Racial equity is something that, if we are not deliberate, becomes lip service and something that is talked about but not really addressed. In order for racial equity to be a fibrous part of what the district focuses on, there must be a shift in how, when, and why we improve outcomes for students (of color). In turn, racial equity and a plan to address it cannot be the responsibility of one central office department. Certain schools cannot be the only schools to usher in change and improvements. Nor can the pursuit of racial equity be “chased” by designated adults in all schools. 

Racial equity must be something that every adult in Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) must agree to face, fix, and fight for. Why? Because as JCPS continues to become more diverse, diversifying the ways in which we teach, accept, and engage students is paramount. In doing so, we actually accept the responsibility and mobilize the mission that is read at every board meeting — All Jefferson County Public Schools students graduate prepared, empowered, and inspired to reach their full potential and contribute as thoughtful, responsible citizens of our diverse, shared world.

The Racial Equity Policy is an elephantine step toward improvement only if it is manifested by staff in the system. Like many policies, this policy has potential to languish, weaken, and impact nothing if we do not introspect, investigate, and inquire about how and why we must change our perceptions, pedagogy, practices, policies, and positionality. To do anything other than unapologetically examine the impact of race and the role it plays in the school system is to explicitly accept outcomes that historically and persistently find many students of color on the declining side of the “opportunity and access" gaps.

Not moving past discussion and lingering on the poverty issue without accepting the fact that there is still a gap (in JCPS) between students of color who live in poverty as compared to their impoverished (white) peers, proliferates meritocracy and mutes systemic maligning that places far too much burden on the learner instead of the leader. In turn, students of color who are not on free and reduced-price meals still find themselves on the wrong side of the gap when compared to their peers with similar affluence and/or access to monetary support. The inequities faced by students of color — e.g., disproportionate suspensions, lack of access to seasoned and/or highly effective teachers, decreased likelihood of being identified as Gifted and Talented, having curricula that limits the contributions that their culture has made to the world stage, having curricula that exaggerates and exacerbates the dominant culture along with a litany of other implicit bias outcomes, harsher consequences for subjective offenses — are clear. Inasmuch, the approval of the Racial Equity Policy places a substantive amount of the accountability on us, not the students.

Racial Equity necessitates awareness, action, and accountability. Comfortability (for the most part) can only be a consideration for the student(s). Vulnerability, authenticity, and provisional practices that improve the way we teach, train, and treat students are the foci of a/this Racial Equity Policy. This policy could arguably be the most impactful policy JCPS has passed in several decades. We are poised to close the opportunity gap — only if we face, fix, and focus on racial equity.

—John D. Marshall, Ed.D., JCPS Chief Equity Officer