001got the sun in sun's coming through should do something about that sorry about that let's see let me find my I have no lipstick no makeup on are we recording let's see I got the sun in my eyes I'm waiting for the sun to go down about three five more minutes oh you look like you have a tonight Mina so what are you getting it over there no but you look like you got the spotlight on you and oh not really I I really should I go under the desk there it is we are recording and we are live streaming okay I'll Stand Back the bells welcome every everybody all right and can I say it for the record that this is the first time I'm doing a meeting without makeup on okay I wouldn't
002dare I wouldn't dare do that to the rest of the board I really have to put I don't want to scare up my notes Halloween I I just I need makeup really okay okay well you look beautiful either way I'm sure oh cry I'm doing this with uh with my phone rather than the paper okay so I'm going to call to order the South San Francisco Unified School District Board of Trustees special meeting board study session for Wednesday October 14 2020 Corona virus disease covid-19 notice this meeting will be conducted pursuant to the provisions of the governor's effective executive order and n- 35-20 issued on March 21st 2020 allowing for deviation of the teleconference rules required by the brown act and pursuant to the order of the health officer of SEL County dated March 16
0032020 as this meeting is necessary so that the South San Francisco Unified School District can conduct necessary business and is permitted under the order as an essential governmental function the Board of Trustees invites the community to participate in this meeting virtually the board meeting will be streamed live and you can view it by visiting the web page on our board meeting page at the district on the district website um so with that roll call trusty Baker here trusty Luhan present trusty Richardson present vice president Flores present president Murray here okay translate um Madam chair please do please do thank you school board meetings thank you madam chair thank you okay so um moving on to the pledge please stand thank you John for the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States
004of America to The Republic under God thank you okay Communications public comments may be submitted in advance of the meeting through the the following link HTTP colon bit.ly dboard meeting October 14th beginning at 1M on Monday October 12th until 3 pm on Wednesday October 14th so until today um these comments we received one comment and it has been read by the board um to comment during the meeting please use a follow link httpswww ssf usd.org public comment you will need to register and follow the instructions to comment during the meeting the meeting is recorded individuals may address the board concerning business not on the agenda but public comment cannot be acted upon or discussed by the board unless on the agen agenda at a subsequent meeting in accordance with the law the brown Act the
005board May request staff to respond orally at the meeting or in writing at a future time so Mr Siam do we have any public comment Murray let me enable the raiseed hand feature and then I can call for speakers oh it's already enabled okay with that doesn't look like we have any public comment let's move on to to information discussion um Dr Moore so our Board of Trustees um spent last year engaging in the equity Network through the Sano school boards Association and our board was very interested in continuing to dig in deeper into this work in order to serve our students really well and we are fortunate that we have an opportunity now to reconvene since we only had three of the five board members who participated last year now we have our entire
006board to help us build a shared understanding about what Equity is and means for our school district to understand even more deeply our roles and responsibilities and the way in which we can move this work forward through board governance and setting policy and with that it's my pleasure to introduce uh Miss Keys who's with us tonight who will be helping to facilitate the discussion with our school board thank thank you so much for being here welcome you thank you was on me I could see her waiting I thought there was more coming thank you hello everyone it's so good to to virtually um meet the other board members so good to see you and thank you um vice president forz for um repeating everything in Spanish I always appreciate that and so um we have
007to do that this is it's not a second language it is the language these days so um appreciate that so again I am here to really begin the work that or continue the work that Nicole Anderson has been doing with you as well both of us work together um my background is I've been working with school boards for over 20 years work with school boards and superintendents at the state level and then I went to the National level um then I decided to do this work as an independent consultant and so I really really enjoy working with school board members but I do want to let you know that everything I say and talk to you about about will be through the lens of governance because that is the role that I play to ensure
008that board members have a solid foundation before they Venture off into do any type of work and I'm so pleased that you want to do this Equity work um it is not of course something that you just check the box to say we did it it is who you are and what you do everything you do um the community should be able to see that you are an equity focused district and that is always the the goal and so um as we go on you're going to get a lot of information in two hours it will feel like you are drinking water from a fire hose it will feel that way but as you can Envision see I'm there I like um to have um something to think about to vision visualize if you drink
009from a fire hose you still get a lot of you get some water in you but you get wet too so that's going to we're going to quenched your thirst with this work so it will be a lot of information what I am going to do is share my screen so that you can see the PowerPoint but I am going to have some hard breaks where I want to pull us back for if you have any questions um so I want you to feel free we can talk to each other you may have questions just to put out there for anyone to just have some discussion as I want to take about five minutes um each time about three times before we come back together to um continue the discussion so any questions going forward
010are you ready to go you look so enthusiastic right trusty B There You Go B I'm looking right at you trusty Baker you are in the middle of my computer so I'm watching you okay you're gonna give me the gauge and I see you trusty Richardson I see the the the um sun went down it got out your face you had your Halo and so we're all ready and and um we're glad to see everyone superintendent as well so I am going to share my screen make sure I can do this okay there we go okay so so we're going to start just this is an overview we're going to have some self-reflections we're going to talk about effective governance practices which I had already mentioned will be the foundation of this work and the
011foundation of our future um Gatherings together virtually when we continue to talk about this Equity work we will go over a board assessment which will kind of gauge where you are as an effective team and then you you know venturing off into this Equity work we will Define educational equity um I did look at your definition of your Equity policy I believe in 2018 you guys were working on it so it's time to revisit and it it does take several years actually to do this work because you have to keep tweaking it so you are well on your way um when I read your Equity policy and then we're going to talk about some of the barriers to um Equity driven governance because that's the role you're playing you're at that 10,000 foot View and
012so everything we talk about will be from that lens okay um as we go through this work um if you're familiar with the work of Glenn single talking about courageous conversations about race anytime you talk about Equity you do have to talk about race and we isolate race and and I know that can be uncomfortable for some individuals to talk about but we need to be uncomfortable so this is just a some agreements that we have will'll stay engaged because again this work can be very difficult um it me we will meet you wherever you are that's including myself I am a work in progress I continue to do this work we will experience discomfort but if you're comfortable doing this work then we're not doing the work so that is okay and everyone will
013have an opportunity to speak their truth because you bring your experiences um based upon you were elected to represent the community and they elected you to represent them so you have different perspectives and as a team though collectively you will carve out what Equity means for your District but everyone will be allowed to speak their truth and we will accept um you know constructive criticism and things of that nature uh we will expect and accept non-closure this work is takes a long time and so we may not answer all the questions it it will take time so we have to accept that and we will just continue to just keep going along long until we really feel we had a a good handle on this word but it is okay to um expect non-closure in
014some areas because we don't have all the answers so first I want you to just help center us on this work just kind of think about this question you don't have to share it just jot it down so that you can always reflect back on it so think about how does the intersection of your personal and professional identity impact how you leave for educational Equity because anytime you lead for Equity you have to focus on yourself it begins with you and so let's just focus on um reflect on that question I'm G give you about 30 seconds to kind of jot that down okay we're going to continue on let just sure I get so let's talk about what an effective board looks like like we can always find information on what a what a
015dysfunctional board looks like or boards that have really a hard time building good relationships but let's kind of talk about what an effective board look like effective boardsmy and this actually an effective board plays an important Watchdog role in keeping your local schools on track and setting policies that affect children in your District that is what you took the oath of office for you know to make sure that you are overseeing on the district and as you know we'll get more into the the roles and responsibilities but the Board of Education ensures that the district is running properly the school board sets the vision and the goals for the school district and holds the district accountable for the results your employee is the superintendent of course the superintendent she has her staff which she has
016to hold accountable because when it's all set in done everything will fall on her as far as what the board what you will hold the superintendent accountable for and so you are going to set the vision the expectations of the direction that the district will go so you will make sure that you have goals um District goals and they are not the superintendent's job responsibility or you know job description a superintendent um understands how to be a superintendent they will do that educational work what the goal what the Board needs to focus on do you have any specific goals that you would like your superintendent to have a laser focus on to continue on on down the Journey of educating all children so I just want you to keep that in mind of course one
017School Board member cannot do this job alone it takes the entire team you are only um your your power of course is when you are all collectively sitting at the board table um once you disperse from the board you are no longer the Board of Education you are an individual board member and so I always say that just to remind board members that collectively is where your power is and that's why you want to make sure that you make your decisions collectively and not individually effective school board members contribute their unique talents while collaborating and working as a team like I mentioned before you all have talents you've been selected to represent your district and I'm sure you're doing that well so let's talk about um what does um governance look like and I don't
018know if you're familiar with this clock I always like to use this because this is a really good visual of what um the role of the board of education is and as you can see um at the top is where the board authority is the oversight and the management and below the dotted line is um the the superintendent this Authority so what I want you to pay attention to is how this of course is circular and you see most of the work takes place between 10 o'clock and noon the evaluation adoped the vision and the goals and it just continues adopt policies and then a drop below the line the superintendent and her team will have to develop um the policies implement the policies um and evaluate and it just continues to go but the
019key thing I want you to focus on briefly is that this is a dotted line it's not a solid line and it's so important to to um mention the dotted line because at some time sometimes the board members will have to come below that dotted line and that's to inform engage the superintendent of perhaps some things that she may not be aware of if perhaps you are become aware of something from a Community member a stakeholder or something or you may have to come below that line the key thing is to remember to go back up because as a governing body and as the 10,000 foot view you cannot see how the the district is being managed at that level below the line because that's the day-to-day operations and this is just a reminder I'm
020sure you're aware of this but I always like to build this Foundation anytime I'm with board members I won't you know I always want to take advantage of just reminding you um the district will be very um strong and powerful if the Board of Education just remembers the authority is at the top and ensuring that the district runs properly is where you reside and you say the what and the superintendent and her staff decides how we're going to implement this so let's just think real quickly about I just pulled a few things the roles of the superintendent and the board very similarly there going to be columns with the same title so goal setting under the superintendent's role assists and advises the board in creating the long and shortterm goals okay now look at the
021board side the district's vision is translated into long and short shortterm goals the board establishes the structure now you see you both have responsibilities of goal setting but it's very clearly defined the role of the superintendent and and board the superintendent's responsibility of course is management the operations the daytoday in the central office and coordinates and oversees efforts of all schools within the district okay Works toward meeting district and superintendent goals established here here these goals again established by the board and the board designating and evaluating the superintendent your one of your number one goals or your number one responsibilities is to hire and evaluate your superintendent so recruit hires evaluates the performance of your superintendent the budget the budget on the superintendent side works with the school administrators to develop a draft budget recommends
022the budget to the board um on the board side you review the budget submitted by the superintendent and aligns the funding priorities with the district goals um yes being hiring your superintendent being good stewards of the budget and you know creating policies are the top three responsibilities of course of of the board and I just again keep reminding you of this because this is the foundation we're going to need to do this Equity work because we are going to be in all of these spaces when we're talking about Equity work and so let's look at the curriculum um superintendent recommends the courses of study and text aligned with the district's Vision goals and objectives now on the board side the board approves the recommended curriculum and text based on the standards goals and policies established
023by the board the key thing here is of course the superintendent makes the recommendation because she and her staff are the Ed well she is the education expert um you did the very important job of hiring your superintendent so we're going to allow the superintendent to do the job so she's the education expert and you rely rely on her to make sure that she puts forth the best curriculum so that the students can meet the level um and the goals that you have set forth superintendent with Staffing and appraisals recommends all Personnel because again you hire the superintendent the superintendent has the other staff but on the the board side still with Staffing and appr praisal you adopts policies governing salaries and and salary schedules terms and conditions this is a key area where board
024members may not think about it too many times where no we don't hire we only hire the superintendent and and the staff that's correct but you do have to ask the right questions of the superintendent do we have the uh the job descriptions are they updated are we in a position to diversify our teaching staff in order to uh ensure that we are um managing our staff in in every area being able to disperse the staff in every area and and match up with the demographics of our students you're not selecting the staff but you want to ensure that processes are in place to hire diverse staff as an example so even think about facilities analyze interpret communicates the needs of the school system that's your superintendent the board you turn detes the school facility
025needs again you say the what and the superintendent and staff will determine how it will be done and then lastly community relations this is so important for board members too but the superintendent recommends and implements a program of school community relations and keeps all stakeholder groups informed now the board adopts the policies governing the school community relations and advocates for the public schools systems the key thing for boards as you know is that connection with your community you are The Advocate and you are representing your community and so these are just a just a quick view of the roles and responsibilities of the board um versus the superintendent and in a nutshell this is really what it is the board handles the policies the goals accountability Community leadership superintendent runs the staff operations and the
026educational um leadership and and that's the difference there okay and so what I'm going to do is I want to bring you back because I need to see your face and I want to see if you have any questions there your faces are any questions on that and Tony you know I'm just gonna pick on you so I'm gonna call on you first do you have any questions truste Baker I mean yeah there you go sorry I had unmute no I mean and I think this is one of the things that you know is frustrating to a lot of people who get into this position that you know we are not the dayto day we have to come to everything we do has to be consensus you know and into what we want to see
027happen so it means not only do we have to work with the superintendent we have to conv convince three other two other board members at least to do everything so yeah it we are the as you said it we are the what but not the how and sometimes it's hard for us to to remember that and that's also sometimes leads to a little frustration uh both within and without the the board so no question okay thank you for sharing anyone else I agree 100% with John okay John thank you I think one of the important things is that um as a board and to add to trusty Baker's points is that we must take the time to be thoughtful and planful we many times you know we're we're seen as not doing things fast enough
028or or doing things too quickly right both extremes but uh we as a board are always conscious that we need to build the processes and the essentially the organizational infrastructure right for future to lay out so that it's not rushed so that sometimes can come across to the public in general as lagging but it's not we're we're being intentional and thoughtful about it um the other point I wanted to share it it especially right now right during election season a lot of folks out there say I'm gonna do this it's the eye statements right in conversations that I've had with of many folks that are running it's I'm like it's the Wii otherwise Nothing's Gonna Get done if you think you have great ideas and Everyone's entitled to have amazing vision and and and ideas
029but to your point it's the board's Vision the board's goal and how we'll be able to disseminate that absolutely thank you thank you anyone else trusty Richardson you have anything or John superintendent the first uh screen said all those things about the first four things you said um you you have to speak your truth and I've always uh stuck to that since I became my first year on the board I always and that's how I got here I really spoke my truth and among I forgot the other three sorry but that was stuck to me because that's that's how I I I identify as a board member I'm not going I'm going to go along with the rest but I have to speak my truth and I sometimes you have to compromise a certain to
030a certain degree be a little bit more client so that you could get business done and I've been often more a lot of times I've said I can't say this I can't approve of this and I my vote will reflect it on the board so um all those truths that you presented in the first thing are what who I am and defines me uh to to to this day and uh I feel bad sometimes but not really CU I I can face myself in the mirror and I said you know I I believe in this and this is how I I um I became a board member so thank you for sharing and you should always speak your truth um you are one of one of five and that's you everyone has a right to
031share their opinion because you're bringing um you're representing different experiences and that's what they they're yours and no one can say you know and they're your experiences and that's the the strength of a board of education where everyone can share that so I appreciate you sharing that with us anyone else for me I just want I I find this or what you presented very helpful um while you know we spend time going over this sometimes for the members of the public particularly it seems like to um vice president flores's Point sometimes it seems like we're not taking action or that we you know limitations of the brown act all we we can hear the public comment but if it's not on the agenda we can't engage in a conversation about it but we're hearing it
032it's we're processing it it's informing what the the direction and vision we're creating um but those that direction and vision can only happen when all five of us are together and it's on our agenda and and there are processes that we have to honor um and sure I'm sure every one of us in the board has had the a moment where it's like ah I wish we could just move faster and you know just move and um kudos to Dr Moore for fielding those like well why is this not happening kind of question um and so it's always just a helpful reminder of our roles and and why things take time and I think it's very grounding as we open up conversations on Equity because to your point it is not a box we check
033this is a long deep commitment um and it's going to take work um and to your point it starts with ourselves and then then we set Vision but really the action happens on the other side of the house absolutely so thank you it was very grounding sure superintendent would you like to share anything no I think they captured the Ence of it I think it's really important as we engage in this work um to really not only remember our roles but to move forward in a unifying way because when you have conversations like this and you mentioned initially that you know you can't talk about educational equity and not talk about race and not talk about barriers and impacts um that are happening within the system and with individuals these are people right and um
034and I think it's so important to remember that but to also remember that we are all part of the same team we all want what's best for all of our children especially those who are marginalized in our communities I think it's important that we remember that that we are a board governance team and that this is a collective effort and not an individual one um because it won't it won't we won't be able to move where we need to be able to move if we're not all rowing in the same direction so I really appreciated that clock you shared and talking about the roles and then really having that Unity of purpose as as a board governance team absolutely because I want to believe that everyone is here for the right reason you know everyone
035took that oath of office and you swore that you would do what's in the best interest of all children and so that's where you start with everyone that's why you're there um your constituents your real constituents couldn't vote for you and those are those children and so that that's why you have to do what's best for children we hear we have the adults in our ears and we hear them period I'm not gonna say but that's a hard stop we have to focus on what's best for all children and that's who you're responsible for and so you have to be able to sleep at night knowing that you did the best you could with the information that you've received that's all that's required of boards because at the end of the day your job is
036to handle the business of the Board of Education by getting to that board table and voting on something whatever that is but you want to be able to have an inform be able to make an informed decision so I definitely can appreciate all your comments and and you're right um trusty for as individual would think you're not moving fast enough you're moving too slow but it is a process you have to listen to everyone and a lot of the community they don't know a lot most of the work takes place away from the Board of Ed from sitting at the board so if you have work session and things of that nature that's where the work is so you're gathering information so that when you can get to the board table you can make your
037informed decisions um but of course you always allow them to be able to have access to you doing the work getting presentations from the um administrators and work sessions and so by the time you get to the board table it could be just clarifying questions very short presentations if you need them but other than that because if you have long discussions I just remind board members unless it's time sensitive it should it should be removed from the agenda because that is saying that you're not ready and that's okay you're just not ready to make a vote on it so if you have a lot of questions it should be removed and that should be considered before it gets on the agenda that's agenda set and you should kind of think through is the board are
038we ready for this if it's not time sensitive because we know sometimes you just have to do the best you can you know um based upon the time constraint so I I really appreciate that it sounds like you guys have your um finger on on the pulse of of what your role is I can appreciate that so we're going to continue on I'm going to share my screen with you again and I will be giving you this PowerPoint too so let's go back to this see if I can do this right okay okay so let's talk about and I we are going to get really to this Equity piece but I'm building the foundation right now so let's kind of talk about um the nature of governance what is this really okay so the governance
039is steering the ship okay just in just visualize that and management is rowing so you know you can't have one without the other and if everyone's trying to go in the opposite direction you will go you won't go anywhere or you'll just be going in a circle so just remember that you are steering and the management is rowing and steering you've given them the the charge to roll this is the direction that we're want to go so governance is the process when the direction of the district is set the structure is established and accountability both fiscal and pro programmatic is assured that is really of course in your important roles being fiscally responsible um holding everyone accountable being and you being accountable as well for what you said you were going to do your policies
040you have put in place um all of that is the responsibility of the Board of Education and again governing is about the what of the district um and the administration is focused on the how um how the policy gets implemented this is always a a tough area for U most Boards of education the intention is good but of course you want to say the what and then naturally we want to help you do it we want to help you figure out how but it's not necessary again you hired your education um um leader so allow her and her staff to put the information together and then they will share it with you and you'll have a chance to you know kind of talk through what what that looks like so good governance just look at
041this this octagon here of what good governance really is it covers these areas so we're going to just go through these really quick so the elements of good governance of course the rule of the law good governance requires Fair um and legal framework you know um you have to have an impartial regulatory body that's what you have for the full protection of all the stakeholders transparency provide easily understood information and make accessible and not only I mean that's transparency throughout everything you do making sure the information is accessible easily accessible on your website or either newsletters to get to your community so that they understand what you're doing what's going on uh responsiveness you serve the best interests of the district and the students in a reasonable time frame if there is a need for
042information and there is time sensitive you will do your best to ensure that you respond if community members have questions and I know one of you mentioned about even Community um comments yes you are to listen and I hope that you're not engaging in conversations back and forth with the community because that's really not the the standard it is to hear them the community has the um um the has has the access to you to ask qu questions of you and and if any conversations take place it's just a matter of the board president asking the superintendent to follow up and so there should be an assurity that that Loop will be closed and the superintendent will um advise you but there should not be any engaging in conversations back and forth on community comment
043and most community members don't know this so it's up to the board of education to educate the community as far as the protocol of how you operate um as the governing body so that it doesn't look like you are very rude because you're not responding to them and we don't want that to happen um consensus oriented um yes you are one five individuals One Voice each so you do have to build consensus you want to do what's in the best interest for all all children the equity and inclusion provide opportunities for all students everyone's voice um should be heard um Effectiveness and efficiency your processes um should be very efficient and effective the way you utilize your resources in an effective way because you are good stewards of your budget accountability um that is so
044important and will be extremely important with its Equity work because everyone will play a role in participating in what Equity is for um South San Francisco Unified School District what does that mean for our district everyone has a role um participation engagement informed and organized includ including freedom of expression everyone um has a voice um everyone voice needs to be heard if individuals see that they have a role in any of this work that you're doing it would they would have more ownership of it so you have to just make sure that everyone feels that um that they are part of this work okay Deborah before yes go ahead yeah you you made a great point about the public comment we very often have people come up and you know they any public comments ask
045us direct questions I mean questions that we could probably answer but due to to our our rules we can't um I think maybe we need to be a little bit more effective I mean we read a about that we read a little disclaimer ahead of time but you know for the a I think we disappoint a lot of people who come looking for a dialogue during Community but we're unable to provide that and I thank you for sharing that because again most um Community people don't really don't know that it's no fault of theirs that's why I continuously remind boards you have to find different ways of of educating the community some districts will do something simple as putting the protocols on a laminated um card and put on their chairs when we're able to
046meet in person again put on their chairs because anytime you see something sitting on a chair you pick it up before you sit down that's an easy thing to do the board president makes com you know reads off the protocol at the beginning of every meeting it's posted throughout the board um office just whatever um helps you and you continue to have these dialogues with the community because that is their their platform to share what they want to say to you but then also remind them that if they want that engaging conversation or want to be able to ask question come to your work sessions you know that's wheree um the staff will be presenting and then they'll get a better understanding of the work because if does look like sometimes by the time you
047get to the board that they're like wait a minute we didn't know that you were getting ready to make a decision because you know everybody has a has a life you know um no one's coming to the board um meetings every time you meet and so again the board members just in your casual conversations with the community just remind them of what you do as a team because it's not the individual um not many people know that many board members Who Run for the board don't understand that concept until they get on the other side of the table um because it is not require for board members to um be uh have go through any classes or training prior to and it's definitely not required after you become a board member to get training it's
048not required probably 98 there are some states who have made it a requirement to get some basic but the majority it's not required so it is up to you to make sure that you do what you're doing now getting your professional development you do your research you read up on everything that's put in front of you so again that you are able to make the best informed decision possible that's all that's required of you okay so was that was helpful Tony I mean I keep call I'm G tell you trusty Baker I was just doing call me Tony a training this weekend and the trusty name was Tony Baker so and actually you guys do look alike so I'm going to I know I'm just going to call you trusty B your first name is
049John though I believe that's what they said John okay that's why I keep calling you Tony I'm like that's not Tony this is John thank you John for saying this to me okay I'm going to go back to the to the PowerPoint so we can move along I have so much information to share with you so the key to effectively addressing educational equity start with a highly um uh effective governance team and so research she is that I'm providing you is research based a lot of the information is most of is not just what Deborah wants you to to do it is research space there are districts who practice these and they stay under the radar not saying that they don't have problems but they understand and they practice because that's what it takes you
050have to be intentional about practicing effective governance um behaviors and so the eight characteristics that the center for public education um through the national school boards Association is providing boards it's basically you know our School commits to a vision for Equity through um except expectations for students and I this is put in a in a format where you can just say you're effective somewhat or very either you're not somewhat or effective and this is something that you can do quickly with your team to see kind of get a gauge of where you are but an effective board commits to the vision for the district and for Equity since I I'm I'm changing this a little bit to focus um specifically on Equity the school board has a strong shared belief and values about Equity again
051when we talked about it has to begin with you everyone has their own values and opinion so you have to remember that and your belief systems are not necessarily the same as your colleagues however when you come when you are representing the district there is only one shared belief and one value for the school district so that's where you have to come together and say for our school district these this is what our shared belief and our vision will be we have to take oursel out of it's not what I personally feel is what again I took this oath of office that I'm going to do is in the best interest of all children so this is where the work is for boards to really focus on a shared belief and I'll go over um
052shortly what that looks like how you go about doing that um our school board has a collective a collaborative relationship with staff and the community and establishing a strong communication structure to inform and engage you know that relationship is extremely important and of course you do have relationships with staff but as you know your staff person is your superintendent and that is where all of your correspondents and requests of any staff of course go through your superintendent that's the the processes that most boards um the process that most boards agree upon because that's very effective and efficient and your superintendent is the one that should filter all of that information on to you not saying that you can never talk to staff I'm not saying that at all your representation of them will show them
053that you value them because you you speak highly of them you work closely with your superintendent making sure that they get what they need to be successful that is still building good relationships as well our school board is accountability driven I talked a little bit about that everyone needs to be held accountable when you're giving the direction of the of what you want the district to do either setting the culture of the district um our practices our behaviors um everyone will be held accountable and as a board of education I'm giving each of you permission to police each other if you will and policing in a in a nice way but to just kind of pull each other's coel if you kind of venture off in a space that is not the governance structure it's
054okay to remind each other um always begin with there was no malice intent we just naturally will we you know kind of waver a little bit and go to a into a different area maybe the space of where the superintendent and staff is so just remember to you you're a team and you can't do this work without each other data Savvy you must have um be able to say that you are data data Savvy District or and board because to do this Equity work your data is going to determine what you're going to do and I always like to say the data will make you do it so you can't say you have inequities if you don't know where they are and how do you know where they are your data but it's asking the
055right questions and I'll I'll share more of that with with you as well your school board aligns monitors and sustains the resource of course being fiscally responsible our school leads as a United Team collectively with your superintendent the board that's why it continues to say the governance team because it is the board and the superintendent at that you are the governance team it's not one or the other because you can't have one without the other U our school board takes part in your develop your professional development with that's is what you're doing so look at the the last three if you can see those to what extent has the school board developed and implemented the following our school board has developed an equity statement I did see your Equity statement and I know like I
056said two 2018 I looked at your Equity policy so you're you have begun the process um perhaps it was adopted um but I'm not sure and we'll we'll be able to talk more about that um our school board developed an equity policy you have your statement you have your policy and then the goal is what Nicole and I will work with you throughout these times that these work sessions of getting to the point where you have an equity impact action plan because you can talk about equity and all the things you want to do but it needs to be put in an action plan if you kind of think about what a strategic plan looks like where there are assignments of who's doing what and when is it going to be accomplished by um your
057Equity action plan is not separate from your strategic plan remember Equity is woven through everything you do so these um two documents your strategic plan and your action plan should be parallel should be one and it can be woen together because that's where you need to see the work your strategic plan as you know is your blueprint you can't you will not be able to share with the community um if you don't have a strategic plan because that is telling you reminding you and informing the community of the what the district is doing and also it will share the how it's getting done by the superintendent and and her staff Deborah I have a question so are you are you then saying that an equity policy um or plan is part of a strategic plan
058is that correct what you're saying should it's extremely critical to have a strategic plan in place is that correct yeah absolutely absolutely and do you got you have a strategic plan right we ours is our local control accountability plan and so many of the school districts in California have shifted from a strategic plan to the lcap because it's a multi plan highlighting what your priorities are and what needs to be accomplished um so we we used to have a strategic plan and then when lcap came our district transitioned from that to yeah the lcap plan and the only thing I say about the lcap because I'm familiar with that it's hundreds of pages long right um unless you carry that around it need a strategic plan will help the lay person understand so whe whether
059the they're requiring you to do that you can still create your own document of what works best for your District it's okay to do that because again you want the community to be able to really look at that and understand it without having someone have to interpret all of that stuff and so that again we talk about making sure it's accessible and that is transparent you don't want to have something where people are so confused where they just throw their hands up and the first thing they say say no you're not doing that because I can't find it you know just I always will refer to a strategic plan and I know your state has done it differently but I'm always still going to say it's best whatever you want to call it make sure
060it's something that's manageable where the community knows exactly what you're doing you're pulling things out of that lcap saying that these are the top three or four things that we're going to focus on when it comes to our our um for Equity because as you're going to see Equity is a huge umbrella with a lot of buckets under it and you will look at your lcap to see where are the areas where we know where our needle is going to the left so that would be a good place to start you know and and I know when I look at a lot of the dashboards for districts in California what I'm seeing that is a it has been become a common is chronic absenteeism to the left but then how do you explain that graduation
061is to the right because the last I knew you have to be in school to learn in order to graduate I'm just saying that's just that could be just Deborah being logical so something's going wrong here either the information is not correct that's going because garbage in garbage out whatever being shown but I think if you look at absenteeism you can just dismantle that to see where is the problem because it looks good to say oh we're graduating 90 some percent so then I asked board members well how confident are you that that the students are college career and life skilled ready will you hand them that diploma so how confident are you if if you if districts want to boast on the High graduation but the kids aren't the butts aren't in the seat
062something's wrong there and so that's what the Board of Education should be looking at like here's my data superintendent help me understand how does this happen how do we how are the kids they can't learn if they're not in school and that all you have to do is pose the question then you got to sit back and let the superintendent and her staff figure that one out and share it with the board that's the good thing about that governance you don't have to do the work you just sit back and think about all the big questions to ask other superintendent and that's okay because that's what they're there for that will help the children so thank you for that um FL um vice president Flores Eddie is fine Eddie's fine okay let me go back
063to this so click on this so what does an equity driven school board look like I've already been giving you little nuggets of it it looks like a board who creates adequate policies that address the opportunity gaps which is equity it supports your budget to provide the tools necessary because it will cost something and usually if you start here it is October youve already you're already in your budget if you decide that you have to do something major next month January February obviously you didn't budget for it you know so this is the conversation that the board members you have to start having if it's something that can't be wait until you can budget for it an additional budget or you have to start looking at strategically how can we move some funding around in
064order to address this Equity work um you've been working on Equity so I'm sure you probably have have your um resources aligned but you have to continuously do this because it's a guesstimation sometimes you just don't know until you start dismantling the inequities you don't know where the cost is it could be having more um diverse teachers teaching staff so that means you have to have a budget to pay for you know bring in more teachers that's just an example um the working collaboratively and collectively with your superintendent um you have to do this this is effective governance and all all the children will be will reap the benefits of this because you're all there for the same reason academic success for all students so let's kind of talk about why do the equity gaps
065exist why do they exist well you think about um the our education system says I everybody is a genius but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will leave it live its whole life believing that it's stupid so you think think about look at the different animals we have different children but if there's only one way for children to learn the child who can't learn like that or doesn't look like another child will feel that they're inadequate and and we have to make sure as adults we have the authority to oppress children they're learning so we have to be very intentional about making sure that that's not what we're doing we know in the past it is it has been done there are um historically groups of children who
066have not been um focused on and we have to do that and it's not to U blame anyone it is just looking forward saying from this day forward this is what South San Francisco Unified School District this is what we're going to do okay and of course I mentioned your your dashboard um again these are areas that the data says in the state's looking at this is the areas you should be focusing on so the the education system um just thinking about the history of education going all the way back to 169 really 16 um yeah way back 1640 I'm pulling up my if you can see this this is the history you can see this the history of public education all the way back to 1647 but I wanted to pull this one out
067because it's connecting to the work that we're going to be doing the educational testing service is formed merging the college entram examination board The Cooperative test service The Graduate Records Office the National Committee on teachers examinations and other for a huge Grant from the Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations okay we know this is where the money you can put in other foundations today who impact education but these testing services continue the work of eugenesis like Carl bringham the originator of the sat who did research proving that immigrants were feebleminded now when individuals who have power and who are um influencing the public education have mindsets like this we can see why subgroups of children have been left behind so this is what the board of education has to make sure you focus on that this will
068not happen to the children in your District look at our Thomas Jefferson proposes a two track educational system with different tracks in his words for the laboring and the Learned scholarship would allow a very few of the laboring class to advance Jefferson says by raking a few Geniuses from the rubbish just let that set in we're talking about educating children rubbish so we cannot solve our problems without the with the same thinking that created that problem so again it's time for the Board of Education to you have to look at what you've been doing your practices your policies procedures things that are in place that perpetuate um this the inequities that that resign what are we doing as a board of education what previous policies were in place that Now does not support what we
069say we want to do because you are going to be held accountable from the community when you get that Equity statement out there the commun you're not only Community your the staff everyone has to be on board with this so you're gonna have to be very clear on what you're going to do and then you're going to have to start showing the evidence that that you're doing so we know making change who wants to change who wants to lead the change this is usually what happens everybody wants change very few want to lead it you know but you have to be the leader so really that empty space is where the board of education is you're going to lead this change and not everyone um is going to be pleased with the change and especially
070a specific focus on equity which is okay and I always just say you meet people where they are you can't force it because it is a changing of a mindset and uh we're going to talk a little a little bit more about that just be prepared for push back it's not if it happens it's when it happens so that's why it's so important for the Board of Education to make sure that all of you guys are on the same page that you lock arms with the superintended and say we're going forward doing this Equity work because as a governing body this is what's best for our district our children will reap the benefits of this no subgroups should be left behind and it's not a matter of taking from these children giving it to those
071children um all they're all your children and so it's a matter of lifting the tide everyone rises in the the tide it's not the children who um don't need as much attention but they do need attention you they don't they're not to be penalized because they are successful because they they may not um they may they do have more resources than children who do not but they don't get punished for that you still have to make sure that there's rigor um in the curriculum that challenges these children as well so how do I get started with this work and this is a framework that my colleague Nicole put together that we we talk about with with boards really focusing on on Equity so when I said before you have to focus on self deepen belief
072system reflect upon one's own social cultur identity including your beliefs and biases because we all have them but until you um focus on them and admit what they are no matter what they are but that's the beginning you have to make it personal because as you know you cannot um move this along or in in or encourage anyone else to do this work if you're not focusing on your own beliefs or biases okay um understand diversity seek to understand and value other cultur through storytelling knowing the children who are in your District who are the children coming to school do they see themselves represented by um in in the hallway just say if they're walking down the hallway do they see pictures of individuals who look like them are they reading books of individuals who
073represent their culture again at that high level these are the kind of questions the Board of Education can ask the superintendent not I want you not making a statement I want you to make sure that we purchase this curriculum no it's do we have curriculum in place that represents all the cultures of our students that's the kind of question the board will ask the superintendent Empower oneself how will you become familiar with research-based strategies and concept to deepen your own awareness in order to interrupt inequities again you have to go beyond um you know news Clips or or someone just giving you some information you have to do your own research anytime you hear of inequities and they're all they're in the news all across the country not only read that but do a dig
074a little deeper and find out what's really the the main problem because a lot of this stuff is what we see are the results of a core problem that was never addressed and with all the racial unrest that's going on in the country just a sidebar I hope that you when you do start getting back together with your students do know that these last six months or so they have witnessed this some may have been out there um marching protesting um peacefully and so they make they will come back they're going to ask different questions of their teachers of the board of the superintendent because now they're they're informed about some things and their voice they're being heard now so just be prepared to know how to engage with students because they're ready for us
075I think we have really ticked off the wrong generation of children and I'm personally happy that we have I'm a baby boomer and I'm sure they're telling me Deborah you guys get out the way you've done enough it's our turn we need to listen to the students because they're going to lead us in this charge and so I'm sure they will definitely be on board with you doing this Equity work and of course you should always have um student voice represented in this work being proactive and responsive how will you begin to utilize strategies and learn with anticipation of the barriers to cultural proficiency we have to think about that it could be with your teaching staff teachers were not taught to do the work that we are requiring them to do today and so
076it's just a matter of you asking the superintendent what do you have in place to address any cultural proficiencies that that your teachers may have no fault of their own but are we giving them the professional development that they need so again I'm the governance structor of the the role that the board plays the questions that you will ask to do this work um serve the diverse needs of your community how can you strategically Implement Equity action steps which can include the development or revision of your policies allocation of your resources as well as a complete shift in practice there are going to be some things that you're going to discover that you have to just stop doing because they perpetuate the inequities and so going through your policies what kind of policies do we
077have in place and I know looking at policies is not the most exciting thing to do and your State Association will give you the updates on the policies but they're going all state associations give you policies to make sure you're in compliance it is up to you to make sure what is specific to this District that we need to perhaps policy in place and that's where the RO the work begins where you have to look at what what what are you trying to do with this Equity work so you have what your what Your wants are with this Equity work now what policies do we need to put in place what policies do we need to tweak um that may be counterproductive for for this Equity work one of the policies that a lot of
078boards jumped on board with Nationwide is zero tolerance that was the best thing since french fries you know but it was the worst thing as well you know because just thinking that if a child had went to McDonald's or somewhere and had a plastic knife in their backpack for some came to school and it's exposed that's that is a knife zero tolerance means a child can be expelled for that that was the worst thing so many boys they relook they looked at their policy no we we can't do this you know we we know we we have some that is definitely some students perhaps will violate bring G real guns and things of that nature that is totally separate I'm talking about something like a plastic knife or a fork or something that could be
079thought of as a as a weapon so that Zero Tolerance just backfired so you have to just kind of think about what do we had good intentions on but it's not working if we're going to focus on this Equity word closing the Gap how will you celebrate the growth as you Monitor and adjust your Equity plans you do have to celebrate growth a lot of the the um information that the that states collect it's not about the growth children are learning it's just that if you only focus on the testing it looks like there's never a tick up in this but there's a ripple effect it will happen but you have to continue to keep grinding at this you may not see it during your tenure on the board but the good thing is you
080are planting the seed and I always want board members to think about what is going to be your legacy what are you going to be able to say I was a part of that when you see it happening you know further along um if if you're not still on the board so how do you identify Equity gaps this is the critical part how do you know where Equity gaps are so you you have to Define it and we I did see your definitions we'll talk a little bit more about that cultureal identity your student stories your stakeholders your community needs everyone has an input it's almost like when you do a strategic plan when you would um have um groups where you're listening groups where you're listening to stakeholders the staff anyone who is a
081part of the community a part of the whole education system in your community you want input as to how do you define but right now the Board needs to have a starting point how are we going to Define Equity what is going to be our common language when we talk about equity in this school district what Equity gaps exist how do you know you look at your AP and honor courses who are the children in there it could just be a visual who are the children who are not in there do we have obstacles in the way for subgroups children who normally are not sitting in there those classes do we have obstacles in and it's just about asking these questions and you may feel no we have a good handle on this and that's
082great you always want to make sure that you ask the questions to make sure that no child is being left behind or not being focused on or giving the access um and so the school climate we always talk about discipline anytime you talk about gaps there are four areas that bubble to the top and it's discipline it's of curriculum it's funding and it's um teacher quality and we'll talk about that a little bit but these are the areas where when you talk about some inequities where if you only wanted to focus on four those would be the four areas so again your data how do you get it how do you know data quantitive qualitative and your data dashboard your data will tell you what the areas that you need to focus on you don't
083have to try to figure out your data is there you know the the staff knows areas where kid are just struggling but it's about what kind of questions do the Board of Education ask without going below that that dotted line what questions do you pose of your superintendent okay if you want to know how are third grade African-Americans boys doing in math class that's how you ask the question not I heard that this child is not learning in this class because no what's the data they shows third grade math class African-American boys that's your data and then you could drop in any subgroup whatever class and then you could continue to narrow that Focus where if you continue to see a pattern with the data then you may need to add one other step and
084that is third grade boys and math class Mrs Jones class not picking on any Mrs Jones but just say a teacher's class and if there is a pattern you would ask your your superintendent are you aware that there seems to be a a link a disjointed link here when they leave this class to this class and that's the work and and the principes and teachers probably are aware and so the superintendent will be able to share that type of information but those are the type of questions that boards can ask board members can ask anything they want to ask but I just say to you what's your purpose why are you asking the question is it some information that you need to help you make your informed decision once you get to that board table
085so again you can ask anything you want because you're the board of education but make sure that it's it's information that is useful because if one board member ask for the information guess what everybody's getting that information so you want to make sure that it's very intentional so what data collect to unpack the of students your attendance academic discipline graduation College attendance surveys interviews all of these things that you can this data that collects data for you and when I did mention to you how confident are you that your students when they graduate are successful only way you would know is if you follow them through college some districts have found a way to do that of course you have to have the technology to track that and the com the cooperation with um the
086students once they leave you may find a pattern that they are only successful two years in college because higher ed is saying K12 something's happening here too many students have to focus on remedial courses we know that there are some students who who have to and that's okay but they're saying it's an uptick so this is where really it should be K through 16 you know follow the child through their whole education instead of just K12 but this is where Boards of education and college um the university should work together if you're going to do this work Equity is helping children succeed as well getting to a better place so let's just look at these um four indicators of question deorah I don't know right now or should I wait till the end no go
087ahead no no go ahead go ahead in terms of um data because you know many districts as you know staff is um kind of you know short Staff first of all with time management and and resources right so in in order I I see what you're saying in order to even identify gaps um you need to have data right and data can't present itself as a gap to identify a gap negative so it's kind of a a catch22 but once we give direction as a board to obtain data my question is how do we keep up with it um because you know many times you know our report will say well we used to have this or it was from 20 blah blah blah some years ago how how is that you know be able
088to maneuver the the fact that boards are or our districts are limited in resources in in in time to be able to keep up with the data but at the same time it's so crucial right to to be address these yeah that yeah that that is a great great question now think about when I talked about the resources now you're gonna have to figure out what's important to do this Equity work and it may be you're GNA have to collect data and as a board you may be asking for data that you guys don't even collect but the district because there's so much data out there they don't know what the board that's why it's so important for the Board of Education to be very clear on the what what do you want the to
089the administrators to collect you can say that because when it's all said and done you're going to need data to make your decisions and you will need data to be a and all of this also it's connected to evaluations how will you know if your superintendent is doing what you're asking her to do if you don't have any data to prove it you see what I mean so yes there are standards where you evaluate your superintendent but if you're entering off into this Equity work there it needs to be measurable and in order to be measurable you have to collect data so what does does that mean you have to make sure you have a staff person who is who can collect data yeah you do that's where you have to look at your budget
090and say we may have to move something around we have to do something different but the questions that we're going to be asking superintendent is going to require you collect XYZ data and that's why it takes time because you may not be able to hire someone right now but you're anticipating and that's why you have to continue to have these conversations and build upon what is it that the board wants to know and it could be our first two years we're going to focus on this which means we need data in these areas so absolutely that's how the budget is connected to this work and you have to make sure that you are collecting the district currently collects the information or can they stop collecting something and replace it with what you feel is important
091okay so thank you for that anyone else with a question you can stop me anytime remember fire holes are you are you you feel getting wet fire holes I have some more for you but interrupt me whenever you want to okay so the areas the four areas is the indicators of Student Success um and you look on the left about the maslo hierarchy of needs we're all very familiar with the basic needs the psychological needs and the self fulfillment needs this is critical not only for students but for adults as well think about your teachers and I always want to remind boys especially in this covid era that we're in trauma has not only happened to students they've happened to your staff too so how are you being prepared for your staff to come back
092for them to be able to teach children while they're going through their own trauma they've lost loved ones they've witnessed things and the students are traumatized so all of this is that's that basic needs that's that Foundation before you can do this work the basic foundation so think about that the psychological the safety um all of the on on the the pyramid here H masle hierarchy of needs the same thing for this um equity and Student Success the indicators you cultureal identity the learning Environ is it inclusive and reflective of the students the individual learning profiles is my culture identifiable the differences is it is it celebrated traditions and the history as we know and it was spelled this way for a reason that our history is not history you know we'll say oh you
093have a month of black history well it's that is American history you know um Mexican americ and Latino all of that is history Native American is history so what are you going to do going forward to change that you have to look at and and I know in Texas really good friends of mine on the Fort Worth Boards of educ Board of Education really locked arms with the students the superintendent and the board to ensure that like yesterday mon well today's Wednesday Monday was Columbus Day no is indigenous people's day and that's what they celebrate you know so you have to make sure you're you want to be bold enough to make some changes um they celebrate Caesar Chavez Day they do different things but are you going to put your money where your mouth
094is are you going to change policies to show that you are serious about this work so again the culture identity is so important to make sure that it's celebrated with your children um they're not going to be successful if they don't see themselves the times are changed when I was in school it was sit and get they open your head they pour all the information then you regurgitate it it's not like that anymore as you're aware okay let me move this okay relevance key students diverse backgrounds are integrated into all the lessons and this is where the superintendent is working with her staff is the information being um taught to Children is it relevant is it relevant to them for them to be successful they have to make that connection so these are some of
095the adjustments that you will have to ask the question what's the plan superintendent to address the relevance of this curriculum that we have and board members you know how vendors like to whine and dine you I bet now they're going to be very careful with saying that we have the best book for you to buy because now you should have some push back well what's the relevance do we have cultural identity in the students that we have here now you have to push back if these um vendors were smart someone would be out there cranking out these books getting ready for this because they have already admitted that that history that they put in the books they knew it was not the true American history okay and so it's time for all of us to
096say yes we we failed our children but now we're going for forward because a time there's a sense of urgency here the relationships the positive student teacher relationships are critical how are the students engaged how do they feel about their teachers do the teachers understand not their culture and their identity so that they can build relationships this is going to be critical for focusing on this Equity work having a better understanding of the students in their classroom and remember teachers if you have teachers who have been teaching for 30 plus years they weren't taught this and so they it's not a punitive thing for them but you do give them the tools they need so that they will be able to reach this expectation that the board is going to have okay rigor how do
097you know would you know rigor When You See It teachers have high expectations for all their students we would always say oh yeah we're going to we're going to educate all students now you have to really break that down for your District what does that mean what does rigor look like are we entertaining those children who are high achieving is our is our information rigorous enough for them do we feel we have to lower the bar the answer should be know but what are we doing to meet every student where they are because every child needs to be able to have the best education um Journey at your school district as possible and that's going to fall on your shoulders Board of Education because remember you're looking at the big picture this is what we're
098going to provide We're The Visionaries for the district so this is what we're what we're going to do Deborah if I may you know rigor is so timely right now with covid because a lot of you know individuals think that um assigning more um assignments giving students more assignment that's rigor and that's not rigor it's really facing the high expectations on learning skills through teaching them meaningful and complex uh Concepts right that's where we we Excel with Equity not pushing ab assment and then the other thing that I love Nicole's uh quote when she says you know students can bloom if they don't Mass load that's I always remember that you know from from that hierarchy because it's important first the basics we need to focus on what's important and then we can address the
099rest absolutely absolutely I appreciate that and I and I know this is I'm connect this with data So Co none of us were ready for it right but I will say one thing if we haven't learned something from March till now shame on us because the education system will never be the same and so how are you going to prepare for those students who were potentially struggling in class but guess what they are excelling right now how are you going to educate them are you going to make them go back in the classroom how are you going to engage them so they're going there's going to have to be different ways of educating all children that's an equity Focus give the child what they need meet them where they are so kids my my uh
100grandson he usually he is so happy he has all AIDS right now he's a smart kid his problem is he's a social butterfly so usually around this time in school his teachers are calling like Donovan is just talking and so he's proud of that he says well Nana you know I don't have anybody to talk to now so I got straight days so he even knows that because he'll get distracted so I said well maybe you need to stay with remote learning grandon because you can do it so again I say that to say think about what does your data say what are the teachers collecting to say they know their kids they're like they were really struggling but look remote learning so what are you going to do different what are you going to
101expect board members of your superintendent your superintendent I'm sure is getting this information getting feedback from her staff we've got to figure it out because if everyone does have to come back should there be um spots during the week times during the week where it is you stay home one day and do remote learning is you have to think about a whole new way of educating children that is truly Equity if Co didn't teach us anything it has unveiled all the inequities in school districts around the country you know it really has we kind of knew of some things and we think oh give them a device give them a Hotpot okay they have it okay A Child takes it home do they have electricity so that they can turn on the the the device
102and do they have a a quiet space where they can learn they can listen to the the teacher that's where you start peeling away and another area of course is the delivery of Fe food are you guys still feeding students while you're because sometimes coming to school was the only time they received their meals and so now if you took that away think about the groups of children who will starve and if you they're you can't if they're not fed they physically they cannot learn so all of these are still all connected with making decisions through the lens of equity about making sure we meet every child but you won't know how to meet every child if you don't know your children and and that's that's going to rest from the top down you have
103to know what the needs are of your students and even to go further you have to know what the needs are of your community because they're sending their children they have an expectation for you so I'm see I'm putting so much on you board members you had no idea that you had to do all this work I'm sure but you can you can handle it I'm sure you can you can do it I have a question go ahead go ahead you can go trusty Richardson I'll go after you well I noticed that in that list that you list put up there you put the first item to consider uh is cultural uh culturalism I I was wondering why you put it at the top do you think does that mean that this is the most
104cultural uh is the most powerful uh component in your um assessment of what uh what we should consider the community's kids that are in our schools is culture that important more important than the other items below it no no particular order but I do like that explanation that it is important it culture is important to focus on because again it's the identity it's who we are and and usually um individuals would here I'm going to focus on the race because when I say the isolate race when I walk in the room I show up as an African-American woman okay you don't look at me and like I wonder what her ethnicity is I wonder what her cult no those are other conversations so the first thing we have to do is I to to recognize
105how does a person how does a child show up every day are black and brown children how are they perceived every day and not saying that those are the only children when you're talking about Equity we have to focus there because those are the children who have been historically underserved and and we have to do that unapologetically so it's not like we're not concerned about any other children all the children are in there just as important we have to focus on the ones who have been hisor torically underserved so knowing their culture and for the children to be able because that's what they are the kids are going to relate more to this is who I am I want to be able to see um professional people who are from my culture you know and
106so that's why that that's a focus on making sure that culture identity because sometimes you don't know and if a teacher doesn't know until you build relationships and do those stories with children you won't know what their culture is until you build those relationship and allow them to share their story okay well culture is super I think uh culture really uh impacts kids before they get to school and absolutely when Once once they get in school it's really a a clash between how my mom would treat this situation versus how the school district on simple things like uh lunches and stuff like that um you know culturally uh we would if you're if you didn't uh have your breakfast in the in at home uh it's nice now that they are they give them something
107so culturally um it matters that uh that little gesture really goes a long way to uh put people in a mindset parents too that the school district is caring for their kids where something at home is it's is not uh happening so I think that uh it starts right there the first the first minute that they step into the school I that's my perception of it yeah thank you for that absolutely I appreciate that thank you so the only thing I was gonna ask Deborah can you talk a little bit I really like the idea of the questioning aspect um because I think sometimes when you're immersed in it you may not be asking yourself all of the questions needed can you tie that to questions that are focused and coherent so it's not one
108question this week that's really deep that we have to dig deeper on and present and then another question on another topic so that there is time for the staff to really unpack it get the data analyze the data and tied to the vision and the goals that the board has established so that it doesn't feel like it's 15 really deep questions and we don't have the time to actually dig deeply on right right and and I'll just say brief because I do have a listing of the kind of questions you we will ask but again when the board decides on just say if there are three buckets that you're going to focus on that's where you come together and think about these are the questions that we need to ask the superintend we need data
109on this because you're right there are so many things that you're going to find that you need to focus on but you are going to have to commit to three or four to say this year or whatever we're going to focus on these and you surround your questioning around that everything that's on the the board agenda should be aligned with that the report outs from your staff um should be about what we're talking about here the presentations so here is where you will really start having a laser focus being very intentional about what you're talking about and the questions because you're right you can't have all the different questions you have to be focused around the areas that you said you're going to commit to and I have some examples on what those type of
110questions are if it's just the four that I mentioned the curriculum the discipline the um funding and the teachers just the type of questions what those look like okay okay I'm G keep going here because I'm trying to make sure I get through almost done here okay okay so addressing Equity so equity in addresses institutional and structural racism by developing common expectations and identifying Equity benchmarks and so when I said certain areas that you want to focus on I call them benchmarks your curriculum you will will start dis um dismantling the what what are we be what it's being taught in the school system in in the classrooms at certain do you have this is the key uh something that everyone's talking about now I don't know where you are with it ethics studies are
111we going to do that now that you can't just all of a sudden say we're going to do this it's very strategic but that's one of the areas that a lot of districts are focusing on making sure that ethnic studies is being taught so this is where you start dissecting some areas access are we making sure that not only we have three AP courses but do we are do we have um barriers of the children getting to it yes we have three and you can say yep there's we have three is the access there do can they get to or do we have requirements that hinder uh subgroups from getting to this and then why do you have those so that's when again you start dissecting all of that discipline your data is going to
112tell you who are the children who are always going to the principal's office what is the infraction is it by the same teacher all of these things that's data and when you start seeing some commonality there that's the questions in the board you will start asking the superintendent are you aware of this these patterns and if you are what do you have in place to either help this teacher or teachers or principles um understand the culture of these children that that discipline that they are not being disrespectful they're not um not paying attention to you you just have to understand who they are their culture how do they um you know come to school how do they interact with adults but that's getting to know the child and those are the type of questions the
113superintendent will have to dig deeper into that working with the principal and the teachers to say okay what can we do different um there are so many different examples on on on the internet of how teachers are engaging different students just so that they have that special bond and one that sticks with me is this teacher I don't know how he does it I think it's about 25 kids every morning he greets them with a their own type of handshake and it's about who they are but again can you imagine what kind of teaching and learning is happening in that classroom because he's starting out knowing who those children are he'll know if they're having a bad day just because they the way they shake hands with them so that's just one example of let
114the teachers be creative you know that you don't have to again and tell them how to do it let them you know you have some rock stars I'm sure that will be able to create something so you think of again the discipline who are the kids at the at the bottom and why are they constantly at the bottom your funding and resources we know no district has a windfall of money coming in for everything but what are you doing with the funding that you have are you allocating your resources in the areas that needed the most your teacher quality um again how do you how do you gauge what teacher quality is well it's a matter of what's the expectation of your District high quality to what does that look like do you expect teachers
115to have and it's not saying that I'm saying a master's degree because there's research that shows that there's no correlation of you're having a master's degree to the children um excelling but you can set what your what you want for your district and do how do you go about recruiting teachers that's the key one what's again you don't tell them where to go and find teacher you ask them what do you have in place do you do do you go to um historically black colleges do you engage with um Latino organization laraza um any who are you sending your applica your um job descriptions to your postings to again posing those questions and the HR person of course will be should be able to answer that if you're truly trying to diversify your teaching um
116um population if you're really trying to what are you doing so that students see themselves represented that's the key thing um your instructional practices and standards and expectations do all teachers feel that our children um can learn so when I mentioned some type some of the questions just in the curriculum instruction and funding and discipline for the Su asking the superintendent how are we measuring the impact of funding allocated to professional learning again this is going to help um destruction how does the practice align with our Equity statement because again if you're going to ask teachers and staff to do all things align to what compared to what your what is going to be your Equity statement your Equity policy your um plan your strategic plan I'm going to say again all of this meshes
117together it's not one or the other it's combined together because setting your policy statement is your vision where are you trying to move this District so can we arrange to collaboratively visit schools on an ongoing basis that is always a little stickler there um you know Nicole and I have worked with districts where we do Equity walks there are certain things that boards should be looking for because of course as you know board members are not and it's not saying that you're not intelligent of course is but boards are not it's not your responsibility to evaluate teaching at that level when you're going in the classroom but it is important for you to be in the schools to see what's going on but there is a way to do that how are you ensuring that
118the curriculum is inclusive of diverse perspectives again asking the question what kind of curriculum do we have to what extent is culturally responsive teaching occurring in the classroom what kind of professional learning are the the teachers getting um those days are over where staff will say I just want to go to this conference because it's a great conference what does that have to do with teaching and learning how does that correlate with um getting moving the needle in this whole Equity Journey that we're on and then of the St have again how you measure the impact of your professional learning for your teachers what's the data to identify your Equity gaps again everyone needs to be collecting their data what are your hiring practices to recruit do you have policies that bar that are barriers
119to Student Success and Boards you really have to look at your policies really dissect them to see what do we have in place because your policy is really the law is what you're saying you are going to abide by and the community of course they should have access to your policies so they're going to hold you accountable for that too you know what policies you have in place if you're going you may be challenged to say well how can you have an equity policy like this and you're saying you want to do equity and focus on our children does your budget reflect your values and priorities around Equity are you putting the money where you where it's needed um and what are you doing to address the disproportionate discipline that that is always a key
120area because again the kids cannot learn if they're not in school no one has figured out a way to do that um not talking about the remote but you can't they can't be um dis um out of school you know and and able to learn and so keep going really fast on this one because this is getting you to the point where the work that Nicole and I are going to do with you in our next sessions I'm just giving you a little a bit information to prepare you we're going to go deeper into this area but the key thing is you have to know what Equity means and if I would ask all five six of you on the governance team what does equity mean I would get six different explanations probably and they're
121not wrong but the key thing is you're a governance team and you have to have a working definition for your school district on what Equity is so quickly what does it mean Equity is not equality we we know that we have spent so much time dealing with equality that's giving children the same because that's easier to do you're not ruffling anyone's feather now we're ruffling feathers and we have this is that discomfort I talked talked about we have to start doing that um some children need more and you don't have to apologize for that the children can't help they're coming to a school as they are as their whol self they this not their fault whatever socioeconomic background they're coming from they're not the adults so we meet the child where they are give them
122what they want um Student Success is demonstrated in diverse ways you have know the diversity of your the students who are in there and allow even with the teaching staff allow them to be creative to engage with the different diversity of the children um in the classroom um intentional shifts and mindset this right here is one of the most difficult things to do shifting of the mindset you can't force people to think the way you want them to do everyone is going to have to want to do this Equity work and it's going to take time again you have to meet people where they are but it has to start at the board every one of you have to do that self-reflection to see where are you and you guys are going to have to
123come together to say we're going to have to meet in the middle so that we can go ahead and do this Equity work so what are the challenges historical inequities I talked about that resistant to change absolutely not everyone is thinking this work is important and I'm just talking about internally that's not even you're not even ready for external push back because you will get it but that's okay too because it's an opportunity to educate the community and they will have some great input um suggestions for for you I I'm sure um privilege and entitlement adults are entitled adults have the power to oppress students we know that so we have to look at what are our practices what are we doing um we have to really reflect my teaching behavior my how I interact
124with certain groups of children I have to do something that these are the challenges that you're going to um run about of course the implicit biases the stereotypes institutional racism it's not this just didn't happen overnight it's not one person's fault you just have to admit that there is institutional racism and that could be a hard pill for individuals to to swallow but again if you don't start with self first individual and then self as your District what's happening in your buildings then you'll never be successful doing this work so what are some of the actions changing your policies and that's what I've been prepping before you've got to look at your practices shifting your resources building positive relationships with your stakeholders because again you can't do this alone uh and so you have to
125have input from others and helping everyone understand what this Equity work means to your district and like I said before the hard thing is Shifting that mental model that is an uphill challenge um but it can be um conquered you can do this uh do this work but it has to be intentional and consistently done changing that mental model and I don't know if Nicole sh shared this the water of systems change this document that we use to really help boards think about systems of change and how you get this will help you get to your Equity impact planning um um process here but you have to look at the there conditions of systems change so this inverted um triangle here talks about you know the policies the practices and resources that's structural you know
126the the um policies of course your rules and your regulations the priorities that guide your District your practices what are some of your habits and behaviors U that comprise of this work okay your resource flow not only money but human capital how is it distributed there um your power dynamics or relationship we talked about the relationships the connecting connections with your community with each other um this is important your power dynamics the distribution of decision making P um Power not only the superintendent what what about um you know central office or principles and teachers you have to divide this up the power dynamics because everybody plays a role and then again that heavy lift is the mental model if this doesn't change even though it's inverted nothing else will be successful so because these are
127habits of thoughts this is who people are and some people may feel that I this is who I am this is what you get and I can't change okay at least they're letting you know so this is where the work begins and and there there are different state es of that and that's where the the superintendent's work will be and the board you just have to monitor that and get updates on how are we doing are we providing them with the professional development perhaps what if you have um teachers or staff to just say you guys you know I hear you with this Equity work but I'm just not up to this I this is not for me then you have to accept that and then whatever you know the next decision is it is
128with you know they may just say you know this isn't a place for me anymore U because I can't do this so just be prepared for conversations like that okay so quickly here your Equity work so I looked at I was given your definition so this is how you define you recognize that educational e Excellence requires a commitment to equity we believe that educational Equity means that each student receives what they need when they need it to develop to their full potential that's how you're defining um Equity this is a great beginning but the work is now beginning for you because I will look at this and I will say what does that mean or what does that look like so then you have to start saying the what under here what does it mean
129to give them everything they need to meet them where they at what does that mean so these are the kind of Sation that you you know will start having later on in this process with your with your work sessions to really dig deeper into the what of this statement okay and so um your vision ST which is key and I pulled this off your draft the governing board reaffirms its commitment to provide an environment that is culturally sensitive and free from biases and discrimination that protects students from physical and emotional harm the board commits to ensuring that all stakeholders uphold educational Equity as an essential principle of our school system that is integrated into all policies practices operations and processes in order to yield Equitable educational outcomes for all students D yes just the point
130of clarification that I was just sharing with you what our internal staff was beginning to think about in terms of our vision so that wasn't the boards that was staff thinking about what if we had developed a vision for this work from the STA sorry no I was getting ready to go back to that that's okay thank you for that absolutely so yes your superintendent shared that with me but this is something it's not a bad Vision that's all I was going to say it's something that you can work with because the board you need your fingerprint on this but again my question to you is how do how was that demonstrated so when you do start thinking of the vision because of course the vision is the direction of where this district is going
131and it is what the community staff should see and so if you know this is something you can start tweaking or you can scrap it and create your own but just keep this in mind you have to be able to say how is this visualized because our vision our vision can change the mission of the district should never change is basically educating all children and then you add all the other stuff to it but the vision now is the best time to start looking at even the vision that is on your website of what the district's Vision because it does it Encompass any that is stated here does it Encompass any any Equity Focus that the board would want so you would I would want you to kind of think about that okay I just
132have a few more and I'm G pull us back together so here are some examples that I adapted from the Cincinnati um public schools and their Equity policy these are just directives that they have they made sure that the school board was given a directive superintendent and the district as a whole so your Equity policy should commit the board to ensuring that the principles of fairness equity and inclusion are fully integrated into all of your policies programs operations and practices guiding the students in ssf US so when you're doing your policy revisit the policy that you had in 2018 does it specifically commit the board to doing something so I'm just sharing this with you just to kind of look at your Equity policy should direct the superintendent to develop a plan with clear and
133measurable accountability standards and procedures to be shared with the public and submitted to the board annually for approval and the reason the board said for the superintendent because the superintendent has all the individuals under her who's going to do the work and again this is just like a strategic plan a strategic plan is created administratively but the board has his fingerprint on it as well okay um your Equity policy should be reviewed for implementation of the plan by all district departments again everybody will see where they are and your school sites at least semiannually so you're saying it's it's a it's a directive it's a call to action of sorts absolutely absolutely yeah and then the here's for the district your Equity policy should obligate the district to eliminate any policies structures and practices that
134perpetuate inequities and contribute to the disproportionality of access and outcomes because the this is what we know is that that causes um inequities um disproportionality of access and the perpetuation of some policies that we have all of these things that we practices we have in place um your Equity policy should call for equitable distribution of your Finance capital and Human Resources through your annual budget okay and then I'm going to bring us back for any questions you may have can we copy of that power point I yep I am going to upload this I think um we have a shared folder for you guys I'm gonna put that in there absolutely thank you so taking a deep breath what do you think about the work you have to do lots of work first of all
135I'd like to uh just acknowledge and thank you for it it was it was really well laid out I like all the pieces that you and Nicole are putting together for as I really appreciate it very s Salient points and very well uh described um I wanted to call out one of the lines that actually drew me to in your live presentation and that was when you said Equity addresses institutional and structural racism period hard stop and I think that is so crucial and in in essence is so important because you know a lot of individuals um have defined educational Equity or or you know it's it's referred as equity in education as as a more subtle right it measures fairness achievement or opportunity but in essence I personally feel that um in order to
136uh address Equity we also have to address inequity right and it's it's easier to uh avoid or it's it's it's a challenge to avoid inequity because they happen easier than in order to be more proactive and establish equity in fact I also like to say say that um educational Equity is in essence wrapped down wrapped around racial Equity right and both of these are not in any way mutually exclusive um in fact they are they are mutually non-exclusive because one exists as a result of the other and I think that's something that um I think in doing this looking back and relooking at our definition and and vision it's something that we need to pay Closer Closer attention to but I love how you you you essentially call it out and I think that's something
137that we need um have our work cut out in terms of really stating that Equity addresses institutional and structural races absolutely and I'm glad you picked I kind of put that in there because that is the work and again I I was I'm setting the foundation because we are going to dig deeper in those areas because you are absolutely right um but the key thing is you have to meet everybody where they are because as we know the the world we're living in today not everyone is comfortable talking about race and it's because there's a certain way to do it and I said it at the very beginning I said we have to isolate race which means basically we're going to step in it and we're gonna stay there we're not going to ver Venture
138off into say racism because that is what is the trigger but that's we're not talking about racism we are speaking of race and that's why it's so important to isolate it and this this is the foundation to get everyone prepared to dig deeper in that and institutional racism again is not pointing fingers you guys became the Board of Education you have inherited everything that's happened before you right and so it's not about pointing fingers but we have to address it because it is it's it's in our face now and when and whenever a district said that they're going to go down this journey of really um attacking what the inequities and dismantling you just have to prepare yourself to talk about race because you can have one without the other but you the key thing
139is we're all human and I always say meet people where they are because they're telling you they're speaking their truth and they're telling you from their experiences why they're uncomfortable talking about race and so if you don't give them that safe environment that safe space to talk about it you you cannot do this work it won't be successful you can have the best information but the wall will go up and so that's why conversations all over your district and clusters once individuals who are leading the conversations have been trained to engage people so that no one's taking it personal you no attacking it is a safe space to speak your truth because once all that stuff gets out then the work begins you roll up your sleeve and it's a journey so thank you for
140that I appr appreciate that one last point I wanted to make was the the element of the Mind shift right as a barrier too that it needs to happen in order for this work to complete because there's also what has been known as the avoidance phenomenon right where you avoid it because you're you're afraid of it you you think that it's not happening here it's not in my hometown it's not in my district not in my family um when in fact it is right so it's it's that avoidance factor that that we need to shift away from right and because we don't talk about it right because we haven't been talking about it and people a lot of districts don't want to pull their data because the data will tell you the good Bad and
141the Ugly but you have to be brave enough um because then that's a way not to admit anything because you don't know but once you pull that data and then you just have to help everyone understand this is our dat this is who we are this is what we have been doing but we be so we are so much better than this that's the key thing we are so much better our children parents are sending their precious Commodities to us every day and that's their children so we're going to do what's best for them appreciate that anyone else any comments anybody I just want to thank you this is I I'm very excited I think uh you you've laid a great foundation and I think I think I speak for all of us that uh
142we're very excited to be entering into this work yeah and um and I look forward to Future meeting thank you thank you you guys can do it trusty Baker I yeah I just wanted to say thank you I mean I think I'm finding a delicate way to put this as a white male in his 40s I fully have to reflect upon that my experiences growing up are not the experiences of a lot of our students and families you know and that and you know I and that's something that I really have to make sure that I'm here I'm listening and I'm adapting and it's it's through you know sessions like this that help me do that so I'm just want to thank you for coming and leading us thank and trusty Baker I so appreciate
143the way you even start out because that's when we practice this work this is what you always say and you said as a white male cuz right there is you're saying your identity and so people should understand because you're not trying to say well what you're thinking experiencing that's not what I you're saying as a white male and I so appreciate the way you share that because you're you're being authentic you're speaking your truth and you're recognizing that absolutely who some individuals have benefited from and another area we have to talk about is white privilege and and because that's connected but it's not your fault I mean it's no blaming and that's why we have to be very careful how we have these conversation because usually it's becomes you're blaming people like how dare you
144you benefited from White Privilege okay these children are children they again they can't help it that their parents have laid out the best you know home for them and all of that we have to stop that as adults we have to do better and so again I so appreciate you you making that statement because that is how you go into this work yeah thank you anyone else that's good superintendent I just want to thank you I think um in some pieces I was actually affirmed because some of these questions are things that we're already asking ourselves and that we've um begun the conversation and so I'm excited about getting deeper in the work um and really unpacking a lot of the different areas and the indicators that you called out so thank you for giving
145us your time and your experience yeah no problem I appreciate you guys are well on your way I'm excited to work with you um we're going to continue to roll up our sleeves and it's a journey it's it's uh what do they say it's not a Sprint it's a marathon so are you in for the Long Haul so thank you again anything out I turn it back over to you president Murray okay well if there are no more questions then I will adjourn the meeting thank you thank you everybody you're welcome goodbye