At you school board meetings, student presentations probably leave you feeling good. At NYSSBA's Annual Convention & Education Expo, a planned student presentation is more likely to make you feel uncomfortable.
The students' goal is to change the way many adults think about race. They are affiliated with
ERASE Racism, a Long Island group that strives to achieve greater racial and socioeconomic equity for communities and schools.
"I think attendees will find what they have to say thought-provoking, at a minimum," said Michael Jaime, a member of NYSSBA's Board of Directors who helped arrange the student panel. "I deally, many people will walk out with an entirely new perspective."
Students affiliated with ERASE Racism sat some truths can be hard for some people to hear. Their topic will be educational equity - what schools can do to address the achievemtn gap and other issues affecting minority students. These students will share personal stories related to how they have experienced inequities in their schools or communitiies.
"If we're open to having that communication, with being comfortable with the uncomfortable, we can also be an example for others," said Gabrielle Barnes, a high school senior in the Hewlett-Woodmere public schools in Nassau County.
With support from ERASE Racism organization, students on Long Island have been looking at ways schools can become more equitable i.e., less racially unfair. They are focusing on topics:
- Patterns of segregation in school communities.
- Extent of diversity among teachers and administrators.
- Improving school climate.
- Making curricula "culturally responsive".
- Ways schools can support various ethnic and racial groups.
"To have school systems in which everyone truly has an opportunity to suceed, school boards have to confront the fact that kids of different races come to school with different levels of pereparation, diffferent ways of relating, and different ideas of what's possible for them, " Jaime said.
"What we're currently doing isn't enough," said Joyce Brown, executive director of the Caucus of Black School Board Members. "These students will give convention attendees a fresh, grounded perspective."
