Schools look to improve diversity, equity, inclusion

REDDING — Despite some opposition from community members, the Easton Redding-Region 9 Board of Education is moving forward with its efforts to further diversity, equity and inclusion within schools.

A task force, formed last July, has convened regularly and is advising district leaders of initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion — known as DEI — that can be implemented in classrooms.

At its next meeting, the task force aims to recommend the school boards distribute a survey that would help them to “get a picture of assets and challenges regarding DEI for all three districts,” Superintendent Rydell Harrison said.

“I think that the purpose of the task force and the in

Angela Caes, a parent and co-president of the Redding Elementary School Parent Teacher Association, said her children “couldn’t understand why they couldn’t draw themselves correctly at school until it was remedied to have multicultural crayons.”

tentional focus on DEI is coming from the standpoint of making sure all of our students feel safe and included,” Harrison said. “I think that one of the things that we’re working toward is clarifying what our goals are.”

Harrison noted there has been some “confusion” and a concern over “huge changes to the curriculum that are imminent.”

In the task force’s previous February and March meetings, numerous residents appeared in Zoom windows to show support and thank the group for their efforts, emphasizing this kind of education is needed and important for all students.

Angela Caes, a parent and copresident of the Redding Elementary School Parent Teacher Association, said her children “couldn’t understand why they couldn’t draw themselves correctly at school until it was remedied to have multicultural crayons.”

“DEI is incredibly important and it’s incredibly important we talk about what the reality today... and what may have been a thought of the past and what needs to be the thoughts of the future,” she said.

Caes’ story was just one of several shared during that meeting from supporters.

Mari Rooney, a Joel Barlow alumni, said they’re thrilled seeing these efforts because DEI didn’t exist when they attended school and “white was the standard.” Knowing this, Rooney, a biracial individual, always felt “out of place.”

“There was no real effort to acknowledge the fact that not everyone is white, cisgender and heterosexual. Those of us who didn’t fit into that box only had each other,” they said.

“I look back and think of how different my life would have been if this work had already been done,” they added. “I am thrilled to be here to voice my thoughts today, but let it be known that that was in spite of my schooling, not because of it.”

More than 500 people have signed a petition for a “racially just” curriculum at Joel Barlow High School. A committee of alumni created the petition, which grew out of a private Facebook group, the ER9 Social Justice Group. The task force and group are unaffiliated.

But a couple residents at that February meeting had opposed some of the task force’s strategies.

This included Sherry Harris, a former Region 9 board member and leader of an Easton-based political action committee called Citizens for Responsible Government.

She said instances where students were disproportionately affected by a policy or practice should be “investigated.”

“You cannot assume that a disparate outcome comes from racism,” she said in the meeting. “I am extremely concerned about the collection of statistics and running forward based on an idea that says racism is the cause of something when that has absolutely never been proven.”

This group published a document stating the school board and its task force are pushing “poisonous ideology” toward students with concepts of social justice and intersectionality and the critical race theory.

Harrison said he thinks those concepts — critical race theory, social justice and intersectionality — are “helping to frame” any conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion.

“I think that the concept or the idea of social justice is somehow being framed as a negative thing, and I think as educators we are always working to empower our students to create a more just society,” he said.

The district would miss out on an opportunity to support students if it didn’t focus on this, he explained.

“Focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion is not a political act and it does not have to be controversial,” Harrison said. “It is simply identifying the ways that we want to engage with our students and provide space for them all to be 100 percent successful.”

The task force chairperson, Heather Whaley, said there are a few people who have spoken up in favor of “a color blind approach to the world, and feel that any discussion of race or gender differences, or differences of any kind, will only further divide our communities.”

“The problem with this way of thinking is that it implies our differences won't be accepted, respected or supported, which is the goal of DEI work,” she said. “If you feel that having many perspectives and experiences makes a community stronger, you will want to hear about the ways we are all different, and celebrate those differences rather than pretend that they don't exist.”

But she’s not shocked there’s been some backlash.

“Whenever change has happened, particularly in schools, it causes fear and sometimes anger,” Whaley said. “It happened with integration. It happens with busing and zoning regulations. It happens with curriculum changes and the way we teach history. Change is hard for some, but we always move forward anyway.”