Self work might include:<\/p>\n
- \n
- considering the existence of and ongoing implications of our implicit biases.<\/li>\n
- thoroughly examining our personal and professional complicity in racial oppression.<\/li>\n
- raising our awareness of micro-aggressions and other ways that we are harming colleagues, students, and families.<\/li>\n
- thinking about the ways that our own identity impacts or limits our ability to effectively support all students.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Learning and unlearning<\/h3>\n
The starting point is to acknowledge that we are all products of and participants in our inequitable society. Formal institutions such as schooling, as well as more diffuse social influences such as media, have shaped our perceptions and understandings. Our beliefs, both implicit and explicit, impact everything. From classroom decisions to how we analyze school policies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
This is especially true for white people who have been shaped by the system and privileged by it. To become forces for equity, good intentions and kindness are not enough. White educators need to interrogate our beliefs and actions. We have to unlearn things we’ve taken for granted as true or natural. We have to start with ourselves.<\/p>\n
Dean Melen, a school counselor at the Chamberlin Elementary School in South Burlington, sees self work as personal yet essential. “Every thread of who we are will be impacted by what we do with our new learned understanding. White privilege is not new to most communities. We know this and continue to dream about equity. We know too, that dreams are not enough. The voice from our students, families, staff, administration and community must out shine our lack of understanding from the past.”<\/p>\n
Let’s look at how SBSD, along with other Vermont districts, is putting personal identity work at the center of their systemic change efforts.<\/p>\n
Diversity \/ Equity \/ Inclusion in South Burlington<\/h3>\n
Five years ago, in the 2013-14 school year, a group of SBSD administrators and staff attended the We All Belong<\/em> training by CQ Strategies. The training focused on cultural competence. Based on this learning, SBSD created a Healthy Schools Coordinator position. Then they merged four mutually reinforcing programs: diversity\/equity\/inclusion, wellness, mentoring, and mindfulness.<\/p>\n
![\"Venn](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-18-at-1.06.38-PM.png\")
<\/a>Four distinct programs merged in South Burlington School District to create Healthy Schools.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n <\/p>\n
SBSD hired Susie Merrick as the first Healthy Schools Coordinator. She was very clear that Healthy Schools built on important legacies already in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe creation of the Healthy Schools positions was certainly not the start of the equity work we are doing in South Burlington. When I was hired, I had the gift of hearing how dedicated many past and current staff were to social and racial equity, including our Superintendent David Young. I also witnessed first-hand colleagues doing courageous work alongside students that reflected their deep and genuine commitment to equity. But we still had a lot of work to do, like any place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
A community conversation about equity<\/h3>\n
During the Healthy School’s first year of existence, conversations about race and identity took center stage due to broader forces in the community. The Student Diversity Union (now the Student Justice Union) at South Burlington High School, co-chaired by students Isaiah Hines and Madison Premsagar, led a movement to change the “Rebel” identifier.<\/p>\n
Susie noted that every community has its own story. She recalled \u201cHere in SB what really jump started conversations about race on a deeper level was our story connected to the Rebel identifier. <\/span><\/p>\n
As staff, we became more aware of how racial inequity was harming our students — and they were the ones leading those discussions because they were courageous enough to speak up. I believe student voice pushed us as staff to more authentically address issues in our schools such as implicit bias and microaggressions.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Courageous Conversation for transformation<\/h2>\n
The fight over the Rebel moniker raged for over a year. In February, 2017, the School Board changed the name to “Wolves.” Principal Patrick Burke supported the name change unequivocally. He was quoted in an article by the student newspaper<\/a>: “When I have kids of color saying, ‘I\u2019m not comfortable with this,’ then I have to listen.”<\/p>\n
During that school year, SBSD administrators and staff participated in training related to implicit bias facilitated by external providers. The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (which had grown out of the team who attended the original We All Belong training) recognized the need to build internal capacity in order to create sustainability. SBSD secured grant funding to send a team of 10 staff members to the Courageous Conversation National Summit in Detroit in the fall.<\/p>\n
The national summit was a transformative experience for the educators who attended. Susie identified the summit as a pivotal moment in her journey.<\/p>\n
“As a white woman, I had never experienced training of this kind. Robin DiAngelo talks of ‘white women’s tears’ in her amazing book ‘White Fragility’: the idea that white people are so uncomfortable discussing race that we get defensive and\/or experience guilt. My own white fragility showed up as tears throughout the conference.<\/p>\n
The training helped me understand my reaction, try to address it with integrity and then work to build my skills and use my privilege to address issues of inequity in my professional and personal life. This has been an ongoing journey for me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Other educators who went to Detroit had similarly transformative experiences. The question was how to bring that back home to the entire staff.<\/p>\n
Bringing it home<\/h3>\n
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee recognized that equity work, especially self work, first and foremost required a safe learning community. So during the 2017-18 school year the district allocated 90 minutes of each district-wide gathering (Convocation and two in-services) to relationship building. They called it “Coming Together”. The 400+ staff gathered in small groups and shared stories about things like family, life goals, and their hopes for the world.<\/p>\n
In the following year, the district increased investment in this work and put in place several important structures:<\/p>\n
- \n
- The Detroit group, who had continued meeting regularly, formally took on the design of professional learning related to equity and became the “Equity Planning Team”.<\/li>\n
- The district brought in a Courageous Conversations trainer to offer the foundational Beyond Diversity course so that more educators could do deep self work. Nearly 60 educators volunteered to participate.<\/li>\n
- The time allotted for equity work during the district inservices was doubled to three hours per session.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
So now the district had substantial internal capacity to support the work. The inservices included time where educators presented in the auditorium. They talked about changes they were making in their practice to further equity, using the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards<\/a> to help guide their presentations. And then educators gathered in cross-district small groups, facilitated by Beyond Diversity trained staff, to process, deepen, and personalize the learning.<\/p>\n
Agreements<\/h3>\n
To support authentic engagement in this intense work, SBSD adopted district-wide group norms. Rhiannon Kim, Speech Pathologist for SBSD and Adjunct Professor with UVM and Saint Michaels College teaching Mindfulness Based Practices, developed a set of agreements. She used an extensive process that included multiple rounds of trial and feedback from various stakeholders.<\/p>\n
The agreements are relevant far beyond the inservice sessions. Staff across SBSD have used the agreements in a wide variety of settings. For instance, the agreements have supported collaborative team meetings, book discussion groups, the District Level Committee Meeting, and even classrooms.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-21-at-2.03.09-PM-1024x820.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIn the future, funding will continue to be invested in building internal capacity. The district plans to continue offering the Beyond Diversity training to develop more facilitators for district-wide work.<\/p>\n
The conversations will continue. And the impacts have already been far reaching.<\/p>\n
Beyond conversations<\/h2>\n
The district level work in South Burlington has made a difference in practice..<\/p>\n
For example, the two educators from Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School who were part of the original Detroit group have continued to deepen the work in their own classrooms and beyond.<\/p>\n
Curriculum and student leadership<\/h3>\n
Christie Nold has developed powerful curriculum that addresses social identity and equity<\/a> in her 6th grade social studies class. She has also worked with several colleagues to launch and facilitate a student leadership group called S.O.A.R. (Students Organized Against Racism).<\/p>\n
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This afternoon, SOAR was joined by @sbjusticeunion<\/a> to hear more about the great work happening at the high school! #vted<\/a> \u2764\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/Y67bzvINSW<\/a><\/p>\n
— Christie Nold (@ChristieNold) May 28, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n