BEYOND DIVERSITY COMMITTEE

Mary Joyce Laqui , CommitteeChair Teaneck Board of Education Meeting June 12, 2019

GRATITUDE & HONORING

•Land acknowledgment

•Create humanizing space

•Collective effort

Members:
BEYOND DIVERSITY COMMITTEE WHOARE WE?

Students: Remi Adeoti Moniah Dailey Ruby Ha Sukainah Khan Yusra Subhani KhariWilkins

Parents/ Community

Vanessa Bing Lisa Dash-Grimes Jonathan Foy DanielleGee Michael Goodwin Russell Marsh
Melynda Murphy-Bowie DwightThreepersons

Teachers/Administrators/Staff: Antoinette Bush
Nicole Cooper Daisy Diaz Joanna Ebert Lillian Garcia Amber Halpern Margot Mack Christine Mayers Natasha Pitt

BEYOND DIVERSITY COMMITTEE WHOARE WE?

•Intergenerational committee of stakeholders (parents, teachers, students, administrators,
community members) •Teaneck alumni
•Five meetings: November, December, January, March, April

BEYOND DIVERSITY COMMITTEE FOCUS QUESTION

How well does our current school system work to provide all students and staff with equitable access to an education that embodies the mission and goals of Teaneck Public Schools?

BEYOND DIVERSITY COMMITTEE EXPECTATIONS

• Examine ideals set forth in District Mission Statements and Board Goals

• Review findings of the 2006Achievement Gap Study

• Review current district demographics and other relevant data that impact student achievement

• Discuss how systems have the power to shape outcomes and perpetuate institutional oppression

LET’S GO “BEYOND DIVERSITY”

•Diversity is a catch-all term

•Celebrating diversity is often conflated with equity

•Must move beyond the vague notion of diversity toward intersectional social justice

GROUNDING OUR WORK

•Antiracist organizing principles

•Group agreement (no hierarchy, struggle together, no quick fix)

•Action research process

GROUNDING OUR WORK

OUR COMMITTEE’S VISION &VALUES

•What is our shared vision for Teaneck Public Schools? •Reflective prompt for creating a school vision

INTERSECTION OF VISION & VALUES

Board Goals

•Acquire critical thinking skills •Become successful global citizens
•Develop knowledge necessary to support students

•Create safe & inclusive environment for students and adults

•Utilize support services of the greater Teaneck community

INTERSECTION OF VISION & VALUES

Mission Statements •Become lifelong learners
•Become effective citizens in a globalized society •Engaging curriculum in nurturing environment
•All students have potential to be successful learners

•Develop the whole person – spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, socially, physically

ARE WE PRACTICING WHAT WE SAYWE VALUE?

•What does the data tell us? •How do we analyze outcomes? •How reliable is the data?
•Some outcomes are not quantifiable

THEN & NOW

Noguera Study (2005-2006)

District enrollment: 5500 students

2018-2019

District enrollment: 3500 students

Black 49%	Black 37%

Latino 21% White 19% Asian 11%
Native Americans 0.3%

Free and Reduced Lunch 19%

Latino 37% White 14% Asian 12%
Native Americans ˂1%

Free and Reduced Lunch 38%

5.8%
21.9%
9 0%
6.
.0%
ARE WE PRACTICING WHAT WE SAYWE VALUE?

White

Hispanic/Latino

0.0%
0.0%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	 0.2% 0.0%

Black / African American

4.7%	7.7%.9.8%

8.6%

1
17.6%
1 16.4% 8.3%

19.2%

21.5%

AP Enrollment vs. General Teaneck High School Enrollment

Asian	5.5%4% 5.5%
0.8%
American Indian/Alaskan N	00.4% 0.3%

10.5%

0.0%	5.0%	10.0%	15.0%	20.0%	25.0%

AP Males	THS Males	AP Females	THS Females

ARE WE PRACTICING WHAT WE SAYWE VALUE?

Gender
	Student Population
	Teaching/ Support Staff
	
	48% female
	52% male
	74% female
	26% male
	
Black
	37%
	20%
	
Hispanic
	37%
	8% (other Hispanic)
	
White
	14%
	59%
	
Asian
	12%
	6%
	
American Indian
	˂1%
		
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
	˂1%
	˂1%
	
Cuban
		3%
	
Puerto Rican
		4%

Student Population vs. Teacher/Staff Population

ARE WE PRACTICING WHAT WE SAYWE VALUE?

Data collection:

• Student/Staff/Administrator demographics • Suspensions
• THS Saturday Detention – extra pay • AP/Honors/TAG data
• Sign-out (THS)

• Special Education Study 2018 • Achievement Gap Study 2006 • Implicit Bias Training Survey
• PARCC achievement

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

•Were schools ever really designed for liberation?

•Can we challenge ourselves to expand how
we think about teaching, learning, outcomes, organizational structure and institutional power?

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

•social stratification •dominant groups •minoritized groups
•identify factors that contribute to disparate outcomes

HETERONORMATIVITY NEUROTYPICAL	CISGENDER
W
WEALTHY
CITIZENSHIP MALE/PATRIARCHY (perceived) ABLE-BODIED HITENESS

FROM SYMPTOMS TO ROOT CAUSES

FROM SYMPTOMS TO ROOT CAUSES

FROM SYMPTOMS TO ROOT CAUSES

In order to realize our collective vision we must hold ongoing intergenerational courageous conversations which lead to action.

• colorblindness • meritocracy
• politics of respectability

• interrupt patterns of institutional oppression

BEYOND DIVERSITY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS

•Create an Office of/ Advocate for •Equity, Access, Justice & Liberation •Timeline: June 2020

•Ongoing, sustained, deliberate effort to build capacity

oppression (-”isms”)
•Develop equity literacy, shared language & analysis of race, power and

•Community organizing, conscious engagement •Comprehensive Equity Plan
•Develop metrics for equity self-audit

• Data collection & analysis – all aspects of institutional life •Form “Justice Leagues” in each building – equity teams
empowerment vs. deficit theory
•Understanding disempowerment is a prerequisite for talking about

Instruction
Institutional Equity
•Create an Office of/ Advocate for •Equity, Access, Justice & Liberation •Timeline: June 2020

Montclair Public Schools

• Student Equity Advocate

• Department of Equity, Curriculum &

NJ School Boards Association • Equity Council
Stevens Cooperative School

• Director of Equity & Student Services • EquityCoordinator
Dwight Englewood

• Director of Equity & Diversity Engagement

Horace Mann

•Office for Identity, Culture and

•Director of Diversity Little Red/Elizabeth Irwin
•Director of Equity & Community Brooklyn Friends
•Service & Justice Coordinator New York City Public Schools •School Diversity Advisory Group

Redesign Teacher/Staff Evaluation Timeline: June 2020

with no demonstrable benefit for students
• Traditional evaluation method is time consuming for administrators/supervisors

• Need valid summative evaluations to facilitate employment decisions AND

• Need formative evaluation for improving the professional work of teachers/staff • ACTION RESEARCH – document evidence of professional growth & learning
• Connect to Professional Development Plan

profession
• Co-create a more authentic evaluation system that reprofessionalizes the

• Center the reality/needs of those we serve

• How can you evaluate us if you don’t value us? • How are supervisors/administrators evaluated?

Reimagine Lesson Plan Protocol Timeline: December 2019

• Curriculum guides/ pacing calendars • Inertia of the bureaucracy
•Teacher as Researcher

• Co-create a more authentic lesson plan protocol that supports a culture of professionalism, collaboration and inquiry

• Center the reality/needs of those we serve

• Improved student achievement, teachers/staff efficacy will follow

Reconceptualize Foundations Program Timeline: December 2019

•Incubator for professional development, culturally-relevant pedagogy, liberation pedagogy

•Professional Learning Communities – teachers, staff, students, parents, administrators (affinity
groups)

•Patterns of injustice are reproduced by established systems and structures of oppression

Reexamine Relationship with Law Enforcement in Schools Timeline: June 2020

•School-to-Prison Pipeline •Overreliance on punishment •Zero tolerance policies
• Model policies to fight criminalization
workers, teachers
•Training and support to prevent and resolve conflicts •Schools are safer with therapists, counselors, social

• Restorative justice

Reexamine District Hiring Practices Timeline: June 2020

• Standard operating procedures

• Equitable protocol for organizing interview committees • Include parents and students in interview process
of the district
• Incorporate a set of standardized questions that reflect the core values

backgrounds are more ikely to look
• Hire candidates of diverse backgrounds who are also highly qualified • Employment outreachl– post in venues where candidates of diverse
Employee Resource Groups
• Cambridge Public Schools – Dynamic Diversity Development Initiative,

Special Education Corrective Action Plan Timeline: June 2020

• Collaboration between special education leadership and teachers/staff/parents • At least ten different supervisors over the past 20 years
• Rebuild team dynamic between case managers and students, teachers, staff • Scheduling/class placement
• Students classified with disabilities who likely do not deserve it • SWDs representation: 16% NJ but 28%TPS
• Over-encouraging SWD classification – larger caseloads

intervention to access instruction appropriately
• Student who should be identified as having disability vs. student who needs

• I&RS andCST processes not being adhered to with fidelity, lacking accountability

Adopt Inclusive Curricula Timeline: sustained, ongoing, collective effort

• LGBTQ and People with Disabilities Inclusive Curriculum • OngoingTextbook/Curriculum Review
• Career and Technical Education • Amistad Curriculum
• Gender/Ethnic Studies • Identity Development
• Participatory Education

• Update Health Curriculum: consent, Me too, nutrition
• Environmental Justice

• Historical analysis of institutional power

Build Mentoring Partnerships Timeline: ongoing, sustained, collective effort

•Partnerships with community

•Community service/ senior service relationships •Professional networking/mentoring
•Affinity groups

•STAR groups – relationships with students

Repurpose Use of Faculty Meeting Time Timeline: Immediate

•Elementary vs. Middle vs. High School •Common Planning Time
•Articulation Meetings •Professional Learning Communities •Action Research Data Analysis •Capacity-Building

Feedback / Questions

Beyond Diversity Committee 2018-2019