Equity Chickens Coming Home to Roost - Part 2
OSPI let her know that the request had been made in Jan 2023 and that they were going to offer to send "a representative sample." Gill's group got a temporary restraining order in Feb. 2023.
On March 23, 2023 in King County Superior Court, Just Indu Thomas ruled that:
“The public records act and Washington administrative code does not
require an agency to first produce records to a notified third party
before that party is required to seek injunctive relief under the
statute.”
The judge added that there is “no basis under the statute to enjoin the release of records to a public records requester.”
“The standard to block disclosure under the PRA is threefold,” the judge
explained. “ 1) the record in question must pertain to that party 2)
the exemption applies and 3) the disclosure would not be in the public
interest and would substantially harm that party or vital government
function.”
The judge wrote that “No specific exemption has been argued. The plaintiff relies on the language in the WAC indicating that an agency should have a reasonable belief that the record is arguably exempt before sending a notice to an affected party. That reliance is misplaced.”
OSPI
claims they don't have any contracts with her nor have her on their
list of resources but you just have to look and her group is still there
as part of teacher clock hours fulfillment.
After that ruling, the curriculum, as well as some emails, were sent to radio host Ari Hoffman who had made the public disclosure request. One item in the material? An infographic:
“Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture.” According to the document, those characteristics include striving for “perfectionism,” “individualism” and getting defensive were included as characteristics of White Supremacy, as well as valuing “quantity over quality” and "worship" of the "written word."
I'm not uncomfortable with what is written above (and I think individualism is an American trait among most Americans and many non-Americans might agree) but I think how it is expressed in that phrasing has an unnecessary tone/tension to it.
I again say that teachers do NOT need to beat down students in any race/ethnic group in order to teach history, social studies or ethnic studies.
Now, will some of what is taught cause some students distress? Maybe and probably not for the reason you might think. I remember learning about the Holocaust and thinking it just couldn't be so. Who could be this vicious to one group of people and for what? Existing? I was VERY unhappy but learning about different events can be distressing. But it's growth.
In a larger context, I am glad for the new supports for students who are challenging norms. But this need for trigger warnings or alternatives to some books will not create strong, resilient young people. There needs to be a middle ground but, apparently, there is a line in the sand in our country with no way to get to a middle.
SPS leadership, including the Board, seem to be in their own world of work and clearly not listening to parents. What is particularly damning is where are the results of their work? Either for Black boys OR for governance? What is better? The Superintendent and Board talk a good talk about change but what has changed?
Memo to SPS: you CANNOT change the outside world. You CANNOT change whatever is/isn't happening in students' homes.
It's hard to know what a good school district looks like anymore. I'd settle for a financially savvy one right now. The advanced navel-gazing of the Superintendent and Board is shocking, given the time and place of this district.
Comments
Elementary-age children sleep about 10 hours a night and spend only around 23% of their waking hours in school each year; they spend the remaining 77% of their waking hours outside of school.
I recall when my student's school eliminated math and reading homework, claiming it was "not equitable" because "some students don't have anyone at home to help them." I also remember when the District started sending my children home at 2:30 PM on Wednesdays. When I asked my student's teacher what my children were supposed to do with all this free time, I was told it was intended for them to spend more quality time with their families.
Both the National PTA and the National Education Association recommend approximately 10 minutes of homework per grade level per night. However, the students at my child's school receive about 5 minutes of homework per week. Eliminating advanced math and science classes, reducing foreign language instruction, limiting music, and ending homework may have tangential effects, but it won't address the core issue of how children spend the remaining 77% of their waking hours outside of school.
Just look at STEMbyTAF at Washington Middle School; The District invested heavily in additional resources, but the performance numbers based on race barely changed. Not surprisingly, reshuffling how the kids spend the 23% of their waking hours in school isn’t going to solve the problem of differing outcomes.
If the District doesn't acknowledge the real issue, which is parenting, it will never make real progress. Instead, the District seems to want to attribute everything to systemic racism and, in the process, drive many families that know better out. In my experience, the District has been a disaster. I used to recommend Seattle Public Schools and even chose it for my own children. However, it has changed significantly for the worse, and I would never recommend it again.
You can correct me if I am mistaken about this debacle. Didn’t this help lead to her firing?
Pot Meet Kettle
So again, for those in the back, it's ONE data point, not the whole picture.
But, on the other hand, feel good moves can make students feel better in the moment, in the school day but, as you point out, then they go home.
District Watcher, we will never know quite what the firing was for - my understanding was that a complaint was filed against Castro Gill by a teacher who said Castro Gill bullied her on white privilege as well as her being insubordinate to her bosses. (I also wonder if there was a sweetener to get her to go away because she has alluded to that in the past.) What is surprising to me is that she's a lecturer at UW. Boy, are they in for a surprise sometime soon.
Pot Meet Kettle, nope. Because 1)I'm not getting paid, 2) I didn't develop curricula to be used in a classroom, and 3)I have always said I'm a CITIZEN-reporter, not a professional journalist. There you go.
You right. Both are self proclaimed experts like a lotta “folx”. With Melissa…. you can elect to read, post, … or not. Can we say the same for a bunch of kids forced into segregated “affinity” groups? Teachers have long had to waste time in these. Prostrate themselves in service to equity virtue signals. Unfortunately the kids won’t be able to ignore “folx” like TCG if she gets into policy making positions.
Imagine being an African American boy in SPS. What is the message you get from policies? No homework ever…. because your home is too dysfunctional to support it. No advanced classes ever… you’re not smart enough to learn calculus or science on your own and, back to premise 1, your family is too dysfunctional to support you. No behavioral norms will be required…. because you’re too wild to learn group norms. No college test prep…. because you’ll never do well on them because the tests are racist and don’t use enough African American sounding names in the examples. You’ll be all thrown off by that since you’re not smart enough. Affinity groups are best…. because segregation is the preferred model of socializing and instruction. Basically, the message given is that you are culturally and intellectually inferior or damaged on every axis. How can such an education benefit anyone? The equity chickens can never even hatch, which is true job security for the TCGs of the world. When those kids show up at UW, they’re already light years behind and without any habits of success. That reality is here already.
Lid
Pot Meet Kettle
I think I mean that she has the education (and I've said this from the beginning) but her worldview on Ethnic Studies is pretty out there. I'm sure UW will find this out soon enough. As for OSPI, I again think there was some kind of messaging to them about allowing her on the resource roster. She was expelled from an OSPI committee because she was very harsh on some fellow members.
The idea that she’s somehow above the law for public disclosure is ludicrous. This is how we hold our government accountable for how it spends our resources and provides services. No legitimate reason to be treated special was provided.
CBD Oil