Awakened in America
Awakened in America
S1 Ep #11: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion in Schools
Host Z and Host Jess speak with Superintendent Dr. Ben Drati, Dr. Freda Rossi, and Dr. Satinder Hawkins from the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District about the programs and initiatives they are leading with regards to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
You're listening to awakened in America, two minds on a journey to create dialogue about diversity inclusion and optimism.
Speaker 2:Hello listeners. Today we are talking about anti-racism diversity and inclusion as it relates to education, which is a multi-faceted topic in itself. Previously we've discussed the education gap in this country, meaning the relationship between school funding and the quality of education. Things like redlining effecting property value, which in turn plays a crucial role in the quality of education. And whether a public school receives adequate funding from the state. We've also discussed the importance of giving our children and accurate depiction of our country's history. As we believe what is currently approved in school curriculum for American history is severely lacking. We've also discussed in previous episodes that there is a disconnect for many parents who want their children to have a quote diverse school experience. And the challenge is how can things be truly inclusive outside of school? Everyone needs to be on the same page, working together to break down racial barriers. They're progressive and inspiring work that is being done within the Santa Monica Malibu unified school district is what we'll be focusing on today. And we are really thrilled to have three guests with us, Dr. Ben droughty, superintendent of Santa Monica, Malibu unified school district, and two people from his team who are leading anti-racism and diversity inclusion initiatives. And that is Dr. Frita Rossi. And Dr said, Tinder Hawkins. All right. So moving things right along, we are going to start off with some questions for Dr. Rossi and for our listeners, a quick overview of her background. She is the family engagement coordinator for the school district. That's the Santa Monica Malibu school district. And this is her third year in the role. And she oversees parent education programs, parent advisory committees, and provide school sites with training and support in school plans for student achievement and family engagement. Prior to joining, she served as the district level administrator in various districts throughout the state of California. And for the past 13 years, she has served as adjunct faculty in both educational leadership and teacher education programs. Hi, Dr. Rossy, thank you for joining. Hi, thank you for inviting me. Definitely. So, um, I think to start out kind of the way that you and I got in touch for our listeners, um, Dr. Rossi, you know, my son, uh, actually is part of the Santa Monica Malibu school district this year. This is his first year. Um, it was me, the teacher night back in, I think it was August and we had a meet the teacher night over zoom and his, uh, TK teacher who is Melissa Herman shout out to her she's phenomenal. Um, one of the first things she said out of the gate to the parents attending was we are going to be focusing on social justice. And that was one of the things that DNI had spoken about, you know, on the side was how are teachers and educators going to address what's going on in 2020, um, specifically, you know, in light of these current events that have really, you know, brought a lot of attention to things like anti-racism and inclusion and diversity, and especially among, you know, four and five-year-olds. So, um, I was just so thrilled to hear her say that. And then fast forward a couple of weeks after that, I received an email from you saying, um, you're going to be leading a, an anti-racism webinars series for the, all the families that belong to this set of school district and just for our listeners. I think it's important to note the district itself is comprised of, I think it's 10 elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school. So we're talking about a lot of families that you're reaching. And so without further ado, if you could tell us Dr. Rossi about the anti-racism webinars series and how the program came about, that would be great.
Speaker 3:So thank you again for inviting me. And, um, well, the way that it came about is that's a family engagement coordinator. I'm always, um, working on programming for parents, that's relevant to support student achievement, um, in light of, um, the killing of George Floyd and, um, the auntie, you know, the activism that's been playing out throughout the world. Um, we formed an anti-racism task force in the district. I, myself, I'm a member of that anti-racism task force. So in my role, I started thinking, what can I do to support our anti-racism work in the district? Um, so I thought of providing a webinar series for parents, um, through my work with various parent committees and through dialogues, uh, with different parents and stakeholders, they really were asking for how do I engage in conversations with my child about race and racism. Um, in also in speaking with some of the parents of older teenagers, they also expressed an, um, uh, an interest in knowing how to dialogue around kids, wanting to go out and protest. Um, you know, so it just became really evident to me that as the family engagement coordinator and member of that anti-racism task force, but this, um, was an opportunity for us to provide parents with tools and resources to engage in, in the style logs with, um, their children.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for that background. Um, had you seen anything like this in your previous work and other school districts kind of this need for, um, resources and training, or do you think this was a product of, like you mentioned George Foyt and, um, the events that happened in 2020? I think it's,
Speaker 3:It's several components kind of came together. First of all, it's, um, the work through Dr.[inaudible] leadership, the excellence through equity work that he has, um, spearheaded, I think really set the ground for us to really begin to develop all these different initiatives. So I would say that his leadership really has provided us with a foundation and a lens to really take on these difficult topics. Um, many districts talk about equity. Um, I mean, I think that, you know, I've been in the field for 25 years and this word is used a lot, but in joining the team here in this district, I see that there's actionable items. So, um, I had a lot of support from Dr.[inaudible] with the interest of developing this, um, series for parents. So I think it was that the two things, it was the timing with, you know, the global focus on race and racism and race relations. And then also the fact that through his leadership, we, as staff are really in a position to be able to be innovative, creative, and resourceful around these topics.
Speaker 2:That's great. I'm learning, you know, new, um, ways to educate my family and myself. Uh, we're also trying to inspire our listeners who, like you mentioned, I think a lot of us particularly white progressives have been kind of grappling with this. How are we supposed to do things differently? You know, how can we improve and how can we make things better for our families and our, um, our children and, and education plays such a crucial role in that, you know, considering how many hours our children are spending in school and how influenced they are by their educators and their peers. So in the interest of, you know, kind of giving some ideas to our listeners on ways they can start similar conversations within their own school districts, do you have any starting points for getting a process like this off the ground? Um, maybe if you could speak to what the approval process was like and how it was funded or implemented, that would be really helpful.
Speaker 3:So I started looking really at providing parents with tools and resources. So step one was as part of the anti-racism task force. We started to look at, um, three different, um, levels, actionable levels. So the one is really, um, building awareness. All of this is happening. Our students are seeing they this on the news, they're asking questions. So what can we as parents do to equip ourselves to be able to be proactive when our teenager asks us questions when our five-year-old assets questions. So that's really what, um, was the, the impetus for me to develop a website with resources. Um, so if you have an opportunity to navigate that, um, resource website, parents are able to, um, connect with different resources throughout the world and state of California and the nation that have, um, formed different tools where parents can read about race racism, what is white fragility? Uh, what do we mean by what is a microaggression, all of these different words, what is colorism? So all of these different words that we're hearing. So the first thing I would say is educate yourself, um, practice self-reflection, um, there's a lot of, um, books, a lot of anti-racism books right now that really focus on having, um, you become really reflective about how you, um, how you perpetuate, uh, racist systems. Um, so th that was really my interest in developing the webinar series is to lean into these difficult topics. And, um, through my partnership with Edelman, um, I had part partnered with them to do a COVID-19 series. And when all of this happened during the summer, I reached out to Jenelle Mays, who's the clinical supervisor there. And I said, you know, I really think that it's important for us to address this. Um, there's a lot of also racial trauma. There's a lot of, um, fear that's being instilled in, in our young people. What can we do to equip parents with the tools and resources to have these difficult conversations and to promote anti-racism? So it's not just, that's why the series is called resilience and anti-racism
Speaker 2:Got it. Yeah. And actually, I know there have been multiple webinars so far. What are the, um, the topics that we've covered so far?
Speaker 3:The first module is race racism and resilience and the topic. Well, the first topic was trauma resilience in the face of racism, and that's just really looking at, um, how, um, how racism, um, is traumatic for, um, communities of color. And that there's also an impact on the social, emotional development of white students and black and Brown students. So it impacts us differently. So the first session really focused on looking at, um, trauma resilience in the face of racism, identifying racism, what it is and how it impacts our social, emotional development. And then the second one was how to talk to your child about race and racism. So in that one, um, we had dialogue around, well, what's age appropriate. What are some of the resources? How can we address come conversations with our five-year-old versus our 11 year old versus our 19 year old that wants to go out there and protest. So that was the second one. And then the third one was parents of black and Brown children healing together in solidarity. And this came about because many of our black and Brown parents are saying to me, well, predate, you know, um, I, you know, my child is seeing, um, a lot of written, you know, a lot of racism, a lot of protests, people Brown and Brown, black, and Brown people are getting hurt. I don't know how to navigate that with my child. So we thought it would be important to also have a session that really addressed that really equipping parents with the tools to also address the racial trauma that, um, many of our black and Brown children are feeling, and our parents are wanting to ensure that they instill, um, strength and resilience in their children. The other part of the series is module two, which is building hope together. And that's really looking at, um, what are some of the mental health, um, issues that come up with, um, persistent, racist, um, systems. And what we see is that many times, um, if there is a preponderance of experiencing all these microaggressions, um, many times people self-medicate and may look to, um, use some drugs or alcohol. So we, our second module is really focusing on suicide prevention, building hope together, um, substance abuse prevention, and then stress reduction for parents. So it's also looking at like the mental health pieces that you have to address in order to be an anti-racist, because it's the two things working hand in hand.
Speaker 2:And then, um, for people who don't have a family engagement coordinator type of a person contact, they can reach out to what do you do recommend reaching out to a principal at their school or something like that to ask about resources, like the one that you've created, the website you created.
Speaker 3:They're welcome to visit our website, um, Santa Monica, Malibu unified school district. If they go to the parent tab and they go to the anti-racism, um, I've compiled different resources there that they can access, um, there's books, there's, um, webinars, there's podcasts, there's videos. Um, the national history museum of African American culture has developed, uh, interactive, um, site for parents. And there's a lot of very relevant work. There's a lot of books, um, book clubs. So I welcome anyone to, to visit our anti-racism website.
Speaker 2:So how has the reception been from it's
Speaker 3:Been great reception. The webinars series has been very well attended, and I also post the recordings and people have been, um, also logging in to view them after the fact, um, many of our parents have biracial children. Um, that's kind of the feedback that I'm getting from some of our participating recurring participating parents, and they have found the webinars to be really well received,
Speaker 2:Wrapping things up for you. Um, Dr. Rossi, are there plans to extend the anti-racism training to students, um, within the school district? Because I think right now it's kind of focused on the parents and if you could speak to how you envision or hope to grow the program, that would be great.
Speaker 3:So, um, one of the things about the resilience and anti-racism webinars series is that it does support parents in having those conversations with their students. So our family engagement, um, parent programs are really focused on that teacher, parents, student connection. Um, so as you experience with your, um, TK or, um, teachers are very immersed in this work, um, I think when you speak with Dr. S um, such Tinder Hopkins, she can provide more context in regards to the training for teachers and for students.
Speaker 2:Okay, great. Thank you so much, Dr. Rossi, um, moving right along to Dr. Ben[inaudible] quick overview for our listeners. He has been the Santa Monica Malibu unified school district superintendent since 2017. And before that, I believe you were assistant superintendent in the Santa Barbara school district and per previous to that were, uh, an educator football coach, um, among other things. And then one thing I read, read that you came to the U S with your family at the age of 10 from Uganda, which is incredible. So thank you again for joining us Dr. Droughty and, um, we'll just kick things off. So I was really excited. Like I mentioned, being a new parent in the school district. Um, I went on to the school's website, the district's website and the motto right there for everybody to see extraordinary achievements for all students while simultaneously closing the achievement gap. And, um, I would love to hear, you know, a little bit about that and, um, what that means to you.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Great. Great. Well, thank you. And then thank you, uh, Dr. Rossi for setting this up to an answer Tinder for joining us, as you can see, I have a very talented group here, and maybe I'll speak to just how we've assembled this talented group to, to achieve what we wanna achieve. So, uh, it's always good to have people in the organization where, where you're aligned in thought, and as w w w when that situation occurred with George Freud, when he got, when he was murdered, uh, I didn't have to go ask what should we do? People came to me like, uh, doctor Dr. Rossi and September Hawkins, and the rest of the ed services team said, we need to develop something to help our family. So, so it's comforting that you have people that are just out there thinking the same way you're thinking. So, and I thank you also for hosting this, this conversation, because it's very important. Um, I think, um, uh, uh, we have an opportunity in the nation to make the world better, but it's going to have to take courageous conversations, like, like what you're doing here. So thank you for that. So that statement is an important statement, uh, because you miss out from Uganda, Uganda is more of a, uh, or a, a place where, uh, capitalism, isn't so profound, you know, with capitalism, there's always a winner and loser. There's a winner and loser, and I married in an American society. And I think because it's a capitalistic country, there's often that when you say, well, let's make sure everybody achieves somebody. Who's always saying, well, are you taking some money from me? So, you know, when, when you talk about this, let's close the achievement gap, uh, because we are a capitalistic country, somebody's arm is going to say, well, are you slowing down my child for the other person to catch up? And, and I reject that notion because you can, you can support everyone, uh, and reach your potential. And so extraordinary achievement for our wild simultaneous close. The achievement gap just means just that in that all students in our district are talented, they have great potential with support all, but at the same time, there are some things that are, uh, that are done in the education system that do not promote the social and academic development. African-American students, uh, Latin X students, uh, and a native indigenous students that are the students that are often behind the achievement gap. Um, uh, there are some things that are missing in our curriculum that they need in order to meet the potential that they should meet. So we are in the process of introducing those things. And we think, so our theory of action is that we introduce those concepts and Centennial. We'll talk about a lot of that. Um, we, to those concepts, we think our students are going to progress the way they should have progressed all along.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. Yeah. I've never, um, I've never read anything so forward thinking, and I'm really just on point with what's happening right now for a school district motto, so kudos to you and your team. Um, so in your career, Dr. Droughty, have you addressed anti-racism and social justice in the past, in previous roles? Or do you feel like, um, this is kind of a different point that we're in as a country and as a superintendent, did you feel like this was a more opportune time to bring these things up?
Speaker 4:Yeah, no. I, I came into education, uh, to do just that is to address, uh, um, the issue that the racism that actually exists in our system. I think education is probably that, that, that they're really the only entity in the U S that can fix the issues that we have to do, whether it be climate change or racism, it has to be through education. No other agency is going to do that. We have the captive audience from preschool all the way up to eighth grade at a very impressionable time for, to get people, to see each other have, have different perspectives about life. And, and, and I think, uh, during that time, we can do a lot to, to imprint on people how to live best. So I'm going to read you a quote. I often show people and read to people about why, why is all this important? Why, why, why is this necessary? Do we really need it? So, and I'm going to read this. As I said, we need to teach all students to acquire the knowledge, attitudes and skills needed to function effectively in a pluralistic democratic society and interact, negotiate, and communicate with people from diverse groups to create a civic, moral civic, and moral community that works for the common good. That, that, to me, that's a profound statement because that is the why that is the why. And, and, and that is what's missing in our system right now. And I'll just, it saddens me anytime. I just read, uh, what's going on in the world. And to me, it's so simple as that is, is people not seeing each other. We all, we all want happiness. We all want to eat. We all want to have, enjoy our children. We all want to enjoy our parents, and we all want to die fulfilled. And it seems like we don't know how to do that. Uh, as a, as a system that's available for everybody, it doesn't have to be a zero sum game. And, uh, and that I think education can teach people. If he asks a question, what is happiness? What is happiness? And what is, what is satisfaction? What is true happiness. And I think if view teach people how to attain happiness, it doesn't have to be through materials or things like that. Then, then the work function better. And you see people that are wealthy all the time. They're miserable. You see people that are poor, they're miserable. It's just, and you find people that are just enjoy life. Whether they have money, you don't have money, or whether they're impoverished and are impoverished. Um, but they find joy in just living. And that's not an easy thing to attain, you know, or to learn. So, but I think in education, we can teach that
Speaker 2:That was, um, profound. That made sense of a lot of thoughts that I have swirling around in my brain. Right. Right. Now these days as a parent. Um, so thank you for your, um, prevision and, um, yeah,
Speaker 4:Actually, no. So, uh, anyway, so, um, I ended up here as many, I was doing this work, uh, as high school principal, I came into this, into this role at easy mess out. I grew up in Uganda. I came here as a refugee in a war, and it was, it was through the education system that I was able to learn how to speak English here, uh, take my classes and get supportive educators to get me to where I need to go, where I need to get to. Uh, and, and I grew up in LA actually, and then ended up in Fresno state on a football scholarship. And then from there, uh, majored in biochemistry. Um, and then, and then instead of going to pharmacy school, I was at recently tended to, I ended up helping my friend coach a football team. One season. I just fell in love with education and went into teaching chemistry. And, but all along, I knew that, uh, I saw everything I stated right now. I saw that what education can do for people it did for me. And so my work as a high school principal, as an assistant superintendent has always been around letting people see racism for what it is in the system and, and trying to dismantle that. So I was so glad when sent to Monica Malibu reached out to me. And while I was in Santa Barbara doing this work, and they described the board, talked about what they wanted to do in the community. And they acknowledged racism that racism is real and alive. So when I saw the opportunity, I was like, wow, I have the school board it community and staff that's okay. And having this conversation that I'm there. So, so that's how I ended up here and it's been, it's been good. So I'm just running in the process of really assembling a team that, uh, that, that we can take on this challenge. And as you can see, I have two great people. Uh, we hired here, uh, within the last two years to help advance this work. So
Speaker 2:That's great. And then, um, I guess this is probably more of a personal question, but it'll be interesting for our listeners too. Um, I read your, your statement that you issued in July, the commitment to anti-racism. And I was inspired when I read that and I sent it to Z and she had a similar reaction. So we were actually just wondering, where do you draw inspiration from, as a leader in this anti-racism movement? Um, or like, where do you get your, your ideas or how do you feel, how do you, how do you kind of know that, um, your work being put, you know, put into action, how do you gauge your success?
Speaker 4:Oh, great, great, great point. So, um, I think that racism is insidious. It is it's, it's hidden, it's hard to see unless you have a trained eye on it. To me, all students have the potential of being very successful, whether it be in, in, in, in, in, in life, in, and, and, and, and achievement. And when you start seeing where students are lacking in there, that's when you start seeing, if you unpack what's happening, you start seeing sometimes as a, as an education system, we put barriers in front of people. For example, this, the whole idea of intellect, right? Uh, being, being intelligent, um, that notion is defined through a specific perspective. And a lot of time is very you're centric. As a result, you, you, you, if you, if you are of that elk, you, you, you, you will be successful because the system is going to blow you up. If you come from a different place, uh, and your worldview is a little different, a very different perspective. It could be challenging. Take me for example, this, this, I came in here. The only language I knew was low by that at 10th grade. Okay. I was an English learner and there's 10 of us in the family. Uh, all refugees didn't have much the education system at that time saw me. The teachers felt horrible that I didn't know how to speak English. They took the time to say, let's teach this student, let's teach this young child how to learn English, but they approached it in a way in which they never took me out of my science classes or my math classes. And so on. They made a conscious choice and said he does know English and English. Can't be tied to his intellect. So let's keep him in this classes and teach English through those classes and let's implement strategies. So he can unpack science. You can unpack math and learn it all along, learn English. Okay. That's it decision made by my teachers that said, listen, guess what happened in that situation? I thrived in, in my math, I thrived in my English, uh, in my, in my sciences while learning English so much to where I ended up taking AP classes, uh, chemistry classes and, and majoring in chemistry and biochemistry in college, because somebody said, we're not going to tie his intelligence to English, the English language. If that was a case that you wouldn't have French teachers, you wouldn't have, you wouldn't have French scientists or Chinese, um, scientists, or, uh, you name it. You wouldn't have people who speak different languages. Uh, but, but, uh, but, but, but, uh, but sometimes in our system, people would say, well, you know what, he's an English learner. So let's, let's, um, let's take them out and let's fix them first before we put him in this class and let's fix it, you know? And then all of a sudden, you, you you're harming your student there. So if they had, they treated me that way, I wouldn't be able to, I wouldn't have been a biochemistry major. I wouldn't have been. So, and so I think, um, that's a, that's a hidden bias that we have to unpack. And so the way I would see that as I will. And so if I come here, I'm looking at the schedule. I say, God, why are all my special education students concrete in one class? Why aren't they in the general ed class? Well, they don't know how to do math. So you're going to put them with a person that's that has a major math, how's he gonna, how's that gonna how's that going to be fixed? Right. So, so w we do those things. So, so you can see.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And, um, that's an incredible story. And now I remember reading on your bio also mentioned that you are a huge advocate for public schools, and this is all making a lot of sense. So thank you for sharing that story. That's, uh, that's inspiring. Yes. Um, so kind of along those lines, in terms of celebrating diversity, equality and inclusion, um, do you have any ideas for our listeners ways that they can encourage or start organizations within their own public schools? Um, what have you kind of seen be the most successful maybe among students? Um, I feel like that's a challenge. That's,[inaudible], you know, you can have all this great, these great intentions, good intention, white people that want, you know, their parents, their, their children to have this inclusive experience. But even if they're going to an inclusive school on paper, you know, it's a racially diverse school. How are, how can we encourage them? Because they were brought up in a certain system, how can we encourage them to break down those barriers that they might, um, that's all they know, you know, how can we encourage truly inclusive school education experience?
Speaker 4:Yeah. But first at first, I want to stay, you notice that statement I wrote earlier, uh, earlier about, um, how, uh, that we must teach students how to live, uh, with, uh, in a pluralistic world. Uh, to me, that message is truly for, for, for, for, for, for the white people out there to understand that you also need the perspective of Latin X, uh, Chinese and Asian, African-American, you need those perspective for you to be more successful in whatever you're trying to do. I think, um, so, uh, so to me the best, one of the things I'm trying to incorporate here, uh, and in Centennial, we're talk about the social justice standards and a little bit just about a person's identity and how to see the world and each other. And so on. You can incorporate that through what we call a project, it project based learning approach. I think when you create a system where you are incorporating the different disciplines to solve problems through projects, you're going to automatically invite the different perspectives of solve that problem. Right? So let's take an example. You want to study math and you want to study, uh, you, you love, you want to understand math in a more, um, relevant way. And so on. I could, you could teach the statistics slope of a line or scattergrams and have people memorize those things. Or you can say let's study gentrification in the, in the, um, in LA and, and, um, uh, but, uh, but in order to do that, uh, let's understand whose, uh, whose what's, area's being gentrified, who lives there and create mathematical formulas of where these things occur and then say, well, how did, how, how are who's taken advantage of gentrification? Um, what seems to be all the whites that are doing it? Uh, why is that? Let's, let's, let's unpack that all of a sudden you start bringing in historical context of red lining you. There's so much packed into that question that, that, uh, guess what's going to happen is if you are this a person that doesn't have that, if you're not thinking in that direction, and you're never going to ask that question to go there, but if you have a diverse group that you're working with on the project to address that address, that issue, guess what all these people are going to bring their, uh, their perspectives of life and all that to the question. And all of a sudden the whole group is learning, right? So to me, uh we're uh, we're we're we're w by the time, how was your, is it you have a center daughter?
Speaker 5:I have one of each, just, my son is in the school district currently. My daughter's a three and a half.
Speaker 4:Okay. So by the time your daughter gets to samurai, you're going to see some great programs there where students are going to be working in an interdisciplinary fashion with teachers where you're going to have a math teacher working with the English teacher, or working with a science teacher in developing development projects. There's all kinds of schools across the nation, that approach learning in that way. And when you're in there, you see special education shootings, thriving, because autistic students thriving, because I'll take this journey. You wouldn't know it, but they see the world differently. And sometimes solve problems that, that the norm, the general, what we call general, it gets person wouldn't wouldn't solve. And they struggle with. And I think this, the school district has, has made a commitment with me to try to develop the curriculum in that way, and also develop, uh, our facilities to support that initiative. So, by the time you get to samurai, you're going to see laboratories where you, uh, you, uh, multimedia, that's going to focus on climate climate change, or just, just stuff that kids are going to be able to learn their curriculum, as well as create an authentic way. And it's going to be powerful because at that point, that's when I know kids because you're learning, you're learning the academia as well as learning about life, learn about each other and respect and how people work together, uh, to, to create things. So, so, um, uh, so, uh, and that's a long way to way of saying there is an approach to address that. But if we, but if we don't dismantle the traditional way of teaching, where everybody's teachers in AP classes, and, and, uh, you get to ma you teach math just on a silo, you teach science separately, you teach English separately, and none of it works together. Uh, you want to be stuck with what you have right now, but if you put all that together to create, to solve problems, to solve real life problems, you're going to really incite people to bring in their best. And everybody learns in that in our system,
Speaker 5:You had so much to add to the conversation, um, that it's so valuable for people to hear. Um, I was saying, um, that I said, it's what you're saying is just so valuable to the conversation about, um, educating children of different ethnicities and incorporating it amongst the subjects. Because I think that, you know, sometimes, uh, at least for those who are educated previously, you know, like you said, it was kind of like everything was in a silo and you know, where you had a class that was where they people thought outside the box, if it was leadership or, you know, something interesting where you could combine the different subjects and talk, you know, have discussions. I think that's when kids really learn and grow is because they have that access to the information in a different context. And they can say, Oh, that's all we're talking about history because, you know, so I think that's just so I'm, I'm excited. I'm like, my kids are so lucky to grow up now. Um, my kids aren't in school right now, they're doing a homeschool curriculum. Um, a Christian-based homeschool curriculum. They're supposed to start kindergarten this year. So, um, yeah, so unfortunately we'll have to experiment, um, a little bit later, but they're are doing a few online things like Spanish and piano lessons, which is engaging for them
Speaker 4:Now, we'll, we'll be, we'll be here waiting for, uh, for them once they get here. So
Speaker 5:That's awesome. Well, I only have one question for you back to dry it. Um, and then in the essence, we had a few more, but in essence of time, I want to make sure that we get to the back, the Hawkins, give her her fair share there. Um, but I did want to ask you've, you've spoken about so much, um, and coming from Santa Barbara, um, do you see this program being implemented in other counties? Um, you know, do you, are there conversations taking place about implement thing it within the state or outside of the state?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think, um, I think, uh, it has to be, it has to be for us to achieve what we want to achieve in a, in a, in America. Right. You know, you see what's going on in the world right now. And I go back to what I said earlier, the only way that's going to get out of this message is education. And we have to, we have to equip our young children to, to, to our students, to, um, to live in this pluralistic world with all these different views and understand what's fact or not fact, and how to think critically and how to work for the common good. So we have to, uh, I think everyone is interested in engaging in this. It's just, it takes, it takes courage. It takes the school board that is willing to have this conversation. And, uh, and I think, uh, my, my task is to make it work for everyone that is not, uh, and, and let people know that it's not a zero sum game. Uh, it could be very intimidating. People are seeing the website that Dr. Frita and her team created there, but, but we didn't do, we did it in a loving way. We didn't do it in a, in a let's hate white people, or it wasn't done that way. You know, it's done in a loving way and it's done what people can learn. And, and, and you'll notice that the, the trainings you, you saw that, uh, Dr. Frieda was hosting for the parents. So w why focus on parents? Because it's important. We can say, let's not invest in the parents. This is focused on students, but, but you can't do it. It's got, it's all got to come together. So when Dr. Dr. Hawkins, uh, Mrs. Hawkins talks about the curriculum, these kids are going to be probing parents about issues that they're dealing with. What, why are you asking me this? Um, Oh my God, what did you learn that from? We need our parents to understand why the kids are asking those questions, possibly possibly challenges their parents. Right. So, so, so we all, we all have to kind of move in the same direction.
Speaker 5:Yes, absolutely. Yes. Parents are key because the kids go home at some point. Yeah.
Speaker 4:But that there is a it's courage, courage, and it takes courage to do this. And then you just got to have empathy that no, we're all breathing, this messed up air. Okay. We're all breathing it. And no one is to blame, but if we are to blame, if once we recognize it, we don't do anything about it. So, so, so I just think that's just, that's just the inception of our America from the beginning. Uh, the history of it is pretty, uh, pretty brutal on how America was formed. And we were still living, living through that. We have to reconcile that. And the only way to do that is through, uh, through education.
Speaker 5:Yes, definitely. So with that, I would like to, um, welcome the audience to our next panelist. And that is Dr. S attender Hawkins. Um, let's see, is joining us. And she's also a resident of California who was born in India and came to the United States at age four, another transplant. That's awesome. After a brief stay in Ohio, her parents relocated to California where she continues to call home. Uh, Dr. Hawkins has over 30 years of combined experience in teaching history and science and long beach and LA USC. She had board certified in history for both early adolescents and young adults. Uh, she was voted teacher of the year, twice by long beach and teach of the semifinalist for LA County deletions, that the Hawkins holds a doctorate in educational leadership. And for the past two years, she has served as coordinator for Santa Monica Malibu overseeing the history and social science department, the district's avid program for the seventh and eighth graders preparing them for college and the social justice standards, integration and implementation, and in her free time, whenever that is that the Hawkins enjoys traveling to other countries and reading. So welcome Dr. Hawkins.
Speaker 6:Thank you. I'm really excited to be here and have the opportunity to chat with you guys.
Speaker 5:So can you please, we've heard so much about the curriculum. Can you please give us more details about this fabulous curriculum and help our listeners understand how they can become involved if they're in other States, how they can become involved maybe with their school districts so that they can see something similar occur?
Speaker 6:Sure. I'd love to talk about that. Um, I think the, the origin of what's going on in Santa Monica, at least from my perspective as a new person in the district is, um, it really comes from the top down. So one of the things that attracted me when I interviewed for the position was the commitment that I could see that Dr. Draughty and, and my boss, Dr. Maura had to this, this program and this belief in the idea of equitable education. And so, um, they, when you talk to educators, you'll find that they're all of them, or almost all of them really believe in, uh, education as a force to change kids' lives. That's why we got into teaching and education. Um, but in order for, to make a systemic change, it can't just be a teacher in an individual classroom. It really has be led at the district level. And so that's, what's going on in Santa Monica, there's a commitment to this, um, belief and there is a lot of support for it. So, um, and I'll give you an example of, of how that sort of plays out. Um, one of the, uh, the big commitments that the district has is to social justice education. And so as part of that work, the board of education adopted these they're called social justice standards, and they come from the teaching tolerance organization and there's four domains, uh, related to identity diversity, justice, and action. And, um, the district is interested. And when I say the district, I mean, the leadership and teachers are interested. Um, everybody is, you know, wants to do this work. And so there's this interest in integrating all of those standards into the everyday curriculum. And, and so that is part of the work that I'm doing is I'm working with teacher teams, uh, just sort of, um, needing with them, helping them to design their curriculum and lessons and integrating these. And just as a really tangible example, just two recent ones. Um, in November at the beginning of November, one of the things that I, as a history person, as somebody who's taught history, um, of course I love history and politics and elections. We conducted a district-wide student mock election. And, um, and so we, uh, we gave, uh, kids like the kindergartners all the way through 12th grade, we had differentiated ballots for them. And so the kids could go on and they could vote. So we had like, you know, a few hundred elementary kids voting. We had over 2000 kids. And, um, there were lessons that went along to sort of teach civic responsibility and engagement, um, and all of that stuff. And so, um, of course social justice is, is an important part of being involved in your community and things like that. And then, um, this week I just pushed out a lesson on Thanksgiving and it was interesting because it was, um, to decolonize Thanksgiving, um, to, um, to teach it from the perspective of native Americans. And so it it's, um, native American, uh, commemoration as well. And so, um, but I just created these lessons that were sort of easy for teachers to implement, um, distance learning world. It's really hard for them to find the time to do that work. And so, um, those are just a couple of examples and, and I can share more, let me stop for a minute and we'll have any questions.
Speaker 5:I hope our listeners don't take for granted the efforts behind this, you know, teachers have had to totally reconstruct how they're teaching because of COVID and everything. And then on top of that, they're also like you all are trying to find ways to incorporate information about social justice and, and empowering children to learn more about it, not just to explain what has happened, but so that they have, you know, a foundation on which they can build on as they are growing. And so I just want to commend all of you because that's, I mean, that's a huge undertaking to do all of that, you know, in, in just a few months, you're really doing it in just a few months. And I upload all the teachers also that are taking this on because, um, their minds children's minds they're willing to absorb. I always tell my husband, I said, don't decide for them what they can learn or absorb. I said, I picked your children as like a Velcro mat and, you know, you throw the ball at it and if it sticks, it sticks, you know, and if it does it, maybe it'll stick later on, you know, but give them an opportunity to choose what they can absorb, don't decide for them. And, um, of course, you know, we have to have some boundaries in place because, you know, different age groups and such, but, um, but I think that it's, it's so vitally important for future generations that if we don't address these issues of social justice and environmental justice and equitable education, now that, you know, we'll, we'll be back here 50 years from now. Um, so, um, with that, uh, what would you say has been the greatest area of concern or focus, um, and dealing with American history? Like when you sit together and you say, well, what can we focus on updating or, or modifying, you know, or deconstructing what time period, if there is one, have you, you know, focused on or thought was most important to address maybe upfront.
Speaker 6:That's a great question. Um, so as a history teacher, I've known a lot of history teachers in my, um, in my career and the vast majority of them, um, are, are well aware of the, the, um, stains in our nation's history. And, and they work to teach that to children. And that's true of the, uh, history teachers I worked with in Santa Monica. They understand, um, you know, the real history, not necessarily the sanitized one. And, um, so what I have found is, uh, in our district is, uh, a really responsive audience. And, um, and, and speaking, um, just specifically of the history team, one of the things that we did last year, um, which I think is a great example of their desire and motivation to do this work, um, was we created a curriculum guide for us history. And, and it's interesting to me, um, that, that our, the California history framework does address a lot of the things that we've been talking about. So for example, in first grade, students are, uh, the, the history framework says students will start to learn about native Americans and the immigrant contribution. Um, so our state framework is very enlightened in that sense. It's, it's very much, um, uh, it's a true history. Um, it doesn't leave anybody out. Um, and I think there's always a little bit of, uh, anxiety. I think Dr. Draughty kind of captured it really well when he talked about a zero sum game, some of the history Wars, you know, sometimes you don't feel like, well, if you teach this group's history, does that mean then, then this group doesn't get it. And that's not really what, um, happens to me when you teach that truer history, you sort of get this beautiful, um, this, this rainbow of diversity. I mean, think about even within our group, look at the diversity in this small group and how, um, how just exquisitely joyful. That is right. And that's what, when you teach real history, that's what happens. Nobody gets left out, everybody's included. It's not always perfect. We're not, um, you know, we're not, we haven't always done the right thing, but once we recognize that, then we can move forward. And so the history team, what they did was they created, um, a curriculum guide, which is what we call in the district. ASIS certified and ACEs stands for American culture and ethnic studies. And it's a requirement for graduation in Santa Monica that a student in order to, um, graduate from high school, in addition to the other state and, um, board requirements, they must take a class that's ASIS certified. Um, now what does that mean? That means that that class has integrated all of the social justice standards, that it includes a capstone project and what the us history team did was they integrated, um, what Dr.[inaudible] was referring to earlier, what we call an education project based learning. And so this end project in this 11th grade history classes, students, um, become a historian and they do the work of his historians, which is to construct history. And so they learn about bias and perception, and they research an area of interest that they have. Um, and so, um, and the other, the third requirement for, to be ASIS certified is that, um, the class must be taught from a multiple, uh, perspectives, a minimum of five. So those can be racial, ethnic, um, linguistic, religious socioeconomic. And so the history, the us history team last year, the district's history team worked on that, and they did all of that work. And so it's a really beautiful curriculum guide. It's a living document. Each of the teachers contributed less than exemplars. So for example, one of the teachers, um, has a beautiful lesson on, um, progressive biographies, which is really interactive. There's some lovely lessons on the Harlem Renaissance that integrates some poetry and music and things like that. And so that is, um, sort of what's going on, um, in the history realm, in, in Santa Monica. And again, um, I've, I've been in education a long time, but making that kind of progress that quickly depends on the leadership you have. And so, and we have really good leadership Dr. Draughty and Dr. Mora. I mean, you really can't do that without somebody saying, yeah, let's move forward. And, and, and not just saying it, but creating the process and structure to facilitate that work. Um, and so, so really, um, it's just a, it's a community-wide effort that goes on in this district.
Speaker 5:That's that's a great, great answer. Wow. Okay. So then would you say that the greatest challenge maybe that a school system would face would be the leadership and the community that, you know, the community involvement?
Speaker 6:Yes, I, I guess, um, I guess I would say that, um, because like I said, most people who get into education do it for the right reasons. They love children, they believe in the power of education to transform the lives of children, but what you need is somebody to sort of put all those, those passions and those desires together in a package. Um, and so, um, you know, that that's where, where leadership comes in. That's, that's the significant piece that I think is missing in a lot of our efforts in education.
Speaker 5:Wow. That's ironic. I think, uh, a brief conversation we have with Dr. Rossi, she was saying almost the exact same thing. I'm like, no one needs to get along with this whole program to add to that, to ginger. And I will be doing a social justice series for families. So stay tuned. We're going to go, we're over, we're working on that. Um, so we'll launch it late January, early February. Oh, that would be awesome. We would love to let our listeners know. Um, another question, are you aware of similar projects that are underway, um, outside of California?
Speaker 6:I think, um, there are all kinds of different efforts to address some of the equity issues, the achievement gap, that achievement gap exists everywhere. Um, you know, if, if you talk to educators, they know about it. Um, and so I, I think that people all over the state and all over the country are doing what they can to address these issues. Um, I guess I've been a teacher a long time, and so I, I, you won't find me, um, really looking askew at education cause I know how hard people work, even though sometimes you don't see it and it doesn't always get results. Um, but I, I know the intent of most of the teachers I've worked with, um, is good. And so, um, and that's the other thing there's not necessarily one way to fix the problem. Um, I think what Santa Monica is doing is the, the longer I've done it, and this is only the start of my second year, but the more excited I get at the possibilities. Um, but that's not to say that, you know, another district isn't doing something that's good as well. I just, I'm a little partial to Santa Monica because I'm part of that team. So, um, you know, we all sort of, we all sort of stumble forward the best we can.
Speaker 5:That makes sense. Thank you for answering that. Um, and then my last question would be for our listeners, who are parents, um, what would you say to them if they're in a district someplace? Uh, let's say Minnesota and they're like, my school doesn't have this, I haven't heard of this. Um, I would love for, you know, our kids to learn about social justice and things. How can they get involved? What would you, what advice would you give them?
Speaker 6:So, um, there's actually a, um, a website that parents can visit from teaching tolerance. Um, and if, if they were interested, they could share that with the teachers in their district. Um, what's kind of cool about that website, um, from a teacher perspective is that you can, um, find lessons that are suited to your grade level, your content area. And it's built around those, um, social justice domains of identity, diversity, justice, and action. And so that might be a good place for parents to, to start. Um, and, and I would say the message, I would say for parents, and this is me sort of wearing both a parent and a teacher hat, um, is to, to get that work, going to create a partnership with their, their teachers. Um, because a lot of times teachers feel like things are done to them. Um, and so if you do things with them, um, which I think is definitely the philosophy in Santa Monica, it's, it's a, it's a very, um, respectful towards their professionalism, um, kind of philosophy. And so when you sort of approach it that way, um, and give a nod to the, to the expertise of those teachers give a nod to their pedagogical expertise, um, and then work together. And I would say to teachers give a nod to the parents for their expertise on their own child's needs. I think sometimes in our world, we don't always do that. Um, and I think that goes a long way in building a respectful culture where we can work together.
Speaker 5:Do you that the rest of that the Jedi have anything to add?
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, yeah, certainly. Certainly I think, um, uh, education is, is a, is a, is a personal journey when you're, when you're a teacher, you, you can't force somebody to do something really, um, in a meaningful way. Uh[inaudible] is one of those situations where if you're going to teach and you're going to put all your all into it, it has got, gotta be a personal, personal journey. And I think what Dr. Hawkins just mentioned about getting, working with people is really the only way you can do it. If you try to force it, I need you to teach this curriculum in this particular way. It's not going to come out with the authentic authenticity it needs to. So, so, so the people, as you can see, doctor Dr. Ross and Dr. Hawkins are people that would have worked with, would work with staff and bring them along. And they won't, they'll never do stuff to them, do, do stuff with them. So, so, um, we're excited. Uh, I'm excited for this, uh, for this team, I think, um, I'm glad there are parents out there and community members out there that are interested in this conversation, uh, because it is going to, it's going to have to take beyond just us. And so our, our that's why we invited the parents in the conversation, uh, w we invite community members of conversation. It needs to be a whole community affair. So if we do it that way, I think we'll be successful.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Thank you so much. And as a parent and in your school district, I just want to say, thank you. Thank you. Thank you to each of you really, um, for making this a team effort, like you said, and you know, this being my first year, I was incredibly scared and daunted at the thought of my child being in the hands of someone else for the first time. He taught things, especially history. And, um, it is just so reassuring to hear how forward thinking and progressive and optimistic, you know, your approach really is and how thorough you're being. So it really means the world to me.
Speaker 4:Uh, thank you. Thank you. And welcome to the new, so
Speaker 2:Go geckos. And then, um, I think Dr. Hawkins, you had one quote, you, you, uh, wanted to share with our listeners.
Speaker 3:It's, it's my favorite cut. I I've loved it. There's a few there's one. Um, but this one sort of captures, um, my view of education it's, um, all who I've mediated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth. Um, and that's from Aristotle. And I think that just sort of, um, captures what so many people who are in education believe about the work that we're doing.
Speaker 2:Dr. Rossi. Is there one closing statement you'd like to give to?
Speaker 3:I just wanted to thank, um, the two of you, Jesse and fi for reaching out, um, and for getting engaged in the parent webinars series and for leaning into these topics and providing a space for families to really, uh, come together, because it is an opportunity for all of us to learn from one another. And I look forward to continuing on with this work. Um, like I said, um, Dr. Hawkins and I will be, um, launching a social justice for parents webinars series. So, um, we are excited to continue with the conversation and the work. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And whenever that's up and running, let us know, and we'll be sure to let our listeners know. Yes, definitely. Thank you. And then, um, yeah, I think one final thought like, uh, we've been discussing today. Education is really key in moving this conversation forward and, um, it, it requires courage to have discussions about, um, what's equitable when it comes to our children's education and, um, having that commitment to social justice that you have all been so kind to share with our listeners. Um, so thank you again and, uh, stay safe and we'll talk to you soon. Bye everyone.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to awakened in America. If you enjoy today's podcast, be sure to subscribe and leave a review. You can also find us on Instagram at awakened in America. That's awakened underscore in underscore America, and remember be mindful, be grateful. And most of all be you.