The next REAL Schools coalition building and planning meeting will be held:
Time/Date: Thursday, December 12th from 5:30 - 7:00
Location: The United Community Church of Morrisville. 85 Upper Main Street, Morrisville.
The Racial Equity Alliance of Lamoille (REAL) Schools group is a newly formed, growing coalition of passionate, committed, and curious community members who want to learn more about the current gaps that exist for students and families, obstacles to equity, opportunities for growth, and how we may work together to find solutions that will lead to racial equity and equity for all within the schools of Lamoille County.
Below is a newsletter to recap the work that we've done to this point and the path that we are on. If you are curious about the work we are doing, please take a moment to read. If you have questions, curiosities, or would like to be added directly to the REAL Schools email list to be kept up to date on upcoming meeting times and other updates, please let me know!
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REAL Schools Kicks Off!
In our first two meetings we have been joined by twenty neighbors, community members, youth, students, parents, educators, activists, community partners, and other interested parties. We have a community that is committed to transforming the culture of schools in Lamoille County; that is committed to ensuring the dignity, humanity, and safety of all students regardless of the color of their skin or any other aspect of their identity.
We have spent these first few meetings talking about what brings each of us to the table. What is at stake in the work that we are doing and envisioning? Is this work personal? While I will not list each of the thoughtful, vulnerable, and powerful responses that participants have contributed, I will offer a recap of the messages that have been shared:
Is This Work Personal? What's At Stake?
Yes, this work is personal. It is personal to youth who live daily with the impact of overt and subtle racism and discrimination within the schools, among peers, staff, and school administration. It is personal to parents who have worked to advocate on behalf of their children and their families only to feel invalidated; who have had their realities of racial and other oppressive identity dynamics ignored or dismissed by the staff or administration. It is personal to the student of color who was punished more harshly than his white peer for the same offense. It is personal to the student whose earliest experience on the playground was to be ostracized due to the color of their skin, and to the parent of that student who was told "not to make a big deal out of it."
It is personal to school staff, students, and families of color and other marginalized identities who feel the pressure to be the universal representative of their race or identity; who carry the burden of educating the greater school population on the personal impact of ignorance and bigotry; who shoulder the undo risk of calling out concerning, abusive, or inequitable practices.
It is personal to the white students, staff, and community members who bare witness to painful and hostile acts, who struggle to know how to intervene; students, families, and community who want to learn to be allies, who want to transform their own relationship with race, but don't know where to begin.
It is personal to students who suffer within school cultures that they feel lack empathy for the needs and pain of marginalized students and lack accountability for moments when pain is perpetrated.
This is an abridged list drawn from direct conversations in our first two meetings and feedback from the community at large. Those that have participated in these discussions come from schools across all of Lamoille County. This is not unique to one space, supervisory union, or insular community.
The pain experienced by each student, family member, and community member is a result of ideas, beliefs, actions, inaction, and policies that permeate our school communities and community as a whole. In order to heal and achieve equity, we will need a full community response; across school leadership, across districts, among neighbors. A response that centers the safety, dignity, and truth of those most impacted.
What Now?
We have established interest in the following areas of work:
- Build a county-wide REAL Schools Youth Coalition
- Assess and address the culture and curriculum within the hallways, classrooms, and offices of schools and school administrations
- Provide outreach and support to students, youth, and families most impacted by inequity within the school systems
-Across all realms listed above, enhance awareness and education.
We are eager to form action steps in each of these areas. But in order to ensure that our actions and objectives are in line with our long term goals, we have to first create a long term vision!
At our upcoming meeting we will be engaging in an exercise to continue to build a clear and concrete vision of the desired outcomes of our work and how we can create actionable steps towards that vision.
We hope that you will join us in working towards an equitable vision of the future!
Dec 20, 2024, 10 to 11:30 AM
Annual Christmas ConcertDec 22, 2024, 12 PM
0pen Studio Moving in NovemberDec 23, 2024, 9:30 to 11:30 AM