A Race to the Finish-Line: One School District’s Actions to Combat Inequality & Systemic Oppression and Increase Opportunities for Students of Color.

Bold and courageous and innovative are some of the adjectives that have been used to describe a group of school district executives in one of the nation’s highest profiled urban school districts. Under the auspices and guidance of one of America’s longest tenured superintendents, Dr. Kelvin Adams, this group of senior leaders committed to leave their offices several times per week to spend quality time in schools with the goal of inspiring, encouraging, and supporting students; many of whom were not college bound to apply to and enroll in colleges and universities of their choice.

It was a routine Tuesday leadership strategic meeting when Ms. Madkins, who many teammates referred to as the data guru and one of the district’s most passionate and committed student advocates, produced and shared information that immediately evoked a multitude of reactions from members of St. Louis Public School’s Executive Leadership Team. Essentially, the decision to share this data in the context of disproportionality and racialized outcomes for students within the school system and possible connections to crime in the city served as the catalyst to fertilize the malnourished and often avoided conversations of equity and systemic oppression in one of the nation’s most historic and visible school systems. A district and its neighboring county where the killing of two unarmed African American men resulted in protest, civil disobedience, and the awakening of social and political activism that will forever change the city.   Interestingly enough, the record breaking violent crime rate that Ms. Madkins referenced in her presentation was public information and common knowledge; however, given the context in which she shared it; with the city’s 25,000 student public school system’s executive leadership team, one would think that there needs to be some exploration of connections between the two. One would think that the school system’s students, policies, and systems would immediately inspire the galvanizing of stakeholders who are closest to the work for change. Equally as important, one would imagine that the record-breaking annual homicide rate of 203 victims for 2017, the time of her reporting would invoke a visceral reaction of those present; it did. The room of almost 30 leaders was equally divided around those that saw this as important and connected to the work, while others were not.

Although there were many assumptions about the racial identity of the perpetrators and victims of this 203 homicide rate, the unpacking of this data by Ms. Madkins and team, and the eventual alignment to the work of the city’s school system was powerful. Ms. Madkins was an integral part of a sub-committee (The Finish-Line Committee) within the District’s executive leadership team, which was chaired by the High School Network Superintendent, Ian Roberts. This is a committee that highlighted the urgency to disrupt the harmful and systemic patterns of marginalization and inequity which existed in the system. The initial charge of this committee was to conduct frequent analysis of the school system’s data in its 13 high schools and 5 alternative schools, and align their strategies and tactics that would mitigate the identified areas of struggle, growth, and concern. 

The signal of the Finish-Line Committee was clear; this school district and school district leaders everywhere must be on the hook for the post-secondary failure of its students (graduates and non-graduates) as much as the politicians and city officials were. Based on their analysis of the data that was pulled from the district’s internal metrics and the public information about the City of St. Louis’s crime rate; the committee made several connections to the violent crime rate and the school system whose practices were not free of systemic oppression. This data and cross-walk of the homicide rate, high school drop-out rate, disproportionate discipline data, and student attendance of high school seniors connections made to the school district, spurned actions from the leadership to find a solution, panacea, or at least mitigate the current state of drop outs or push-outs.

The year 2017 when the City of St. Louis Missouri recorded the record-breaking 203 homicides, the school system happened to be one of the agencies of the city that experienced many bright-spots and success.   As the Network Superintendent of High Schools, Ian Roberts was tasked with chairing the Finish-Line For Life (FLFL) Committee; a Committee whose composition included several non-instructional leaders (Chief of School Security, Deputy Superintendent of Operations, Budget Director, District Auditor). There was some intentionality around bringing together this diverse group of people, perspectives, and experiences to tackle one of the districts’, city, and nation’s biggest civil rights issues – Increasing the high school drop-out rate and push-out rates which inevitably fueled the school to prison pipeline, prison industry complex, and pervasive systemic oppression that were steeped in racialized outcomes.

It did not take the FLFL committee to realize that the occurrences in the district epitomized a microcosm of practices of the larger American society. There were members of the school system’s leadership team who overtly and covertly through micro-aggressions and bias driven decisions perpetuated and even magnified the challenges that the marginalized students faced. One realization that was inspiring is the fact that although there were those whose actions would normally deflate those who were not willing to be complicit in the systems and structures of oppression, this FLFL committee was focused on unprecedented student outcomes; particularly for the historically marginalized students. One finding and conclusion of the Committee is the fact that many of the dismal student outcomes was not attributed to student capacity or pedagogical delivery; there was overwhelming evidence that the prevalence of White Privilege and a lack of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Leadership perpetuated these negative outcomes. One example of privilege, bias, racism, and white supremacy came through the actions of a senior White leader on the executive team whose relentless push to discontinue the tennis team at Charles E. Sumner High School, impacted the current students and eroded the rich history of one of the community’s and America’s greatest heroes and his legacy. If you are wondering why this is significant, here is the irony. The school’s tennis court was named after one of its most notorious graduates, tennis player Arthur Ashe; the first African American to win Wimbledon and play on the United States Davis Cup Team. Recognizing the racialized aspect of this decision, and the belief that she was masking the decision in the bureaucratic shenanigans, was immediately opposed by the school’s African American Network Superintendent. His grounds for attempting to block this decision were three fold; 1. He had spent an inordinate amount of time supporting the principal of the school, and the same amount of time interacting with the students, 99% of whom were African Americans. 2. He had seen and heard enough of the same actions and similar tactics by some of the districts central office and school leaders to systemically oppress the majority of our students of color, while elevating the successes of a selected few; 3. The belief that disregard for the cultural and educational experiences of Black and Brown students should not be eroded without the voices and perspectives of those who represent the community.  Interestingly enough, what happened next was typical of the bold and brazen actions by K-12 executives that has resulted in the pervasive racialized outcomes that are negative and characteristic of schools and districts that serve Black and Brown students.  The African American Network Superintendent’s white colleague had the temerity to send an email response to his rationale for opposing the discontinuation of the tennis team by reminding him that “he was not from around there (St. Louis); and she was born and raised there.” He responded not in writing but knocked on her door and reminded her that where every Black and Brown people reside, that’s where he is from. The tennis team at Charles E. Sumner High School; the Alma matter of Arthur Ashe and one of the best tennis facilities in the city of St. Louis was discontinued on the grounds that the school could not field a coach. This is one of several examples of the perpetual systemic oppression that continuously marginalizes students in this and other urban districts. The FLFL Committee looked at this and many other examples of marginalization, said enough is enough, and took action to change the outcomes. 

An examination of data from sources such as the National Center of Educational Statistics (NCES) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics showed the FLFL committee suspected correlation between the city’s crime rate and school failure. It was reported that 75% of violent crime are committed by high school drop-outs; more than 80% of inmates in state and federal prison did not graduate from high school; and a few notable economist found that for every 1% increase in the high school graduation rates of males, the national crime data is reduced in the areas of murder, aggravated assault, and auto-theft.

Once the committee shared the data about the disproportionate student performance and FLFL committee’s desire to engage every high school student with a REAL opportunity to attend college, the school leaders/principals (75% of them) of the 13 high schools them jumped on board to partner with the committee.  While the reluctance of the remaining 25% was telling but not unexpected.

As expected, several members of the executive leadership team did not see the data correlation that the Finish-Line Committed shared between violent crime, a morbid homicide rate, and the school district’s dropout and pushout rate; as such, they did not demonstrate a propensity to treat it as a priority. The Finish Line For Life Committee did not criticize this reaction or lack of interest by the other members of the executive team, but attempted to understand their perspective and moved forward with planning a tactical response to mitigate the issues that the high school students, upwards of 95% of who are Black and Brown were faced with.

 Actions

The FLFL Team created a strategic plan that was simplistic but grounded in SMART goals. Their intent was simple. The data pointed to perpetual systemic inequities and racialized outcomes that many were aware of, but few were willing to address directly.  This unwillingness, as with many K-12 institutions in America could not be attributed to a paucity of resources; it was simply a matter of commitment and clarity of purpose. The FLFL Committee were committed and decided that they were not going to strategic plan their way to mitigating the racial inequities that existed in this school system and city. In partnership with a local university, Harris Stowe State University, and its president and Director of Enrollment Management Dr. Dwaun J. Warmack and Mr. Renaldo Brown, they embarked on a campaign to create equitable opportunities for students.

 In the fall following record-breaking homicide rates in the city, the FLFL members and university president visited the high schools where they assembled and presented compelling cases for college attendance, and shared personal testimonies, and opportunities for college attendance with students, particularly students who fell into the following categories:

1.       Did not express an interest in college because they did not see the value in attending.

2.      Students who were not encouraged to pursue college by their school officials because they had attendance or disciplinary issues.

3.      Were first generation college students (potentially) and expressed an interest in alternative post-secondary pursuits.

At each of these assemblies which lasted for 90 to 120 minutes, several students were offered tangible incentives by President Womack and the St. Louis Public Schools FLFL committee members. The university officials in their generosity even offered full scholarships for a four year ride for some students. Word about this innovative and courageous program eventually made its way to other universities such as St. Louis’ Washington University, and those officials expressed an interest in a partnership with the St. Louis Public Schools. The St. Louis Public Schools Finish Line For Life Committee saw the measureable success with their initial cohort of 51 students, and at the time of this writing had enlisted 75 students into Cohort 2 for the new school year – 2018-2019.

 The ultimate outcomes of this FLFL project includes the reduction of racialized outcomes in criminal justice for Black and Brown youth in the City of St. Louis; and the increase in college enrollment and persistence. What is clear from the bold and demonstrative actions of the group of leaders in the St. Louis Public Schools, is the fact that creating the conditions for the seeds of quality, equitable, and culturally responsive reactions to marginalized students requires bold actions and an unapologetic naming of the issues amongst those in positions of power and influence, in and out of the systems that perpetuate them.