Grow awareness of the issues of racism in Bexley schools

• Better exposure or awareness

• Dissemination of information

• White silence is a problem

• I think it’s important that we discuss implicit bias related to black students. There is bias in the white community that needs to be addressed

Acknowledge and address that racist acts impact students mentally, emotionally, and physically

• Mental safety concerns being dismissed

• Safety is both mental and physical

Implement consistent affirmations and reminders of anti-racist stance

• Public/consistent/persistent in ALL settings (sayings, mantra, pledge)

• I also think there has to be some switch from reacting to incidents, to: what can be done on a daily basis in schools to reinforce the zero tolerance mindset (like the pledge of allegiance)

Clearly communicate policies and consequences for race-related incidents

• School administration needs to be transparent about their policy for dealing with incidents of racism. What do they do when something happens?

• What is chain of command when an incident of racism is raised?

• Provide clear definitions and transparent policies for consequences

• Needs to be transparent so parents can have input and kids can be aware of what is expected

• How are issues monitored and acted on? Who reviews to ensure policies are followed?

• Report clear consequences of actions (example racism report)

• Give families encouragement or incentive to share consequences of perpetrator

Implement zero tolerance policy for incidents of hate speech, racism, bias, discrimination, etc. for students and teachers

• This should be reflected in the DEI (equity) plan that is being developed

• Incidents should have immediate consequences

• A no tolerance policy of racist behavior.  Consequences need to be swift and severe in order to discourage continued behavior.  It is of no comfort for African American students to be subjected to their attacker (mental, physically or emotionally) daily, knowing there were no consequences for their mistreatment.  This lack of response promotes lack of reporting incidents, as the students feel unheard anyway

Provide better avenues for students to report incidents and better support and protection for those who stand up against those perpetrating racism 

• There needs to be ACTIVE protection that is helfpul to students harmed

• Students having the freedom to step out (eg right away after the incident, rather than having to wait it out and endure the trauma)

• Empower students to report incidents

• Make everyone accountable – “see something / say something”

• What should a student do when racism occurs? 

• Do kids know where to go or who to turn to in case of a student feeling unsafe?

• Provide students a hotline or app they can use to report incidents

• Where in every school should a student go to talk with someone? Designate safe people in each school and provide “safety rooms”

• Anonymous reporting

• Students should have the tools to shut down racist jokes and know what to say as a bystander. For example: when hearing something they think may be racist or a micro aggression, they ask the offender calmly, “What do you mean?” and tell a trusted adult immediately.

• Ask our students what they need - the school should be polling students to see what they think would be beneficial. This would have to be executed carefully as to not make the burden be placed back on our BIPOC kids.

Teachers and staff must be trained and consistent in how they address racism when it happens

• Specific training for teachers - exactly how to react, what to say (procedures) to ensure accountability and make students feel safe. Acknowledge that it is recognized and something will be done. Include reporting, follow-up, and parent communication in this training.

• Empower teachers to be proactive (admin saw unhealthy relationship and didn’t address it); let teachers have authority to sternly address

• Train and share knowledge about incidents to ensure consistent handling across teachers 

• Provide training on de-escalation tactics

• Use discipline data to identify teachers who are most likely to issue discipline and the students who are most often targeted

• Provide anti-bias training to staff so they understand the intricacies of the black experience and can better discuss race and racism with students

Incorporate racism into the anti-bullying lessons

• Focus on anti-bullying. My son is in elementary school and due to some issues in class they are currently focusing on kindness and incorporating kindness lessons into the curriculum.

• Use anti-bullying kindness lessons promoting tolerance

• Part of the bullying education that already occurs should be specific to racism and how white children can stand up and be allies. There needs to be more focus on how the majority can make this a place of belonging and how they can be supportive of BIPOC students and friends

Provide educational resources to families to talk about racism with their own children

• One of the main ways to create safety is to train white parents on how to talk to their own kids and neighbors about racism

• There used to be a Parent Institute annually with different sessions, it would be great to have one on this topic.

Lack of bussing creates safety issues for students of color who do not live close to schools

• Bussing is a safety issue

• Walking through Capital University due to lack of school bus transportation

Communication about race-related incidents must be sent district-wide and to the greater Bexley community

• Written policy that every reported incident of racism gets reported to the entire school via email to all parents. No discretion about what needs to be reported

• Incidents should be communicated to parents in all the schools concurrently and in a timely manner, not just the school it occurred

• It is frustrating as an elementary parent to learn about things happening at the middle school/high school level through the Bexley Buzz or other social media networks where things quickly become inflammatory and often misinformation is given

• Immediate communication to teachers and staff when something racist or unsafe happen, same way you would notify of violence

• Communication to the community immediately when an incident happens – not just schools. All of BEXLEY needs to know

• Clarity about what triggers an alert to the school, district, and community is needed

• Opt-in communication option for race-related bullying incidents

• Notify parent of incident prior to notifying all of Bexley

• There should be transparency around ALL racist events. Sunlight is the best antiseptic- the more the community sees that these events are unfortunately an ongoing part of life for BIPOC students, the more likely they will continue to care about issues and be proactive about helping effect change. We should understand these are systemic issues not “one-off” incidents. This reporting can be done anonymously / respecting privacy issues

• Provide updates as they occur to help comfort families that action is being taken, and progress is occurring.

Communication about the work happening in schools to address this issue should be consistent

• Ensure consistent/persistent messaging in schools and the community: ALL the time everyday, everyplace

• Anti-racist acknowledgement statements before PTO, school board meeting, organizational meeting in Bexley (ie “on this land” land acknowledgement)

• School communication should happen regularly on this topic in a proactive not reactive way. I care more about how we’re investing in the day to day & hearing about that

• We need to know the policy on what incidents get reported on to whom

• Ongoing communication about teacher training and offer similar training to parents simultaneously. For example, this week, our teachers are learning about [x] anti racist topic, all grade levels will learn about the same thing at an age appropriate lesson and parents will have opportunity to attend training as well. PTOs or BEF could help support this so we are all singing from the same hymnal

Students and parents need clear communications about the district policy and consequences of violations or behavior infractions

• Signed anti-racism pledge that every family/student has to sign

• Communicating consequences about race related incidents

Ways to improve communications on race-related incidents

• Clear letter/call to parents of any student victimized or witness to racist event

• After the incident, provide clear dates for when additional information is available, when the case will be investigated, and when it is complete

• Resources to talk with your kids (written, video, other) including training aides for parents, kids, community, teacher

• Communication after event-closure or some sort? Even if the district can’t share specifics, the community needs to be made aware of how prevalent racism is in Bexley

• Ensure communication from schools is clearly signed so we know who is sending the message

• Be intentional about the way we talk about kids and the language we use

We need greater transparency and accountability on racism and bias issues in the schools

• Provide weekly reporting of statistics just like with COVID/Health of Bexley Data in school newsletters and the Bexley Blast to raise awareness

• Create a dashboard of the number of incidents that is public and easily accessible

• Conduct an annual review & read out of discipline statistics and trends (similar to financial reporting & transparency)

• Conduct a quarterly internal review of events and investigation outcomes. Leverage information to drive corrective and preventive action, and robust remediation.

• Keep a record of teacher incidents. 

Conversations should be had with students in all classes about events and incidents that occur in the district

• Age appropriate conversations with all classes, no matter their age, when situations occur

• We are a small community - students find out from siblings, friends, and parents about what is going on and talk about it at school without any guidance from the school teachers/staff

Teachers should be trained on how to have conversations about race and racism with the students

• Teachers should be trained on how to have these conversations with kids. Are teacher being trained? How do we ensure they are ready to handle difficult discussions in the moment?

• Teachers need to be trained to communicate with students after a racist incident occurs

Student and community forums should be convened by the schools 

• Let’s hear from the kids that are driving the movement from school/communicate among students, student led conversation, empower students

• Togetherness vs. electronic communication

• Provide a forum where all ideas and concerns from all students can be heard, addressed and rectified via implementation of changes

Implement a standard and consistent anti-racism curriculum at all schools

• This should be part of the regular curriculum, not just in response to a specific event/incident

• Schools need to prioritize anti-racist education and this may require that we need to “give up” some instructional time to ensure this is happening

• Improvements to curriculum to allow kids to have a better understanding of American history, especially around the history of racism in this country

• Anti-racism should be part of the academic curriculum and not solely limited to social/emotional learning lessons

• Teach cultural acceptance/respect for all cultures

• Set expectations for how teachers teach and reinforce this topic and convey that avoiding the topic is not acceptable

• Standardize mini lesson plans by grade level that prompt students to start the conversation

• Black history is American history. It needs to be incorporated into the curriculum all year in every classroom and subject, in addition to the celebration and focus in February

• Cultural awareness workshops for students

• Integrate systemic racism history into the curriculum

• Incorporate and utilize social/emotional learning time regularly in the classroom at all grade levels to develop the skills needed for student success

• Complete a systematic review of the curriculum

• What happened with the committee assigned to review the ELA curriculum for diverse representation? What were the outcomes? How are they being addressed?

• There has been an intentional shift to include books from authors of color and books with characters of color, but is that being done consistently in every class environment?

• Be proactive not reactive

• White teachers and students need education and many opportunities each year to reflect on their racial and social identities and how their whiteness and the privilege that accompanies it not only impacts their perspective but also how others who are not white may experience trying to belong in a predominantly white community.  This can be brought up in dedicated training / learning sessions but also should be embedded in the way we teach and present opportunities at the school

• Have staff highlight accomplishments of people who are black throughout society to grow cultural awareness and respect among all students for accomplishments by people of color

• Include material in lesson plans, not just when an incident happens or during black history month, but throughout the year as building blocks to promote compassion and personal growth

• Providing workshops, guest speakers, authors, artist or field trips that provide insight on the topics.

Provide consistent communication and documentation of curriculum improvements/changes

• There is no consistency from grade to grade or teacher to teacher about communciation let along the future plans for curriculum

• District level communication and reference documentation on the schools’ curriculum plans for the year would be helpful

Incorporate anti-racism and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging into all processes and at all levels for Bexley Schools teachers, staff, and administrators

• How do we provide administrators the flexibility to get into classrooms and provide coaching and feedback on including these topics in their instruction?

• Are administrators brushing off racist events? Catering to racist parents?

• There is a lack of consistency as it seems mostly up to the teacher how much they want to delve into the difficult conversations with their students or avoid them altogether

Require mandatory education and training for administrators, teachers, staff, coaches, parent volunteers, chaperones, and anyone else working at or on behalf of the schools

• Mandatory in-depth education on diversity, education, inclusion, microaggression, racism, cultural awareness, etc. including passing a test on the subject matter

• Require training and/or affirmation of policy for all school chaperones and volunteers

• Multicultural, unconscious bias, reading lists for teachers decided by parents

Formalize a process to ensure regular conversations are happening to assess work being done, gather new ideas, and pursue continued improvements 

• Create more formal structures for representation of parents and/or students of color “at the table” at the district level for regular conversation around these topics

• Maybe have small group cohorts that meet weekly to talk and process culture shift issues

Provide resources to parents

• Education for parents on navigation for conversations with kids

Move past “good intentions” to sustained action and progress

• Determine why students feel comfortable doing racist acts and why is racism allowed in our schools

• Create and facilitate opportunities for difficult conversations and implicit bias education

• Keep our foot on the pedal and resist returning to the current unacceptable status quo

• It seems like part of the District’s reaction to awful events is to cower from wealthy white parents who have the means to fight issues with high-powered lawyers. Could parents form a fund (or BEF?) for the school to hire their own high-powered lawyers to defend itself against these spurious lawsuits? This would send a strong message that Bexley City Schools, backed by parents and community, never stop fighting against racism

• Actively discuss race. Many people, overwhelmingly white people, feel uncomfortable discussing these issues

• I feel like Bexley has managed to move under the radar with regards to their race relations.  The fear of retaliation or mistreatment of one’s children have kept many brown families from speaking out.  Not wanting to be seen as a troublemaker has allowed these concerns to escape exposure.  This lack of exposure has allowed Bexley to move African American students through the school district without accountability of their social emotional needs, which in turn affects them educationally and their character as citizens.  I am sad it has taken so long, but am grateful the time has arrived for acknowledgement of these disproportionate behaviors so purposeful changes can be implemented.  “Do the best you can until you know better.  Then when you know better, do better.” - Maya Angelou

Demonstrate accountability for implementing systemic and sustainable change

• Bias in public school curriculum is a long-standing problem. What assessment can we use to identify high-priority areas for improvement? 

• Identify and publish the areas of improvement needed in our schools

• Leadership must hold people accountable

• Determine metrics, publish progress, celebrate progress, acknowledge gaps, and monitor consistently

• Assign a rotating representative to attend school board and city council meetings and speak during public comment on anti-racism and push for policy changes

Diversify Administration, Teachers, and Staff

• Hire a more diverse group of teachers

• We must have more teachers and administrators of color – recruited, hired and retained. There are ways outside of the box to do this - what are best practices, innovative ideas, and ways the community can support this priority?

• It would be great if we had more dedicated staff working with Marcelius Braxton at the school on these matters. I understand many teachers and principals care and are doing the work but he should have more dedicated staff on the DEI team to help effect change in the school. 

• Set a timeline and metrics for better representation in our schools

• Bexley Education Fund should support paying student loan debt in an effort to recruit more diverse talent

• Scholarship program for minority educators

• Suggested resource: Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence Program

Provide robust support for students of color

• Support organizations of students of color- allow spaces for students to gather and add groups of allies to facilitate conversations among students about racism

• Mentorship program - pairing Black students with Black adults, high school student volunteers to elementary or middle school students

• Lots of great ideas but let’s be careful not to burden our students of color to be advocates for change. Lots of kids of color just want to be kids

Establish multicultural centers in all schools

• Establish multicultural center in schools-bulletin board of happenings

• Featuring books in the library; Start in elementary school with exposure to entire population of non-white charters in books, videos, and stories (e.g. Jabari Jumps and Ada Twist Scientist)

• Offering education opportunities

Implement a program to publicly celebrate anti-racism actions and behaviors

• School administrators should publicly and openly celebrate brave behavior of students standing up for one another and demonstrating allyship

• Reward anti-racist positive behavior and empower students to do what is right

Integrate cultural appreciation and awareness into school events and celebrations

• Include all cultures in the program for community events with school 

• Integrate BIPOC cultural awareness and learning into existing events 

• Provide opportunities at school to discuss family cultures/holiday traditions

• Celebrate and represent people of color in all areas and arenas

• Offer classes, and activities during school and after school that focus on the culture.  Arrange an HBCU tour, field trips to ethnic performances, or school clubs that promote black excellence.

Recruit a diverse set of school volunteers

• Parents/community member of color just BEING in the schools- volunteering, offering services, PTO & making them feel welcomed

Seek opportunities to connect with other schools and cultural experiences

• Engage with other schools, e.g., pairing Capital students with the High School students

• “Community Sing” example (Whitehall/Africentric)

• Practice sports/music with other schools/expose students to diversity

Create school policies and standards that reflect the true needs of our community

• Review policy and standards

• Zero tolerance for microaggressions

• Hate speech is violence beyond “bullying” and needs to be treated differently

• Change the policy – make the consequence meet the infraction

• Lots of gray areas - one student saying something racist vs. a student posting on social media. Are the consequences the same?

• There should be routine audits of the policy to ensure oversight – bring in independent auditors to assess if we are following the policy and processes

• Measure and benchmark against other schools

• Parent sign a tech policy, they should sign a cultural awareness and respect policy

• Include children who are black and their families in the review of school rules to better fit their norms and values (students who are black, even in elementary school, are more likely to be punished/expelled)

• Establish human resources policies that consider cultural backgrounds of teachers and staff members and encourages support for diversity

• Build a truly equitable school climate by uncovering opportunity gaps

• Continue to NOT have police on school grounds as employees. 

Ensure community ideas are incorporated into the strategic planning process

• The commitees initially formed to work on the strategic plan may no longer be sufficient to ensure consideration of a broader set of contributors that are stepping up to engage in response to these most recent incidents

• Equity needs to be lens we view all aspects of our new strategic initiatives and how we support students.

• The equity plan in development must be informed by these ideas

• I am hoping this is a central element of the new strategic plan

Incorporate anti-racism work into the fabric of the Bexley community

• This work needs to happen from the top down: Mayor, chief, principals, school board, etc.

• Encourage community residents to take an education program on the community-history of Bexley, and provide an incentive for completing (e.g., free pool membership)

• Public forums to educate/influence other families, especially those with racist ideas/implicit bias

• Educate the community – How to respond to seeing Black people walking at night, playing on playground, etc. What constitutes calling the police and more importantly what does not

• Make sure Bexley Education Foundation and Bexley Community Foundation, the library change and help drive positive change around anti-racism – Who is on their boards? Is it diverse? Same people, same results!

• Bexley Living/Bexley Blast should have antiracist messaging everytime – we can reach every door in Bexley in SOME way

• Main Street signage-public & private business should be overwhelmingly anti-racist-like Yellow Springs

• More learning opportunities and community get together ms regarding how to be anti-racists. Bexley folks love their events and that’s one thing that makes our community great. Movie nights followed by coffee chats around anti racist subjects or similar social events might spur conversation and education

• No public event in Bexley should be held without some sort of anti-racist message/education like Brewfest/4th of July, etc.

• Minority food trucks @ community events (a way to expose Bexley folks to different cultures via food)

• Halloween could be opportunity to invite neighboring communities to Bexley and  change our attitude from spiteful to inviting

• Start a community podcast on our work in this area

• Have police interact with children starting in Kindergarten so they get to know students as individuals not groups