Clayton School District Must Implement an Anti-Bias, Anti-Racism Plan for 2020-2021

I strongly suggest that everyone who has signed this petition should also read the following New York Times op-ed piece before making your family's plans for educating your children this fall: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/opinion/pandemic-pods-schools.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage. If it is behind the paywall, here is an important take-home message with regards to setting up learning pods to help parents and children navigate online classes: "For parents who need to work and can’t supervise their children’s learning, joining a pod may feel like the only way they can educate their kids and keep their jobs. Based on what I’ve seen online, the learning pod movement appears to be led by families with means, a large portion of whom are white. Paradoxically, at a time when the Black Lives Matter movement has prompted a national reckoning with white supremacy, white parents are again ignoring racial and class inequality when it comes to educating their children. As a result, they are actively replicating the systems that many of them say they want to dismantle." While we ask our administrators and board members to do better, we must also do better ourselves.

This is great, but I think there is almost too much emphasis on the administration and not enough on the board of education. The board has provided zero leadership nor has it shown any interest in performing real work on the topic. During the bimonthly meetings the members seem totally unprepared to discuss anything of substance or seriousness. They have no interest in public opinion. Their primary purpose seems to be the maintenance of the status quo, making sure that meetings are over by a certain time, and social prestige. As a community we have long accepted this as long as the kids are getting into good colleges and the administration is doing their work for them, however, we are finally at a point where real action and effort is required from the board. Their lack of effort has done a great disservice to our community and to the administration who are getting no help from them.

I am missing the part where people have concluded that protecting Dr. Doherty is *more important* than being anti-racist. For me, 'demanding' a search for new leadership creates a visceral reaction to retain one of the most talented and qualified educational leaders in the entire nation. A person that I see as fully capable and ready to be an agent of change given the overwhelming public response to finally implement those changes. I understand that he was not called out specifically, but it's reasonable for some to conflate a demand for leadership change with the District's top leadership position. I support the general direction of the petition and appreciate this voice of public opinion to the Board and the Administration. It has largely served its purpose - to show the District's Board and Administration what the public wants from their school district (specific actions). I am absolutely for the Board and/or the Administration adopting some or all of the suggestions within the petition, but I won't add my name to a petition that demands we circumvent existing governance structure processes and remediation channels. Please consider these suggested changes in the petition, and each individual can vote accordingly if they are not satisfied with the progress made by the Board and/or Administration.

6 years ago Featured

Felice- I couldn't agree more. I've loved Sean Doherty ever since he welcomed my daughters and special needs son into the fold when he was Captain Elementary's Principal. I believe he can be an integral part of the solution. These efforts are about racist systems, not individuals.

I support the spirit and general direction of this petition. As the Chairperson of the District's PAC.ED (Parent Advisory Council of Student's with Educational Diversity) - students with disabilities, I would add that we absolutely must address the lack of equity, disciplinary bias, and segregation of students of color with disabilities in our District. I support Dr. Sean Doherty and concur with others that "he has the integrity to be both responsible and responsive in this critical moment". When we speak of "administrative leadership" that includes Principals/Asst. Principals, Assistant Superintendents, and other members of the Superintendent's Cabinet. The community must also hold the Board of Education accountable. Members of the Board of Education are elected by the community and are therefore accountable to them. Board members can either be facilitators of positive change and growth in a District or they can impede positive change and growth.

6 years ago Featured

Oopsie! I, Eileen McGaughey, actually wrote the above comment. Those of you who know my family may have been confused as to how my adorable 8-year-old wrote such a well-phrased response to the concerns for Dr. Doherty's position. Just wanted to clarify :)

I see the concerns and comments about Sean Doherty and want to clarify that nowhere in the petition does it claim to want to fire anyone, and it certainly doesn't claim to want to fire Sean Doherty. What the petition does say is that we, as a community, are requiring the district to take the necessary steps to provide a truly equitable education. I have no doubt that the writers have faith that the district will meet these requirements. If that doesn't happen, however, they are asking that the Board begin a process of looking for new leadership - this could be Dr. Doherty, assistant superintendents, principals, and other various leaders. I'm not sure where the rumor started that this was about Dr. Doherty, but please sign and keep in mind that we have many leaders within the district who we need to depend on to make impactful changes.

Hi Danijela, This has been addressed in Becky Patel's comment below (click the arrow on Jeni Goode's comment). We understand that folks are jumping to that conclusion - what the petition states is that if we do not have the right administrative leadership to implement these goals which have been stated many times by board, administration, equity committees, and faculty leadership, then an appropriate step of accountability would be to make changes to the administrative structure. As with many other personnel decisions, those changes might include hiring new people, firing existing people, restructuring roles, etc. That's for the Board to determine, our goal with the petition is to make clear that it's time for action, that action requires accountability, and that there is a large base of public support for action.

6 years ago Featured

Hello- it was brought to my attention that “ we demand that the Board of Education begin the process of conducting a search for new administrative leadership ” may actually mean that we are asking for Sean D our superintendent to be replaced. Can someone please address this with me? Thank you.

6 years ago Featured

I appreciate the sentiments to retain Sean Doherty. I also believe whole heartedly he has the integrity to be both responsible and responsive in this critical moment.

I am *just a bit* surprised by how many people have jumped to seeing Sean Doherty as a target rather than a co-conspirator and conclude that protecting him is more important that being anti-racist. We met with him last week and I came away with the sense that he recognizes this work is necessary and urgent. And he (has been or) is putting plans in place to do the work. He himself stated as much in his letter to us last month, “I believe the work in recent years around equity has laid a foundational awareness and we now need to work on systemic transformation. We need to address racism and implicit bias within our school system and be explicit about it. We need to have a deep-rooted understanding about institutionalized racism and collective commitments to address it. We can't be afraid about feeling uncomfortable; directly facing our discomfort leads to transformation. We must hold each other accountable and lean into that discomfort in order to be more effective educators.“

6 years ago Featured

I just read this more carefully. I DO NOT support the removal of SEAN DOHERTY. I signed this petition. BUT I do not support this clause.

6 years ago Featured

My children started and finished in the Clayton School District from Kg - High School Graduation. I have been on every diversity, inclusion and parent committee they invented. It's a shame that it took the deaths of more black people for a real change to happen. So all I can say right now is IT IS ABOUT DAMN TIME.