Race Matters, Friends challenges school board candidates
Columbia Board of Education President Jim Whitt on Tuesday listed some of the progress he said Columbia Public Schools has made on race.
Whitt said Kevin Brown, a new assistant superintendent for secondary education, would help the district become more inclusive in terms of race. He said CPS also is working on equity training and changing discipline policies.
“This is tough work, and it’s going to take time,” Whitt said. Whitt was one of four Columbia Board of Education candidates on Tuesday’s ballot who attended a school board forum held by the group Race Matters, Friends at Bethel Baptist Church.
“We’re used to hearing that bureaucratic yip-yap,” said Traci Wilson-Kleekamp, a Race Matters, Friends member, in response to Whitt’s comments.
Tuesday’s event was marked by tense moments between group members and board candidates.
The other candidates are Sarah Dubbert, Jan Mees, Paul Rainsberger and Joe Toepke. Toepke wasn’t at the meeting because he was out of town on vacation.
Race Matters, Friends members challenged the candidates to start a conversation about race in public schools.
Dubbert said people are afraid to talk about race, usually diverting the conversation to discussions of poverty and diversity.
“If you’re not going to talk about anything, it’s not going to get fixed,” Dubbert said. “Why are we talking around the issue?”
Rainsberger said board members have to go into the community to hear the what people are saying.
“We have to actively seek out all the voices in the community,” Rainsberger said.
Mees said things have changed for the better at the school district. She said the key is for board members to establish relationships with teachers and parents in the schools.
“We’ve flipped a switch, and the light is on right now,” Mees said. “We need to get moving. We can’t wait any longer as a board.”
Grace Vega, a member of Race Matters, Friends told the school board candidates that it will be their responsibility to set the district agenda on race.
“If the people at the top aren’t speaking the language, it’s not going to happen from the bottom up,” Vega said.
The school-to-prison pipeline and the disparity in student discipline between white students and minorities were major topics Tuesday.
Whitt said out-of-school suspensions have been reduced significantly but black students are given most of the suspensions. He said the goal is to keep students in school.
Whitt and Mees discussed restorative practices, an alternative discipline method in which all interested parties in a dispute meet to find a resolution to the conflict. There also is equity training, in which educators are trained to recognize and understand and acknowledge the backgrounds and identities of their students.
The incumbents said the programs are starting to yield results, but progress is slow.
Mees said there’s an agreement with the Columbia Police Department and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department to prevent putting students in the legal system for minor incidents.
“We try not to slap a kid in handcuffs,” Mees said. “We made a concerted effort to keep kids out of the juvenile justice system.”
Addressing a question about hiring practices, Rainsberger said organizations should expand the hiring pool by considering all those who are qualified. He said in CPS, the highest turnover of employees is among custodians, who mostly are black.
“Public entities have the obligation to be the vanguard on human resources,” Rainsberger said.
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