In 2019 we find ourselves wanting to do more. We feel like we are talking the talk (social justice curricular goals!) but not always walking the walk of equity work. Thus we have been working this year with consultant Dr. Ayanna F. Brown to create a new plan for organizing and moving forward our TCS equity initiatives.
Ayanna has collected input from teachers, families, and staff, conducted family and faculty surveys, and also held meetings with faculty, family, and admin groups. She then coded the data collected, looking for overlap between families’ and teachers’ responses. She met with Pamela Freese and me to talk about her findings and what next steps should be.
Ayanna has encouraged us to think about creating “lanes” for different groups to work towards different facets of equity and community building. These lanes are not group-based (a “parent” group and a “teacher” group), but rather task-based. People who choose a “lane” will not be prohibited from ever working in a different lane—in fact there will be some overlap between the lanes. Our hope is that this new structure will spread out the work of creating a diverse and equitable school community amongst all constituents, and allow more connection between equity programming/events and in-school learning.
Those of you who have been involved with JustDREAM, or even the older Diversity Committee, will recognize many of these ideas. We are very grateful to those of you who have already been working in these “lanes.” This restructuring is an attempt to take what you have started and make it even stronger and more inclusive of our whole community. While JustDREAM operated primarily as a parent committee, in our next phase we want equity work to be fully integrated into people’s (students, teachers, families, staff) experiences at TCS and even branch out into the broader community.
Lane #1
Equity Programming for TCS families:
Parent/guardian-led group organizing equity programming through Chicago events/outings that families attend together. We’ll take advantage of the plethora of cultural and arts events available in the Chicagoland area, as opposed to creating our own events in-house. Going out into the broader Chicago community as a TCS group allows us to seek out rich, authentic cultural experiences and support and make connections with groups doing that work.
*Curriculum connection: look for events/outings that connect to K-8 project topics. Some events/outings may also lend themselves to field trips within the school day.
Lane #2 Informational Programming at TCS:
Admin-led group, supported by parents/guardians with connections to universities and cultural institutions and other experts. We’ll create workshops/talks/events around equity issues. We can position TCS as a public forum where experts come to talk about equity issues. Possible topics could include: “Raising black and brown children in predominantly white spaces” or “Raising children of color when you are not of color: hair, skin, and wellness.” Other topics could center on race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, etc.
Lane #3 Structural Considerations
: Admin/faculty group looking at possible structural changes to achieve greater equity. We’ll work with proposals such as an earlier start time to the school day to better support working parents/guardians.
Lane #4 Hiring:
Admin/faculty group continuing work on attracting, hiring, and retaining non-white teachers to achieve more diverse representation on our faculty/staff.
Lane #5 Student Activism/Leadership:
Middle level student-led group, with help of parent and faculty advisors, to bring forth student-initiated ideas and programming.
Board member and parent Sonia Johnansen and I will help organize and keep communication flowing between the different lanes. Teachers will be welcome to join a lane but will also be charged with actively looking for ways to connect equity programming with in-school learning.