Antiracist System Audit
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Anonymous
It was proven that the globe is not warming, so we changed it to climate change. |
Anonymous
To cite a few examples, see page 99: Bilingual staff who participated in the focus groups and interviews also highlighted the difficulty of being expected to serve as translators in addition to their job’s assigned responsibilities. This additional role adds considerably to their workloads and still often goes unacknowledged and unrecognized. “Many things, like the assumption that the language, that you know a second language and you’re available and then anybody can come and grab you, whatever they need you . . . they should no[t] use you like a free interpreter at the school and things like that. And people coming to you with such an attitude and such as demand, like, ‘Hey, you’re Latina, you’re here. You’re supposed to come and interpret for me whenever I feel like.’ It’s very sad and very... So, I see it so much throughout the county.” (Staff, Hispanic/Latino) Page 113: Others discussed the ways in which teachers at MCPS take on extra work to go beyond what is required by the curriculum to represent and meet the needs of their diverse students. In the staff focus groups, teachers shared how they independently decided to integrate more culturally relevant material into the curriculum: “I feel like Benchmark, they’ve tried to change Benchmark a little bit to be more inclusive, but my teammate and I always, who’s also a Black woman, we, we tend to try to find other resources because the Black people or anyone of color tend to be stories where they are not prosperous or enslaved or somehow suffering. We have the perspective that students need to see that yes, being a person of color in America is challenging, but it is not a guarantee that everyone is going to be poor and struggling. My teammate says all the time, ‘I mean, can we have a story where the Black kid is on the basketball team? And he just does normal things that normal children do?’ Like, ‘Why do they always have to be living in destitute conditions and fathers dead?’ It just always feels that way. So we do have to do the work to find materials that address the same curricula, but broaden that scope, that story more. And then as [an Enriched Literacy Curriculum] ELC teacher, when we have to do genres like science fiction, there are very few, it’s very difficult to find science fiction books that are appropriate and don’t have a White lead, very difficult.” (Staff, Black/African American) Page 158: Multiple focus group/interview participants described staff who have limited expectations for English Learners. Furthermore, many emphasized the prevalence of the assumption that all students who are Hispanic/Latino are English Learners: “I would get teachers come to me when they looked at a student’s name and saying, is this student ESOL? Is this student receiving services? Well, no, the student’s not receiving services. It’s automatic assumption because of the student’s name that the student is receiving services or that there’s just a deficit without even automatically meeting the student.” (Staff, Hispanic/Latino) “The principal says, ‘I just don’t think my ESOL students can think at that level.’ And people sometimes make this general assumption that if they don’t speak English, that they can’t think, and it’s a language barrier, not an ability to think barrier. And so sometimes they get put in on-level classes because well, they don’t know the language and they just make this assumption that because they can’t speak English yet, that they also must not have the academic ability to think at that level.” (Staff, Hispanic/Latino) Issues like this are squarely within MCPS's purview. People should not just throw up their hands and say, "there's nothing we can do about it." |
Anonymous
| Thanks for posting this PP but the people you are posting it for do not want to hear it, and will not hear it. |
Anonymous
Very true That doesn't mean that schools don't have a rule in systemic inequities that contribute to unfair outcomes. Both things can be true |
Anonymous
+1. I’m a black parent and hate this buzz word nonsense racial equity crap. Educators should focus on teaching the subjects they are supposedly trained to teach. MCPS has no more ability or expertise to solve “racism” than your local convenience store. Cut out the time-wasting, energy-wasting BS please!! |
Anonymous
How is this even related to “anti-racism”? It’s an ESOL issue. Address it but stop branding everything “racism.” |
Anonymous
And money-wasting! Let’s not forget that MCPS has spent so much money on this type of anti-racism nonsense that helps nobody except for the firms doing the audits. You know what benefits ALL kids - smaller class sizes, a solid curriculum, strong teachers. Focus on that, and quit it with the rest of this nonsense. |
Anonymous
Because the low expectations and assumptions are for the brown kids. This dies not happen with White kids that do not speak English. Those kids are assumed to come from interesting cultures and be people other kids can learn from. Nobody assumes they are dumb. |
Anonymous
The Hispanic community was adamant about the race versus ethnicity distinction and here you are making it all about “Brown” people… |
Anonymous
It’s a class thing, obviously. |
Anonymous
Agree MCPS needs to fund a multi-million dollar study to prevent climate change and poverty too. Who needs to hire teachers when we face so many large global problems! |
Anonymous
The fact that racism is still an issue is sad but ya MCPS isn't going to address it. We're far better served when the use these funds to hire teachers. |
Anonymous
MCPS has been building LEED certified buildings for years to help address their part in climate change. Heck, I do stuff, too, even though I can't solve climate change. If no one tackles their own part of an enormous problem but rather waits for someone else to take care of it, it never gets taken care of. |
Anonymous
MCPS’s own part is to meet each kid where they’re at as an individual and teach them academic subjects, specials like music and art, and physical education. That’s what my taxpayer money is paying for. |
Anonymous
| Racism is also potentially uncomfortable, if that makes you feel better. But uncomfortable, as in other factors impacting school performance that may need to be addressed by the community themselves or IQ. That kind of uncomfortable. |