A Beginning at the Board

Interesting goings-on at the Board of Education:

1.  Move the Howard County Board of Education denounce any bias and racism towards African American, Asian American, Latino American, Muslim American, LGBT community, and any other groups who have been ignored, marginalized, discriminated against and/or oppressed and allocate resources in accordance with these values as a school system and a Board.*

Motion by Chao Wu, second by Kirsten A Coombs.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Yea: Kirsten A Coombs, Vicky Cutroneo, Christina Delmont-Small, Mavis Ellis, Jennifer Mallo, Sabina Taj, Chao Wu, Allison J Alston

2.  Move the Howard County Board of Education and those candidates running for the Board in 2020 be provided an opportunity for unconscious and conscious biased training along with anti-biased and anti-racist training.

Motion by Mavis Ellis, second by Sabina Taj.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Yea: Kirsten A Coombs, Vicky Cutroneo, Christina Delmont-Small, Mavis Ellis, Jennifer Mallo, Sabina Taj, Chao Wu, Allison J Alston

3.  Move that all equity training include bias training on all disabilities.

Motion by Christina Delmont-Small, second by Chao Wu.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Yea: Kirsten A Coombs, Christina Delmont-Small, Mavis Ellis, Jennifer Mallo, Chao Wu, Allison J Alston

Abstain: Sabina Taj

Not Present at Vote: Vicky Cutroneo

(WiFi went out during storm)

This is good stuff, in my opinion. It will be particularly good if we see this influence future decisions by the Board. A statement of intent is a beginning, not an end unto itself.

Move the Howard County Board of Education denounce any bias and racism towards African American, Asian American, Latino American, Muslim American, LGBT community, and any other groups who have been ignored, marginalized, discriminated against and/or oppressed and allocate resources in accordance with these values as a school system and a Board.

This phrase intrigues me:

... and allocate resources in accordance with these values as a school system and a Board.

As we all know, the allocation of resources is a big deal. It’s putting your money where your mouth is. This year’s budget deliberations are behind us at this point. Would the commitment suggested by this statement have shaped those decisions any differently? Is it a commitment? Will we be able to look back on this as a turning point for how the Board views its responsibilities?

More questions than answers, I know. Well, it’s good to be curious.

I want to explain the asterisk* above: following the vote the Board realized it had omitted Judaism and that they will need to fix that. So look for that change in a future meeting.

Tomorrow I want to talk a bit about an example of how allocating resources can reflect these values. In the meantime, I highly recommend reading this letter to Superintendent Martirano from the folks at CARY. (Community Allies of Rainbow Youth) Some words to ponder:

Students who do not feel accepted or safe will not devote the necessary effort to their studies.

Creating an environment where all students can feel accepted and safe must be the highest priority for our school system.