some of my own failings in this area.
- I have never claimed expertise on race and equity. This thread is me, saying that here's a way to think about trying to bring people together, not divide them. That's my opinion.
- I have done all the things you suggest. I just this week sat down with an amazing African-American leader and asked her, "Giving credit to any parent who has kids in public schools, who works to make their child's school better thru volunteering or fundraising or advocacy - how do we get mostly white parents to think beyond their own child to the greater SPS community?" She sat back in her chair and said, "That's a tough question."
Because to make change in this or any other district to meet the goals of educational justice, we need as many people involved in the work as possible. Period.
- I asked for help NOT to put the work/burden on POC but to try to follow their lead. It's odd that you think I believe I have expertise on race and equity when I quite openly say I don't and ask what would be the best way forward.
At some point, one of my last threads on SPS was going to offer help for white parents in how they can be allies in their own schools to create educational justice. Because I think many parents truly aren't sure what would help and what would help the most. Maybe that is the work of the Racial Equity Teams that are supposed to be at all the schools.
PTA funds uneven among schools and/or being used - wrongly some say - to buy staff?
Again, where is the district on this? Where is the SCPTSA?
This blog has said, over and over, we need discussions on this. But that hasn't happened and I wonder why. Is it easier to blame parents for too much PTA fundraising while taking the money because the district is SO happy to have it? It smacks of hypocrisy to complain and yet the Superintendent and the Board have it in their power, with the help of SCPTSA, to change that and yet they don't.
I used blunt language because 1) that is what Ms Castro Gill uses and 2) because I want people to hear how much that will not work.
To myself, here's what you might need to know to understand this thread:
Castro Gill started this with an angry tweet months ago about me being a racist, blah, blah. Apparently, what set her off was my opposition to the Amplify curriculum. She believes that Amplify and its online use would help more than hurt kids of color and therefore, anyone against it is wrong.
Did she come to me and ask to talk? No. Did she advocate for Amplify for its positive virtues? Nah.
Have I ever met or talked with her? No. She says that we had one interchange when the initial Black Lives Matters day started in SPS. I had just wondered about sitting in on one class to report back on what the day looked like and she blew her stack over that idea. How dare I interfere with what a teacher and class were doing? Sitting and taking notes isn't interfering and I submit if a journalist had asked to be in the class, I don't think the district would have said no. So I wisely backed off.
I am a quasi-public figure. I know that and I get that when you are in that position, you will get attacked. I've been a public education advocate for over 20 years and writing this blog for 10. I have a fairly thick skin.
But the real issue is that she and her small group want to shut me down. They fear the integrity and reach that this blog has. So why not try to discredit me? Why not take things out of context, condemn this blog and all its readers as racists? Sure, that's the way to start dialog on the work of educational justice.
Of course, it's not working because the blog is about real community discussion, not being an echo chamber.
But a couple of things won't fly with me.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, NO ONE, not Castro Gill or Chandra Hampson gets to tell anyone else about their race/ethnic heritage or their background. Castro Gill and her pals have made fun of my grandmother and my relationship to her. They seem irritated that I identify as white and yet I have a Mexican heritage AND grew up right on the Mexican border in an isolated, rural town where yes, the majority of the town was Mexican. That I wasn't raised within my own household as Mexican is something I won't discuss because everyone has complex family relationships and it's no one's business. But I am very much tied to Mexican culture and I don't give a rat's ass about anyone's opinion of that. I know who I am.
But aggressive is the right word when someone comes out swinging without even trying to have a dialog first. So I do not regret that at all.
"Yet within this very blog post you employ tactics of insults, exaggerating, dismissing, innuendo and hyperbole."
I'm sorry you believe it reads that way. I'm not sure I know on each of your issues how they relate to what I wrote. I think some of this may be your own opinion and you are entitled to that.
As to trying to have that dialog, well, yet another amazing African-American leader came to me recently, on her own accord, and said she would offer to be a go-between so Castro Gill and I could sit down and talk. I said absolutely, my schedule is open and flexible. Castro Gill flatly said no. Her reasoning is that I am trying to get her fired and that's just not true. I have never said that publicly or privately. In fact, I have said extolled her work, both to the Superintendent and the Board.
So, I have tried to talk.
I have said good things about Castro Gill. She has never said one good thing about me nor tried to find common ground (she and I actually have things in common but she doesn't want to acknowledge those).
Because I believe only public education can change the outcomes for kids of color and, of course, that needs to start with Ethnic Studies as well as the REAL history of our nation being taught. We cannot go forward until we fully acknowledge the good, the bad and the ugly. (I also believe this country needs a national reconciliation as South Africa did.)
So when I said you can't get a horse to drink and especially not if you hold its head underwater, I'm not speaking of violence. I'm speaking of using the carrot, not the stick.
Clearly this is a topic full of passion and person. But, you can help people see, as Ms. Ross did with those partners of KKK members, how that racist thinking and action hurts others and destroys lives, without personally attacking them. And, if you read her op-ed, she got a good outcome that way.
Because most of all, you need people to listen.
This district needs all hands on deck but I'll tell you something you probably already know - there are people who don't care. Either because they only have room to care about their own kids or they believe things aren't that bad for POC or they are truly hateful and have prejudice against POC even kids.
I think alienating parents won't work but again, that's just my opinion. I think the district or PTSAs via SCPTSA giving white parents tools to think about and hopefully use in their schools could further the work and give it legs. What would the curriculum look like when Ethnic Studies is fully realized? What could parents on the ground do in their own schools?
But again, I circle back to Castro Gill. She thinks the stick method is the best.
Meanwhile, she admits the Superintendent has repeatedly told her that what she writes on Facebook and Twitter isn't helpful. (And I note that this is on Castro Gill's own time except that if she's the head of Ethnic Studies and writes about race and equity, then I would suppose for the Superintendent that's an issue.)
Meanwhile, she's been instructed not to directly contact the Superintendent or Board. (I saw the email that may have prompted this - with Castro Gill calling the Superintendent's aide "offensive and racist.")
Meanwhile, she has a budget that has money for two FTE because after all, she's one person trying to enact Ethnic Studies for 100 schools. And yet, the district won't let her hire people.
Meanwhile, a news story at the SPS website two weeks ago about Ethnic Studies Summer Institute didn't mention her name at all. How could that have happened? (I see they updated it to mention she "organized" the event. Kind of like she made copies and had some cookies there. Again, weird.)
Meanwhile, she has told Board committees that fully one-third of principals have not answered her emails about the work. One-third. There could be several reasons for this but more than one teacher has written to me and said that Castro Gill has come into their school and told them all that they were racist and their teaching was completely wrong.
I'd lay money that NO teacher appreciates someone coming into their school and saying that. Castro Gill is herself a teacher and this is how she treats teachers?
So while I think the district supports Ethnic Studies, I'm not so sure they support her.
That's my concern and worry, not myself.
Siobhan, I'd be happy to sit down with you but since you offered no way to contact you, I'm not sure how that would happen.
Remember, no justice no peace!
--NJNP
Professor
My two cents, is that educational justice needs to start early. We need to invest serious resources into our youngest students (and their families) so that we can reduce the disparities in educational outcomes at the outset. The disparities we now see are already present in K, and they persist. We need intensive--and more effective--efforts during the early years (incl. pre-K) so that students are in a better position to be on the same trajectory in later years. Strategies that rely on optics to supposedly (but not really) reduce the gaps once the gaps have already been entrenched in later grades is backwards--and is bound to meet opposition from parents on all sides who (rightfully) see that their child is being artificially held back or is not fully supported in rocketing forward.
Rather than trying to lower the ceiling on some kids or deny them access to future learning opportunities that are consistent with the learning opportunities they've already received, we need to work on raising the floor for incoming students from groups that have historically had poorer outcomes. Build a stronger foundation and more opportunities for such students and we can reduce the gap over time.
@--NJNP, "Melissa was warned about stepping over the line with Castro Gill. Westbrook did not take the advice and now must pay the price." WTF? Is that intended as a threat? And who is the all-powerful one that is in a position to "warn" Melissa not to step over some "line" that someone imagined? If it's Castro-Gill, she is sounding more and more unhinged, to me, every time I read more about her.
AT
Westbrook is rude and disrespectful.
--NJNP
I re-read the op ed. Here is what jumped out:
1,Can we avoid individualizing oppression and not use the movement as our personal therapy space?
2.The heart of the matter is, there is a much more effective way to build social justice movements. They happen in person, in real life. Of course so many brilliant and effective social justice activists know this already. “People don’t understand that organizing isn’t going online and cussing people out or going to a protest and calling something out,” Patrisse Khan-Cullors, a founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, wrote in “How We Fight White Supremacy,”
The Equity Manifesto (not written by SPS)
"It begins by joining together, believing in the potency of inclusion, and building from a common bond.
It embraces complexity as cause for collaboration, accepting that our fates are inextricable.
It recognizes local leaders as national leaders, nurturing the wisdom and creativity within every community as essential to solving the nation's problems.
It demands honesty and forthrightness, calling out racism and oppression, both covert and systemic.
It strives for the power to realize our goals while summoning the grace to sustain them.
It requires that we understand the past, without being trapped in it, embrace the present, without being constrained by it; and look to the future, guided by the hopes and courage of Those who fought before and beside us.
This is equity; just and fair inclusion into a society in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. Unlocking the promise of the nation by unleashing the promise in all of us."
Link to the Racial Equity Tool and key wording:
"It is the moral and ethical responsibility and a top priority for Seattle Public Schools to provide Equity Access and Opportunity for every student, and to eliminate racial inequity in our educational and administrative system."
"Educational and Racial Equity: Providing equitable access to opportunities, resources and support for each and every child by intentionally recognizing and eliminating historical barriers, as well as the predictability of personal and academic success based on race, background and/or circumstance."
https://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/DREA/racial_equity_analysis_tool.pdf
Equitable Access:
"The District shall provide every student with equitable access to a high quality curriculum, support facilities and other educational resources,even when it means differentiating resource allocation."
"Westbrook pushed for racist programs that excluded blacks from participating."
Nope.
"Westbrook flip flops and denies her own published words." When was that?
"Their are a few other that have told Westbrook to stop in comments on Facebook."
Largely incoherent but yes, I have stopped commenting at the SPS Community Resource page because the moderators have decided anything goes and if TCG is there, she will beat everyone down. Even POC.
Jane
She states and I quote "My suggestion is that instead of teaching subjects and content, which is almost always translated into teaching tests, we teach humans. This means culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies. This is how we shift our value systems and begin to see students as whole and complicated human beings instead of test scores and cognitive capacities. The students I taught are being harmed already..... Dismantling and replacing these segregated, and therefore racist, systems will benefit everyone.
I suggest she leave SPS and start her own separatist school for like minded people, where she can focus on teaching instead "oration and art. Two subjects according to her "not highly valued by whites".
Fango
NE Voter
NE Voter gets it right.
Hi Tracy!! I figured it is only a matter of time before you are reading and reposting content from the blog. G'Day!
Curious
We aren't just black or white or brown, gay or straight or bisexual, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu. We're also brothers and sisters; parents and children; Democrats, Republicans, and Socialists; bus drivers and office workers and cooks and gardeners; fans of the Mariners and the Seahawks; amateur musicians and kayakers; movie buffs; social media-holics, mystery readers; hikers and singers; poets and pet lovers; students and teachers; friends and lovers. Racial identity can be the basis of resistance to racism; but even as we struggle against racism, let us not let our racial identities subject us to new tyrannies.
Individual identities are complex. Perhaps this is what some individuals leading ethnic studies, and their followers, are forgetting.
There are discussions amongst extreme left regarding call out culture. Expect some action on this issue. The goal is to attack civility.
The board would be foolish to let someone’s unvetted and likely extremely biased curriculum sneak in under the radar.
HF
Head Scratcher
Face Palm
" Castro-Gill yes, exactly. They should be offering a different kind of education and be accessible to everyone, instead of vaguely “better” and encouraging white flight from neighborhood schools.
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Liza Rankin Ooh white flight jinx!"
These fools don't know that people on this blog are trying to reopen the African American Academy. Rankin also does not seem to understand that people on this blog are trying to save UNEA.
What does it mean for a candidate to speak in such a foolish and ignorant fashion? I think NE Voter is correct.
And,I note that Liza Rankin seems lined up with them so apparently she, too, thinks it's a good idea to talk like this. Keep that in mind when you vote. Keep in mind that if she and Chandra Hampson get on the Board, you are going to get group-think, particularly as they served together on the SCPTSA. Add in Emijah Smith and you will get three people who will group-think. That is not a good thing. From reading their comments,know that if they do all three get on the Board, parents who testify are going to be silently judged by them. You are not going to get non-biased thinking.
(I note that when Soup for Teachers started,I was a consistent fan and supporter and wrote about their work on a regular basis. How it all morphed into the current iteration, I don't know.)
However,for the purposes of this thread, please move on. Let's talk about how parents can support racial equity in their schools (diverse or not). Let's talk about what parents might want to see in elementary schools around Ethnic Studies. Has that been discussed at all at your school? Has your principal talked about it?
If a person wants to elevate themselves to that of a public figure, as she has, they ought to expect to be criticized. That comes with the territory. How people handle it (degree of overt retaliatory hostility) is a mark of their qualifications to serve in that role.
Second, if I were in a responsible position, I would not give this person any authority over another employee. Doing so would incur an obvious risk legally, in terms of the fallout from when someone is potentially harassed to the point of constructive discharge. That might speak to why the department is suffering by not getting additional staff.
This whole "HCC cabal" stuff smacks of Trutherism. The fact that no evidence can be produced to substantiate those claims is itself "proof" that there is a conspiracy. See also Birtherism. It's not a great example of reasoning for our kids. It is a great example of projection and a glance at the social media remarks would make that obvious.
Lastly, TCG is on a crusade that is ableist, and shows animus toward people in need of services who are classified as gifted, in that it is often co-occurring with issues that do qualify for SpEd services under 504s/IEPs. "Giftedness" needs to be accommodated when an institution teaches toward "averages". If such an employees were expressing in such a public way bias against race, gender, etc., we would all demand human resources peek under that particular rock to see if that is reflected in job performance. I want to say this ableism is based in profund ignorance, but I have a hard time believing that with all of the academic degrees. Maybe OSPI does need to intervene, since the district seems politically constrained from doing anything and we are talking about a protected class of kids.
In fact, since SPS HC qualification does not recognize single subject giftedness, many 2E students go without HC services.
If you don't like TCG, argue on the merits.
There really isn't a much lower way to go than to falsely use disability to bolster your point.
Enough
These blanket and globalized dismissals of these diverse women have one thing in common: They have all criticized you at some point.
You are revealing a thin-skinned vindictiveness and it is making whatever criticisms they have made seem more believable.
Pathetic
Then refute the rest of the post. You dismissing one point doesn't invalidate the others.
Another SE Parent
I believe the negative perception of Smith came about after the youth-led candidate forum where Smith was in attendance with a number of supporters, but other candidates to replace Patu were not present. At least that's my recollection.
I would be very interested in learning more about why you believe Smith would be a good choice. I am a very long time follower of this blog and appreciate your thoughtful comment.
Ruthie
If you consider it "insulting" to say someone has a group-think mentality, so be it. I'm just pointing out what I see and my opinion. It is not denigrating to do that. If you disagree, that's fine. Sebrena Burr has said terribly insulting things about me and I reported what she actually said at the Board meeting. I'm happy to put up the entire video where she complains about changing the name at Van Asselt and says that only an African-American person can represent D7.
What am I trying to accomplish? Look at our mission statement at the top of the page. As well, consider my last comment which is to steer the discussion about real issues.
Ah but Pathetic, I have many diverse women who DO support me. How do we explain that? No, this particular group cannot win on the merits of their beliefs so they try to tear me down in order to invalidate this blog.
If I report what people actually say and then express my opinion, that makes me vindictive? And note, I have said good things about all those people - Ms. Smith, Sebrena Burr, TCG, Liza Rankin and Chandra Hampson - at one time or another (including this thread). Have they been fair? No.
Again, onward to the discussion which is more important.
Freire
Good for people of conscience, such as Chandra, Liza and Emijah for stepping up and taking on the corrosive special interests that have hurt the students in our district for so long.
Advance All
I don't know who the board will install. Will they install a charter school supporter? Will they install in individual that supports Teach for America, again?
There is no evidence that Honors for All is reaching all students.
The Race and Equity Team at our school is doing great. Students feel supported.
The op-ed Melissa cited demonstrates how important it is that we reject the TCG-style approach to racial justice. She is a huckster out for herself alone. She traffics in racial essentialism and spews ridiculous claims that somehow people from nonwhite cultures don’t care about literacy or STEM or success. And she wants to be on a school board! God help us all.
Freire
Advance All
Explain that because I don't think that and I want to understand what I am missing. As I previously reported, the last time this happened, I believe people just applied, there was a meet-and-greet and the Board interviewed people individually and then voted. I think the whole thing was over two weeks. This was in D3. This process has been a lot more open.
Advance All, I think it's the Superintendent who is dragging her feet on HCC. Two years for the Taskforce to do its work? No changes to outreach or application? That's on her.
Honors for All feedback? AWOL despite President Harris asking, over and over. That's on the Superintendent.
But folks, really? You have no thoughts or questions about race and equity or rolling out Ethnic Studies at your child's school?
Advance All
Advance All
If there are changes to ANY program, then the Board has the right to ask,"How is that going for all the students in those classes?" "Course corrections?" "How to expand to other schools?"
That's not being inquisitive or nosy; that's doing the job of oversight.
I ask you to stop this line of discussion as again, for the third time, that is not what this thread is about.
The Friday Open Thread is open if you want to continue it there. Not here.
Seattle, situated in a region mired in the ugly history of racist and exclusionary practices, needs an advocate to help bring this much needed curriculum into every classroom. But instead of an advocate who can build a longer table of champions for children, they hired someone who thinks of herself as the self-righteous queen of call-out culture and hides behind her monitor to lob insults and spread fake news, taking out her mommy issues (#mommysoracist) on anyone who she sees as a threat to her personal agenda to make herself the face of Seattle POC and ethnic studies.
Ask yourself, what does she have to gain from the name calling and false humility while also promoting self-importance? Maybe we should start a Go-Fund Me page to help pay for therapy.
- HH
I keep people on the topic of the thread because when readers come to a thread, it will be about the topic at hand. It drives off readers when they see a thread dissolve into something else.
I've been doing this over a decade so I know what I'm talking about.
I gave you another place to put your comment and you reject that.
It's seems a little childish to keep this up.
Move on.
It's not censorship; it's running a blog.
Fair enough. I didn’t see your previous response. Perhaps our postings clashed.
Advance All
The remnants of that system remain. I don’t think most Americans even acknowledge the stolen labor of slaves or the stolen lands of the Native people.
When people recognize how racial privilege pervades our culture, they want to keep kids of different backgrounds in school together and in the same classrooms together as much as possible. This is arguably the most productive method to achieve equity.
At the same time, all students should be challenged.
I think our highly trained teachers are up to the task.
JJ
Crickets
If you had the courage to put your name to your comment I would be happy to discuss with you in more detail about what I did on the school board with regards to gifted ed, HCC and "Honors for All." But it’s difficult to have a constructive conversation with someone who wants to traffic in false accusations anonymously.
But, for the record, what you insinuated about my actions regarding "Honors for All" is a lie.
What I did do was invite an expert on giftedness and education to present to the Board at one of our retreats about how to make the school district’s gifted program and advanced learning more diverse. Austina De Bonte’s informative presentation can be found here: “Peeling an Onion”. (She is president of the Northwest Gifted Child Association.) I and other members of the board asked staff to implement the various best practices and ideas she outlined.
I and other members of the board also asked for a report on Garfield's “Honors For All” at the end of the first year, to find out how it had fared, if all students were being engaged in the classes, if the teachers had what they needed to differentiate as necessary, if an academic standard that merited being called “Honors” was being maintained, etc.
Eventually we received an email from a teacher with limited feedback but which told us that students of different racial backgrounds were interacting more with each other. That was good news. But there was little to no information provided about how the class impacted academic achievement for all the students in the class. I also heard that some students required a supplemental lesson in order to work at the level expected in the Honors classes. The board also received emails from families telling us their students were not being challenged in these class, and some teachers told me they had to simplify their lessons in these classes in order to accommodate the wide range of student preparedness they encountered. This included limiting or eliminating reading assignments.
None of this adds up to a complete analysis of whether the “Honors for All” model is accomplishing what was promised or hoped. I believe current board directors including President Harris have asked for a more complete update. This would be helpful information, since other SPS high schools are also requiring mandatory Honors for 9th and 10th grade LA and Social Studies.
Lastly, this is not an "inquisition" but a Board oversight duty. Board policy requires board oversight of curriculum issues. Consequently, staff brings annual reports to the board on these various areas (ie. curriculum waivers, Creative Approach Schools, advanced learning, Head Start, etc.).
-- Sue Peters
- a carefully vetted curriculum, one that the public can see and comment on before it is implemented to be sure we have something fact-based, not biased, age-appropriate, etc.;
- for the proposed curriculum to be piloted in a representative sample of schools prior to full implementation, so that we can address any challenges before widespread implementation;
- for the Board to take responsibility for formally approving the curriculum prior to adoption, even if staff finessed things to make it so that this normally wouldn't be the case;
- for there to be specific, measurable outcomes that we want to achieve, with a clear commitment to evaluating the outcomes;
- for there to be sufficient and effective teacher training to ensure that teachers are able to deal with the sticky issues that are likely to come up, and that teachers often struggle with;
- that there be pre-and post- surveys of students, with results disaggregated by race/ethnicity, to see if the curriculum is having different impacts on different groups;
- for the curriculum be implemented with fidelity across schools, so that different students aren't getting different messages;
- for TCG's role to be minimal, given her apparent inability to listen to, respect, and collaborate with diverse members of our community;
- and so on.
This is too important not to get right, and SPS has a history of...well, you know.
HF
Exactly. Where is the examination of the effects of HC exclusion on the children not receiving the service? How about Leslie Harris leading a charge for that? Why so much concern about HC students and what effects them, but not their effect on others? How can the district authentically embrace and infuse Ethnic Studies into our schools when those schools are academically segregated and board members support exclusion.
Advance All
I agree that mixing kids is a good way improve cultural exchange. Maybe if our teachers had only 15 kids per class and 4 hours/day of planning/grading time they could teach all the kids on the bell curve of each subject. In fact I have volunteered in inclusion classes that came very close to this, having a full-time sped & full-gen ed teacher share the classroom of 28 kids along with IAs.
However, as a special ed parent, I can tell you that in our current classroom configuration, most teachers are not able to teach even just gen ed & sped students. Sped students do not get the different instruction that they need. I never even expected it. I felt triumphant if we just got the called for accommodations since even that was rare. So I don't know what your confidence is based on.
But what I really think that SPS equity team wants is standardized instruction. Every student on the same page every day, as MGJ use to put it. They see that as equity. That is just carrying water for corporate ed reform.
Sped parent
Every time TCG tells you that she just wants humanist curriculum, that she just wants equity, wants a whole curriculum, doesn’t want standardization, know that she is lying. She just wants power for herself. That’s it. That’s why she is at her most vicious with women of color. This op-ed Melissa cited points out to all of us why TCG is so massively toxic and will do nothing but undermine actual racial equity work. We will take on white supremacy and racism and we will do so with or without her help.
Vesey
You were a vociferous opponent of Honors for All from the get go. Your opposition went well beyond asking for reports back to the board. You continue to express concern for “all students,” which is your way of indirectly advancing the HC conversation in favor of the privileged.
Ms de Bonte, the “expert” that you so proudly invited to the board retreat is not an educator with any credible peer reviewed published studies, but rather a self appointed promoter of separate schooling for what she terms “giftedness.” Having to sit through acts of self indulgent political propaganda is not the best use the board’s time.
Advance All
Non toxic
Another Sped Parent
You asked/stated: "How can the district authentically embrace and infuse Ethnic Studies into our schools when those schools are academically segregated and board members support exclusion."
Oh, so is your problem with neighborhood school segregation in SPS? That's clearly a different issue than HCC, since if you sent all the HCC students back to their neighborhood schools you would probably INCREASE racial and socioeconomic segregation. If decreasing demographic disparities is your real goal--and particularly if that's necessary for a strong ethnic studies program--why not focus on that instead of misplacing your attention on HCC, which is not a means toward the ends you claim. You're focusing on the wrong thing.
HF
I don't think you're being completely honest here... You said "Special education is a federal mandate that comes with significant funding. There is no equivalent for gifted ed. There never has been, nor ever will be, some OSPI or other remedy for the denial of excess educational perks for giftedness. It isn’t a mandate. Everyone is entitled to basic ed, and that is very basic indeed. Nobody would deny education to HC students."
While true that there's not a federal mandate for gifted ed like there is for special ed, special services for highly capable learners ARE required by WA state law. And while true that special ed comes with significant federal funding, HC services come with some state funding--which makes sense, since the HC services law is a state law. How is the lack of a federal mandate or funding really relevant?
And really, "excess educational perks for giftedness"? C'mon. We're talking about basic education. You know, a chance to learn. As the state law clearly says, for HC students access to accelerate learning and enhanced instruction ARE access to "basic education." Because what YOU consider "basic education"--the basic education designed for students who fall within that more typical middle 2/3 of the bell curve--does not actually provide a basic education for most HC students...because they have already learned that material and/or are beyond those concepts.
When you say "nobody would deny education to HC students" you are being disingenuous. By "education" do you mean the opportunity to be taught new material in classrooms? I didn't think so. It would seem you either mean the opportunity to put butts in seats since they have a right to take up space in a classroom (which most do not necessarily equate with "education"), or that they can just learn on their own outside of school, since nobody can deny them that opportunity for education even if they don't really have an opportunity to learn inside the classroom?
You never seem to have an answer for how exactly a student who is working several SDs above the rest of the class is supposed to get "educated" under this magical one-size-fits-all approach you seem to love so much. What do you have against HC students, and why do they not also deserve to go to school and learn something new?
Please clarify
Crickets
I believe that advanced learning students need a cohort.
I have a copy of the review from 2000-2001. Lots of good stuff in there.
It is the district that has not stepped up - not parents, not teachers, not principals and not the Board.
HF, thank you for the great suggestions. I'm going to compile a list for the Board.
Advance All, did you look at Austina De Bonte’s presentation? I posted it when she gave it. It has GREAT suggestions about changes that should be made to make gifted programming available to more kids.
But, as I have said previously, it took me awhile to realize the goal is not finding and serving gifted kids of color - it's just getting everyone in a seat in their neighborhood school.
I do find it hard to understand why people who seem to hate HCC won't just say that out loud.
One thing I do know - at least for elementary - there's tracking. Teachers divide kids into reading groups all the time. Yes, they are all in one classroom but doing that allows teachers (hopefully with volunteers and student teachers) to give personalize attention at the level each group needs.
HF is right and it's yet ANOTHER oddness from those who are anti-HCC. Sticking everyone in their neighborhood school will only make some schools more segregated. But sure, everyone stay put in your own neighborhood.
And Crickets, there is no magical place where HCC get "the absolute best" in SPS. YOu may be thinking of Lakeside or Country Day, but not SPS.
We need a racial equity conversation.
We also urgently need a class conscious conversation.
So, 20% of our students don't graduate from high school and our 4-year college graduation rates are high (63% at UW, for example). We need a school system and an equity conversation and a school district that can educate all these kids and all the ones in between. 44% of the students receiving advanced learning services at Washington Middle School last year were students of color. Our conversations about equity must not exclude those students.
We need to recognize both the centrality of difference within human identity and the fundamental moral unity of humanity.
Also, yes to talking about class differences (which feed into the white privilege narrative).
Crickets
I'm amazed that anyone thinks this will work.
Flexible grouping for instruction, like a reading group, is not tracking.
Do some research before stating such a blatantly incorrect assertion as fact.
Enough
Curious
Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist (skipped 2 grades in high school)
Shari Huhndorf, Professor of Native American Studies in the Dept. of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley (skipped 2 grades)
Rafael Corrales, venture capitalist (skipped two grades)
Kevin Johnson, former Phoenix suns player and mayor of Sacramento (skipped fifth grade)
John Legend, singer-songwriter (skipped first and seventh grade)
Thurgood Marshall, supreme court justice (skipped 2 grades)
Michelle Obama, lawyer and first lady (skipped 2nd grade & so did her brother)
Chi-Bin Chien, neurobiology professor (skipped multiple grades)
Grace Hopper, computer scientist and rear admiral (skipped 2 grades)
Mae Jemison, engineer and astronaut (skipped 2 grades)
Yo Yo Ma, cellist (skipped 2 grades)
Oprah Winfrey, executive (skipped 2 grades)
Read about how affordable and effective grade skipping can be here in A Nation Deceived (free and available in English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, German, French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Russian):
http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/Nation_Deceived/Get_Report.aspx
And most importantly, it will keep all the students right there in the classrooms at their neighborhood schools, the most fervent, desperate wish of some in this district. Win, win.
Crix
Acceleration is Cheap, you are kidding, right?
1) Grade skipping is not for every child. It's not just about academics, there is a whole social-emotional part to school. Some kids could not make the adjustment.
2) Do you know how many kids there are just in HCC? What if one third grade class had 5 HCC students who then moved into a 4th grade class already at 28?
3) Go ask teachers how they would feel about this. I'm not sure you'd get a majority even agreeing with the idea.
Crix (who I assume is Crickets - do not change your moniker mid-thread), you didn't touch a nerve so much as an irritation.
First, I am the one who, over and over in many threads, told people to stop getting whipped up by HCC discussion. That it happens more on this topic than any other is something I don't get. I wanted
Second, despite me asking, over and over in this particular thread, for people to stay on topic, you come in talking about HCC and Sped. Physician, heal thyself.
Third, my irritation is this constant bringing up of SPed and HCC. If there are those who don't believe in 2E, that's fine but apparently the district and OSPI do. Also, it's as if some believe HCC kids are taking something away from Sped kids. Not so.
One thing that bothered me in the D7 discussion is that the one white parent - Jason Hahn - has such an understanding and focus on Sped due to his own child being special needs. His child has been taken out of class and suspended due to behavior issues. Unlike Jill Geary who ran on her Sped cred, I believe that Jason would have really forced the issue. But he couldn't be considered - at all - because he isn't a minority candidate.
It is absolutely true that Sped parents are among the most unhappy parents in this district. At the Equal Right to Representation Facebook group, parents appear to be gearing up for the usual fight with their school/district to fulfill IEP plans, transportation issues, etc. It's an exhausting, worrying situation to be in.
But trying to put Sped issues and HCC issues together and say HCC parents are trying to take from Sped is false.
Several commenters on this thread deliberately conflated SpEd and HC. Crickets refuted these ignorant claims and so did I.
Reread. It happens on this blog often when people are trying to pose special rights for HC. HC is not SpEd. SpEd is federal law. HC is a state law. Districts can provide HC services however they deem to be compliant, including having a general ed teacher provide differentiation. Not so for SpEd which requires legally binding services for the individual child, hence IEP.
Blaming and lecturing the messenger for correcting these claims is perpetuating ignorance and a false sense of special rights. It also short sells the rights of students with IEPs.
Enough
But about the feds, you are right, however:
"The Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act (Javits) was first passed by Congress in 1988 as part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and was most recently reauthorized through the Every Student Succeeds Act to support the development of talent in U.S. schools. The Javits Act, which is the only federal program dedicated specifically to gifted and talented students, does not fund local gifted education programs.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA; formerly called “No Child Left Behind”) is the primary umbrella K-12 federal education law (note that the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) is the other key federal K-12 law). ESEA includes programs large and small including the Title I poverty-related programs, Title II in-service teacher education provisions, and the Javits Gifted & Talented Students Education Act. The law dates back to 1965.
Parents, educators, and other concerned adults involved with gifted children should know the legal framework in which the education and related services are set forth. The Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Act of 1994 was not established by Congress to protect the legal rights of gifted children, but rather to provide for model programs and projects. In contrast, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 does give extensive legal rights to persons with disabilities."
I myself have never said gifted ed is covered by feds as are Sped students. That Enough and Crickets have been repeatedly asked to stop diluting/changing the thread is super annoying. It will not continue in threads to come. Know that.
So I'll be ending this thread here since very few people want to actually talk about race and equity work in individual schools.