Working Toward Racial Equity: A School Leader's Reflection on the Challenges and Impact of a Racial Justice Program

• In Event: "It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint": Sustaining Racial Justice Work in Schools

Abstract

Objective
In this paper, we present findings on how a year-long racial justice program (RJIS) is being implemented by a school leader and experienced by different members within an elementary school. Specifically, we will share an account of the school prior to participating in RJIS and the impact of a year-long partnership with RJIS, including successes, challenges, and overall impact on the organization. As a school within the NYC Department of Education (DOE), we will also share the challenges that come with engaging in racial justice work, while balancing district pressures to make the work “comfortable” for all stakeholders. This paper will also touch on how racial positionality amongst members within the school can impact and hinder the progress of race equity work within any organization. Finally, we will consider the role different educational stakeholders play to move schools forward along a racial equity continuum.

Perspective
This paper is grounded in the perspective of a school leader and the lived experience of the educators bringing this work to fruition. In particular, this paper contends with the leader’s role in allocating financial and human resources to make racial justice work sustainable. Additionally, this work is informed by an organizational perspective in terms of moving beyond a “multicultural” organization (i.e., one that adheres to passive and symbolic markers of race equity) to one that actively embodies and perpetuates anti-racist practice.

Methods
The results presented in this paper are based on a number of different school-level data sources including: 1) formal and informal observations, 2) pre- and post-surveys administered to staff, students, and parents, 3) a multi-modal racial justice needs assessment, 4) reflective dialogue with staff and parents, and 5) incidence data.

Results
After a year-long partnership with RJIS, our school idles between levels 1 and 2 along the Continuum on Becoming an Anti-Racist Multicultural Organization with a few indicators falling in level 3. This is a telling reflection of our organization and very apropos in that our school is an institution within the United States and as such, upholds institutional racism and promotes dominant white norms to the detriment of our student body who are majority students of color. This reflection and awareness is incredibly instructive for us to contend with as an organization in the upcoming school year. It also speaks to the workload—often a lifetime—that is required to counter the racism that is pervasive within our society and educational institutions.

Significance
Private organizations that take on race equity work have autonomy in establishing practices and participation that unionized schools within the NYC DOE do not. It is crucial that school leaders who take on racial equity work within unionized schools anticipate and prepare for how to contend with union and district pressures and work within prescribed boundaries while forwarding this work. The findings presented after a school’s year-long participation in RJIS demonstrate both the challenges and the innovation that may help other school and district leaders create a blueprint for ensuring the sustainability of race equity work.

Author

• Tu Harris, The Active Learning Elementary School