Join our Learning Journey around Equity, Integration, and Racial Justice in Schools
Throughout this busy year, PPS-SF staff have made time to read, learn, discuss, and collaborate with partners to build our understanding and skills. Interested in learning with us? We have suggestions for books, podcasts, and more!
PPS-SF has a long history of working to support equitable access to information, equitable engagement in school leadership and district decision-making, and providing assistance to those hoping to build their own capacity for equitable family/school/community partnerships. This work has included an ongoing focus on our own continous learning and growth.
This year, we have focused much of our learning and discussion around the work of Ann Ishimaru, who published a book called Just Schools, and also on the ideas shared by an organization called Integrated Schools which has a fabulous podcast, a couple of not-to-be-missed webinars, and other resources for families who seek to “live their values, disrupt segregation, and leverage their choices for the well-being and futures for their own children, for all children, and for our democracy.”
We hope to provide opportunities this year for those who are interested to engage with us in unpacking what it means to really “show up” for racial equity in the context of our schools, and how we can all make a difference in small and large ways by the decisions we make, the actions we take, (and sometimes those we don’t take…)
In the meantime, we will share with you some resources and a few definitions we are using and have found beneficial when unpacking the different identities we hold and how these identities play out in the world.
Resources
Just Schools: as mentioned above, all of us have been reading this book! We have also attended trainings to help us put these ideas into action. Dr. Ishimaru addresses the challenge of collaborating across lines of race, class, language, and other identities and also the benefit of successfully building these solidarities. There is a focus on collaboration that builds on the resources, expertise, and cultural practices of non-dominant (non-White &/or privileged) families. Don’t have time to read the whole book? Here is a short summary of some key ideas, a five-minute Edu Talk, and a 60-minute podcast.
Integrated Schools, a non-profit that supports meaningfully integrated classrooms that reflect the diversity of their districts. The all-volunteer organization is run, “by and for parents who are intentionally, joyfully and humbly enrolling their children in integrating schools.” Their podcast features thoughtful interviews will all kinds of experts. We especially recommend this, this, and this. They have done two webinars we also highly recommend (“The Integrated Schools Movement: Where We Begin”, and “The Integrated Schools Movement: How We Show Up (part 1)”) In addition, we love their “Two Tour Pledge” and “Awkward Conversations Guide.”
Definitions
Here are some terms you may hear us use going forward. We picked these up from the resources and organizations referenced above and have added them to our lexicon.
White &/or Privileged (also, Dominant): Refers to people whom our society has given disproportionate privilege: be that due to the Whiteness of their skin, their financial situation, their language, gender identity, etc. Having a choice of where to send our children to school is a privilege in our society—something not equally available to all families. Because White people of all socioeconomic strata have both resisted racial integration and benefited from White supremacy culture, it is incumbent on White people to shoulder the work of integration. Source: Mykytyn, Courtney. “Glossary of Terms.” Integrated Schools, 22 Dec. 2018, integratedschools.org/resources/glossary-of-terms/.
Global Majority: White people are, in fact, not the demographic majority of humans on the planet; White is not “majority” and people who do not identify as White are not “minority”. Additionally, folks who do not identify as White should not be described by what they aren’t (“non-White”). In instances where we are referring to people who do not identify as White, we use the term “global-majority.” Source: Mykytyn, Courtney. “Glossary of Terms.” Integrated Schools, 22 Dec. 2018, integratedschools.org/resources/glossary-of-terms/.
We hope you will take some time this summer to explore some of the resources we have linked here and would love to hear your reflections or ideas—you can hit us up in the comments here, on social media, or info@ppssf.org.