Name: Dallas ISD trustees unanimously pass resolution declaring ‘Black Lives Matter’
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Dallas ISD trustees unanimously pass resolution declaring ‘Black Lives Matter’

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7:28 PM on Jun 5, 2020 CDTBlack lives matter in the Dallas Independent School District.During a special-called meeting Friday afternoon, the district’s board of trustees unanimously passed a resolution “declaring unequivocally that the lives of black students and Black people in our community matters.”The resolution also asked that district administration and the board reconvene in 30 days and begin work to address various inequities for DISD’s black students, on issues such as over representation in discipline statistics to under representation in Advanced Placement classes and talented and gifted programming.About 21% of DISD’s enrollment is black, accounting for over 32,000 students.While DISD has made strides in recent years to close academic gaps with the state average on standardized tests, the district’s black students trail the district’s overall performance -- across all grade levels and tests.“We have to move beyond incremental steps,” board president Justin Henry said. “We have too much work to do, and heavy loads to lift, and we have to be careful with what we’re doing.”Both Henry and DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa put out statements earlier this week condemning the Minneapolis police’s killing of Houston graduate George Floyd. Leaders in other area school districts did as well, including Richardson ISD’s Jeannie Stone and Fort Worth ISD’s Kent Scribner.Henry, in his statement, called for the district to move beyond its efforts in diversity and inclusion, and commit itself to anti-racist work and racial justice.“We must demand the change we wish to see,” Henry wrote. “But, we cannot stop there. We must also be that change.”With the help of fellow trustees Maxie Johnson and Joyce Foreman, and some revisions by fellow attorney and trustee Dan Micciche, Henry drafted the resolution, which acknowledged some of the innovative work Dallas has been doing on redressing racial inequities -- such as the 2017 adoption of an equity policy and the subsequent creation of a racial equity office within the district -- while asking for more.“We are the system,” he told trustees after the vote. “We have a choice right now: If we’re going to fix historical issues with this system, if we’re going to be explicitly anti-racist, or if we’re going to continue with the status quo.”Hinojosa said he wholeheartedly supported the resolution."While we've made a lot of progress, the status quo is not acceptable," he said. "We need to do more."All of DISD’s trustees also enthusiastically supported the effort.Johnson, a pastor in West Dallas, said that what he saw during protests in the streets of Dallas reminded him of Selma, Ala., in the mid-1960s.Johnson said he hoped that the district would place “qualified and successful black men” into leadership roles.Foreman said that at times in the past, her efforts to focus specifically on black students had been stymied by pivoting those efforts to be more inclusive."The district has to at some point recognize, and admit, and then begin to deliver something that can truly affect African-American children," Foreman said.Trustee Ben Mackey said he'd stand in allyship with other trustees on this work.“Words alone are not going to make this change,” Mackey said. And while the words in the resolution are powerful, he said, “they’re still just words without action.”Trustee Dustin Marshall called out white leaders in Dallas,saying that they "have to be willing to stand up and call out evil when we see it."A dozen speakers took part in public comment before the vote to offer their support or critique of the resolution, including former DISD board member Bernadette Nutall.Isaac Steen said that while he understood the thrust behind the message, he didn’t know why trustees were considering a resolution when the district should have already been committed to helping black kids.“It shouldn’t take the death of a man for us to start looking at doing right by black people,” he said.Deepening coverage and conversations about issues affecting North Texas schoolsBy signing up you agree to our

7:28 PM on Jun 5, 2020 CDTBlack lives matter in the Dallas Independent School District.During a special-called meeting Friday afternoon, the district’s board of trustees unanimously passed a resolution “declaring unequivocally that the lives of black students and Black people in our community matters.”The resolution also asked that district administration and the board reconvene in 30 days and begin work to address various inequities for DISD’s black students, on issues such as over representation in discipline statistics to under representation in Advanced Placement classes and talented...

Dallas ISD trustees unanimously pass resolution declaring ‘Black Lives Matter’

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