MBK Cambridge Recap | 2.24.21

On Wednesday evening, I had the opportunity to sit alongside: Dr. Kimberly Parker, Assistant Director, Teacher Training at Shady Hill; Mr. Jack Hill, Head of Middle School School & Director of External Affairs, Cambridge Friends School; Mrs. Deanna Shoyoye, School Counselor, Fulton County (GA) Schools; Dr. Kimberly R. Santos, Supervisor, Office of Staff Development, Newark Board of Education; and Ms. Chelli Keshavan, Executive Director at the Boston Association for Childbirth Education & HRC Commissioner Medford for the My Brother’s Keeper Cambridge conversation to unpack Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in today’s educational landscape.

The group consensus of the conversation was that the issue with DEI efforts in scholastic environments is a focus on covering bases and checking boxes and as Dr. Kimberly Santos stated, these types of DEI tactics do not lead to action. 

In fact, checking boxes can often be very dangerous. If meeting quotas is the goal it means you don’t understand the actual work and ultimately, it hinders us all from making continual progress. 

This begged the question, what does strong DEI training look like, to which my response was:

1. BiPOC Lead
2. White people holding space for themselves and their discomfort
3. Tied to a P&L (Profit & Loss) Sheet
4. Most importantly, “Tied to our reason of being.”

Ultimately, if we ask families, parents, teachers and students of color what it is that they need in order to be more effective in teaching, parenting and learning, they will be the best ones to tell us. White supremacist norms teach us that we should assume and default to what systems we think is best for the oppressed -essentially telling the exact same folks who have been “underserved” by these very systems how the systems should change. 

For my experience and observations in higher education, I believe universities have to deconstruct white supremacy in their own institutions first before they can begin to change systems and teach differently. 

Solid transformative DEI action creates space for people of color to be the experts in our needs - whether that be as parents, faculty, or students. Our experience and intuition will allow and guide us to create the educational landscape that is equitable, loving, and just. 

I am very grateful to have been a part of this conversation. Looking forward to seeing how it evolves in Cambridge and the educational community at large.