Angered after seeing a newspaper article posted
on a school bulletin board that described them as “statistical outliers” who
lagged behind, they overcame embarrassment and delivered their message with youthful
energy and creativity. They feel unfairly judged by outdated tests and object
to statistical analysis that correlates poverty with poor academic performance.
They also made it loud and clear that,
despite any progress or the promises of change ahead, racism remains a real and
persistent problem in local schools.
Their goal, chanted while marching around
school property, was to “end racism at BHS.”
^^^
When the findings of the Diversity and Equity Task Force
established by the Burlington School District were released last October Vince
Brennan was almost as optimistic.
As Task Force Chairperson and a Progressive member of the City
Council he saw in the year-long effort the “noble ideal of building a better
future.” Six months later what he sees instead is “fear and a loss of hope for
change.
Last Monday, during the city council’s first working session with
the new Weinberger administration, he had some strong words for BSD
Superintendent Jeanne Collins after a report was delivered by school officials
on the new strategic plan for diversity, equity and inclusion.
In a commentary submitted to the Burlington Free Press in late
March – but not published – Brennan questioned whether Collins was “really
being true to her words about free speech or is picking and choosing who to
silence.”
 |
| Councilor Vince Brennan |
The school system needs “new leadership,” Brennan concluded. He
was calling for the superintendent’s replacement because she had declined to
intervene after Math teacher David Rome issued a pointed refutation of the
report’s findings.
Brennan’s commentary was written in response to a Burlington Free
Press op-ed that said he was wrong to criticize Collins for not speaking out
about Rome’s rebuttal. The teacher’s questioning of statistics and conclusions
cited as the basis for the school system’s strategic plan undermined the
report’s initial public reception and has raised fresh questions about racism
in the schools.
Brennan insists he does not want to silence Rome, despite
suggestions in the press that it is a free speech issue. But he does think that
“not participating with the Task Force while it was assembled and then
condemning the whole process after it was accepted is exercising what
researchers call ‘privilege’ based on race.”
Disparities and disagreements
Schools in Burlington are considerably more diverse than most in
Vermont. Students of color—Asian, Black, Latino, Native American and
Multiracial—make up 27 percent of student body, according to school district
figures. About 15 percent are English language learners from other countries.
Over 60 languages and dialects are spoken by their families. Statewide, the ELL
population has more than doubled in the last ten years.
Minorities will be more than 50 percent of the US population by
2042. Although the white community may be able to maintain the status quo, the
report argues, doing so will create “an inhospitable climate for students and
families of color and will severely limit the potential of all our students to
succeed in a rapidly changing environment.”
With these and other trends in mind the Task Force attempts to
make the case for rapid change with a portrait comprised of “statistically
measured facts” about the local system. The report states, for example,
that the dropout rate for African American students is measurably higher, that
“students who are eligible for free and reduced lunch” are 25 percent less
likely to graduate, and that “there is nearly a one in five chance that an
otherwise qualified student of color did not take the SAT or ACT exam.”
It also notes that minority students “are extremely
over-represented (60%) in being punished through out-of-school suspensions,”
and although students of color make up 27 percent of the student body, they
represent only 13 percent of those passing Algebra 1.
The strategic plan that has emerged from this analysis involves
top-to-bottom change in educational policies. That includes ongoing training
and professional development for all employees, hiring more people of color
along with “culturally competent” staff, leadership and accountability by the
school board and administration, increased transparency, and incorporation of a
“multicultural mindset” into curriculum, hiring and other policies that “values
cultural pluralism and affirms students from all backgrounds.”
In a section on what needs to be done during the next year to
change the local climate, the primary objective is to “infuse the district with
the message that the social and educational climate in our schools requires
urgent attention to erase many negative stereotypes, subtle and overt
behaviors, assumptions, and decisions that favor conventional, white upper
middle class Judeo-Christian values and beliefs.”
Rome’s response focuses mainly on statistics he has found
inaccurate, but he also calls the report’s references to Judeo-Christian
culture inflammatory and divisive. “The use of this phrase is truly an insult
to the professionals who work with individuals at BHS to make the school as
inclusive and welcoming to as many students as possible,” he writes. At least
one other teacher has publicly agreed with him.
Rome’s central argument is that factual errors in the report have
produced “false conclusions leading to a reaction by the Board and community
members that the school system is badly flawed and in need of drastic repair
when, in fact, it is doing a remarkably fair and equitable job.”
The Task Force cites a 5 percent dropout gap between African
American and White students, but Rome notes that only one African American
dropped out of the senior class last year. He adds that it is unfair to expect
newcomers to the country to graduate within four years. On math performance he
argues the figures actually indicate improved course completion for students of
color. He also disputes suspension statistics cited in the report.
Sara Martinez De Osaba, director of the Vermont Multicultural
Alliance for Democracy, sees such criticisms as an attempt to “negate that
there are disparities.” Like Brennan she describes Rome’s critique as an example
of “white privilege.”
Developing the new roadmap
The process that led to the new plan began in 2008 with an attempt
by the board to define diversity. “We are a community of many cultures, faiths,
abilities, family constellations and incomes, birthplaces and aspirations,”
said the resulting statement. “The depth and richness of this diversity is our
strength when we work toward a common goal.”
The Task Force on Equity and Diversity was created two years
later, and initially grappled with the hiring of a new principal for the
Integrated Arts Academy. Since the district “faced extensive needs in
recruitment and hiring of teachers and staff of color,” it focused in the early
months on human resource questions. A Town Hall meeting and three other community
input events helped to inform the work.
After the report was completed and accepted by the school board
last fall a town hall-style gathering was staged in February to present the
findings and strategy. About 120 people attended. By then Rome had released his
rebuttal and the local mood gradually turned less hopeful.
According to the Task Force “troubling educational disparities
exist in Burlington along race and socioeconomic status. They represent an
‘opportunity gap’ as well as a shortfall in the overall number of high school
graduates and potential college grads.” The situation produces “inequalities of
all kinds which in turn have multiple long-term effects.”
BSD’s plan describes broad-ranging changes in leadership, human
resources, climate and curriculum. Within the next year, for example, one
objective is system-wide staff training aimed at creating an “anti-racist and
culturally responsive curriculum to support all students.” The idea is to have
teachers “consistently reference the multicultural nature of their teaching
tools, noting the contributions and accomplishments of distinguished
individuals from a variety of cultural, racial, ethnic, and linguistic
backgrounds. “
One example in the plan discusses teaching about westward US
expansion. Rather than focusing on the perspective of hunters, pioneers, the beginning
of the industrial age and the harnessing of natural resources, the report
suggests that curriculum should look at the impacts on different groups and
cultures, as well as the role of various institutions “in achieving specific
outcomes.”
Curriculum activities during the first year are expected to
include an online resource guide for teachers; workshops and use of diversity
coaches; advisory groups at each school; an Interdisciplinary Curriculum
Guidebook that presents “the rationale for using an anti-racist, culturally
responsive and socially just method of inquiry;” and development of working
definitions for key terms like “anti-racist,” “culturally responsive,” and
“social justice.”
To jump-start that process the report includes a six-page glossary
of terms. Defining “anti-racist education” it notes that racism is not only
manifested in individual acts of bigotry but also in policies like “failure to
hire people of color at all levels and the omission of anti-racist regulations
in faculty and student handbooks.”
Cultural competence involves “being aware of one’s own
assumptions” and “understanding the worldview of culturally diverse and
marginalized populations,” the report explains.
Two key concepts are “institutionalized racism” and “privilege,”
both of which came up during the city council’s review of the plan.
The glossary explains that “institutionalized racism” is seen in
“processes, attitudes and behavior which totals up to discrimination through
unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping which
disadvantages people from ethnic minorities.”
“Do you believe while privilege exists?” Brennan asked Collins
during an extended question period during the council meeting. Absolutely yes,
she answered. Ward 1 Democrat Ed Adrian agreed.
But Ward 7 Republican Paul Decelles was troubled by the question
and asked, “Could you explain what you mean by that comment you just
made.” He didn’t get a direct response but the report includes a
definition.
White privilege, it says, “helps explain how white people –
relative to people of color and who do not present as part of the white racial
group – and despite their intentions, are ‘advantaged’ to access and
opportunities over people of color and those who do not appear to be in the
white racial group.”
Voicing frustration and dissent
Faulty research and conclusions by the task force are pointing
Burlington in the wrong direction to address the real problems, Rome argues.
“Hiring teachers of color has little, if any, correlation to student
performance, but hiring competent teachers, regardless of color, does."
He also suggests that the district should focus on “improving the
economic situation of lower socio-economic families and educating them about
the link between academic success and their future.”
Beyond questioning the statistics used as a rationale Rome also
finds fault with the report for failing to mention areas of local success, a
list on which he includes a higher rate of students of all colors going to
college than the state average, a knowledgeable staff with “a great
amount of diversity and cultural experiences,” student resources like the
Homework Center and Shades of Ebony, and “the conscious choice that
most staff members make to work at BHS precisely because of the diverse student
population and the high level of professionalism of the staff.”
Rome also claims that both teachers and students were excluded
from the task force report committee. “At no time were teachers interviewed or
questioned for their expertise about the veracity of the comments made at the
meetings or discussions in an effort to get their input for further
discussion,” he charges. As a result the report’s release was “a blow to
morale” that he claims has upset many teachers.
As evidenced by the Thursday protest many ELL students at the high
school are also frustrated and upset. According to De Osaba, who put out
a call to local activists to show up in support, students are offended by the
suggestion that they are “statistical outliers.” The term does not appear
in Rome’s report, but she says that he has used the term in a hand out. Others
claim that he has brought up the dispute in class.
Like teachers who feel their efforts have been undervalued,
students attending the protest were angry and disappointed by the sense they
are being blamed for the school’s problems. The ELL curriculum used at the high
school is outdated, they charge, and they don’t want to be judged on the basis
of unfair testing.
“BSD has been beleaguered with racism issues
since the '80's,” De Osaba contends. She adds that tensions
are increasing because many steps identified years ago by the school system
have not been taken. “None of this is the fault of the African ELL
students. They are not running the schools.
UVM faculty member Denise Dunbar, who also attended the protest,
points to the emotional toll of social isolation and humiliation faced by
students attempting to learn English and adjust to a new society. Some
statistics in the plan may be off, she acknowledges, but the problems should
not be minimized and cannot always be measured.
Collins sees things similarly. There is room for debate about the
math, she admits. But despite some suggestions that the report should be
rescinded she continues to think the conclusions and strategies are on target.
That position hasn’t been sufficient for Brennan or others who
believe that failing to respond to criticism by Rome has undermined what the
district is trying to accomplish and should be grounds for administrative
change. De Osaba goes farther, charging that the administration condones the
Rome’s report by not taking steps to refute or stop him.
Collins insists that a greater concern is “silencing any voice in
this important conversation.”
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