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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I attended a meeting in June about diversity in MCPS, where a black Whitman parent presented the situation very powerfully. The (white) Principal also spoke, and he seemed motivated and engaged, as were the central admin representatives (all black).

Apparently they are implementing a series of trainings and meetings for the various stakeholders (students, staff, parents) over the course of this coming school year, which they hope will turn the atmosphere around. I wish them well, but the weakest link here are the (non-black) parents who think that all this does not apply to them because "they are not racist". If everyone doesn't engage in the conversation about what's appropriate behavior and what's not, someone will end up doing something stupid once again. The easiest people to reach is the choir. It's the hard=to-reach folk who need the most training.
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What exactly are the white parents supposed to do about it?  They should encourage their kids to be friends with everyone but reality is kids self-segregate at all schools.   If I was a minority there is no way I'd move to an area and send my child to a school where there was little diversity.  Same a when I worked in DC, I was hired to be the diversity and it was very difficult.  Some treated me very well and others were clear I was not welcome.  [/quote]

You clearly don't know what happened there. There were three racial incidents in the past school year, the last of which was a white student posting a photo of herself in blackface with the n-word in a sentence.
There are non-black families who clearly don't understand what's so wrong about this, and even for the ones who do understand, most probably didn't think to spell it out to their kids. So this is about EDUCATING youth in a connected world, where they find inspiration online, outside their immediate circle, to do dumb things, and being specific about it.

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No I don't get it as I would never send my white child to a school like that.  You cannot blame all the white kids/parents for the actions of a select few.  We choose a diverse community and school and in all reality those also have racial issues and segregation with the parents and kids. There is no idea utopia for any school.  But, if I was a minority parent, there is no way I'd even consider a community with those statistics.  Most of those people move there to self-segregate and are proud of themselves for doing so.  Anyone moving to that community does't care about diversity.[/quote]

The white parents with students still at Whitman are choosing to keep their kids there. That's not supportive of the AA community. It's an action that speaks for itself.

We chose a diverse school--both economically and racially. I think the world is better when we force ourselves to cross bridges and meet with others who are not our race, religion or of our same SES. It's not always easy, yet I think it's worth it.

I think [b]the lessons have to be woven into the educational framework. [/b]

They are in the new SS curriculum for US History. Unfortunately, some teachers are refusing to teach the new lessons although they are teaching in the schools that need it the most. When I attending training this summer, the woman sitting next to me said that she skips the lessons she thinks will make  parents angry because she doesn’t want to have to waste time defending them. I told her that she should teach them and forward any angry emails to her principal to handle. No one is going to get fired for teaching lessons from the curriculum development teams.

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