Acknowledging a Crisis
April 01, 2022
The new, creative structures and routines that have worked during the pandemic deserve to endure in the fight against racial inequities.
PHOTO BY OCEOLOA MUHAMMAD
In Milwaukee Public Schools, the push to expose people to leadership for equity started in earnest in 2016. At the time, Latish Reed, Milwaukeeâs professional development manager and an adjunct professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, was the
districtâs first equity specialist. She developed the districtâs equity policy and implementation procedures and revised its non-discrimination policy to be gender inclusive.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two years
ago, she has seen more equity leadership in action than ever before. âIn the five or so years before the pandemic hit, it was about understanding and learning,â she says. âWe did a lot of trainings. The pandemic ripped the Band-Aid
off and shifted us into practicing equity.â
Paying closer attention to studentsâ experiences and considering the people behind the numbers has been important to the districtâs efforts.
âItâs about
responding to peopleâs conditions,â Reed says. âSaying our district has a large number of free-and-reduced-price lunch-eligible students is different than acknowledging that families donât have a way to get meals. When schools
closed, we served families.ââŠâI witnessed a spirit and practice of compassion toward children and families that exceeded compliance.â
She adds: âBefore the pandemic, it was a lot of debate in our district. People said
things like âwe canât let students take home our technology. The equipment is going to get messed up.â Some people said this or that couldnât be done. Or that it shouldnât be done. Well, we immediately put plans into
place to ensure students had a device to learn at home.â
How might education leaders ensure the many things that people have said couldnât or shouldnât be done in the name of racial equity persist beyond the pandemic?
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Author
Decoteau IrbyAbout the Author
Decoteau Irby is author of Stuck Improving: Racial Equity and School Leadership (Harvard Education Press).
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