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Anti-Racist Schools

Anti-Racist Organization

Achieving Racial Equity: Our Anti-Racist School and Community Transformational Journey

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Background

Over the past several years, the District has collaborated with a number of organizations to support our anti-racist school and community transformational journey. We have also taken several critical steps to operationalize our work. We adopted the Equity Vision and Mission. We formed an Equity Advisory Committee to provide input on our policies, procedures and programming and similarly facilitated student equity groups to ensure their voices are heard.  Our Board adopted a policy and Administrative Regulations which guide us in our journey to identify, disrupt and eliminate institutional barriers and biases in order to realize the SMUHSD Equity Vision. 

 

What is our moral imperative, or “Why”? Revise our Why? What are some of the continuing reasons for this work? 

The Board of Trustees and the District Community and the District Community seek to ensure that policies and practices produce equitable outcomes for students who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC). The district's mission, vision, and goals recognize that educational excellence for all students requires a commitment to racial equity. 

Racial equity is defined as both an outcome and a process. As an outcome, racial equity in San Mateo Union High School District (SMUHSD) is achieved when race does not determine one’s outcomes at school or work, when students and families have what they need to thrive as members of the school community, and when staff have what they need to succeed in their work. As a process, racial equity in SMUHSD is achieved when those most impacted by structural racial inequity are meaningfully involved in the creation and implementation of the institutional policies and practices that impact their lives, specifically BIPOC students, staff, and their families.

 

How will we approach this process so that it feels different and yields deeper impact than previous efforts? What have we learned, accomplished thus far? What are some future steps we intend to take? 

We will take the following steps outlined in the Administrative Regulations in order to be successful: 

  1. Foster and maintain a district-wide culture of inclusion and belonging for BIPOC students, staff, and their families

  2. Advance the representation of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) at all levels within our school district, to the extent legally permitted

  3. Conduct a review of district-wide policies, procedures, and programs through a racial equity lens, revise these polices to reflect anti-racist values, and ensure these policies result in fair and just outcomes for BIPOC students, staff, and their families 

  4. Adopt a comprehensive district-wide anti-racism education curriculum

  5. Invest and support the mental and physical well-being of BIPOC students, staff, and their families

  6. Develop the District’s LCAP to include the directives in this Racial Equity Policy

  7. Prioritize the allocation of the district’s financial and human resources in a manner that results in racially equitable outcomes for all BIPOC students, staff, and their families via district programs and support services 

  8. Ensure the execution and maintenance of the Racial Equity Board Policy and Administrative Regulation, and all policies related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice, by creating an infrastructure with defined roles that will support racial equity work ongoing 



What will this look like? 

We strive to be an organization that: 

  1. Fights racism as an institution

  2. Is an inclusive and welcoming environment for BIPOC students, staff, and their families, and

  3. Eradicates opportunity gaps for BIPOC students




Contacts

For more information, contact:
Julia Kempkey | Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction | jkempkey@smuhsd.org

Download the flyer about the launch of our journey:
English
Spanish
Chinese

 

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