Melissa Goff
Goff served as superintendent of Greater Albany Public Schools from 2019 until last month. She previously headed the Philomath School District and served as assistant superintendent for Portland Public Schools.
I am one of the atypically high number of public school district superintendents who, according to the American Association of School Administrators, have been fired or chose to leave their positions in the wake of the pandemic. While responding to COVID-19 has certainly left us all bone-weary, that’s not why some of us left our jobs. Instead, both in Oregon and nationally, we are leaving as a result of conservative political action committees inserting themselves into our local school board races.
In Newberg, Canby and Grants Pass, candidates running on a radical conservative platform have gained footholds in local school boards, following an eerily similar pattern throughout the country. These candidates build their base with outcries of frustration that schools are not open and with COVID conspiracy theories, luring frustrated parents into voting for change – any change – to get their kids back into the classroom.
But there’s something more sinister at play – racism and the desire to stop efforts to address deep-seated inequities in our communities. The pandemic has served as a devastating yet spectacularly effective Trojan horse for those who want to change far more than a district’s pandemic-related policies.
In Greater Albany Public Schools, three new board members were elected on promises of opening schools and, upon their swearing in, the board immediately took over health and safety decisions. Less than two weeks later, the board dismissed me without cause. Numerous letters to the board have deduced I was targeted for my priorities of equity, diversity and inclusion.
In fact, we are seeing this trend nationwide. As a number of news stories have documented, many of the advocates who do not believe in masks or quarantines are the same social media warriors who condemn equity in schools and who believe that teaching about racial bias in history and institutions is brainwashing white children into hating themselves
They scorn “Critical Race Theory,” which analyzes the impact of racism on the fabric of American life, from law to education. They misunderstand and believe that the theory is being taught in our classrooms rather than used as a tool for those in the system to analyze our collective progress. Here’s one example of how this theory informs our understanding: When the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling ended school segregation, Black teachers lost their jobs as schools merged, leaving a mostly white educator workforce. We know now the importance of diversity among teachers for the academic and social success of students of color. Examining the impact of past decisions and avoiding similar consequences in today’s decisions is essential to understanding how we can improve the learning experience for all our students.
As the push for equity has grown around the country, the radical right has responded by funding school board campaigns by conservative candidates and taking action against superintendents. Since July 2018, 29 Oregon superintendents have left their positions or been fired due to a lack of alignment with school board members on equity, COVID and other issues, according to the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators. In some districts, such as Newberg, board members are challenging existing equity and inclusion initiatives.
The term “equity” can seem vague, and some may not understand what it entails. But equity shows up in many ways, such as diversifying library collections so every student is able to read about protagonists, scientists, and economists who look like them. This type of role modeling expands every student’s understanding of the contributions of diverse people.
Equity includes professional development for teachers, education assistants and bus drivers so they may learn the impact of culture on behavior and ways to connect with students raised differently than themselves. These efforts help every student know that they are valued and understood by the adults who work with them. Students who feel safe learn more effectively.
The truth is not scary to teach or learn. Even the painful parts of our history – such as Oregon’s exclusionary laws and a KKK membership that at one time was the largest in the West – help us understand the how and why of our present day reality. Having these discussions challenges us to do better and to embrace what every individual brings to the table, thus creating smarter students who benefit from what each other has to offer and who learn to view the world with a critical eye.
Removing a superintendent overtly or covertly because of their leadership in equity will not stop the growing movement for inclusion and honest discussion about our country’s troubled past. Efforts to silence those of us fighting for social justice will not be successful in the long run. Attempts to address the systematic inequalities that dog our system should instead inspire sustained commitment by schools to celebrate all families in their communities and drive classroom leaders to continue to create spaces of belonging that value the diverse and multiple perspectives of their students.
Now is not the time for us to pull back. Rather, it is a time for us to collectively press forward into the pivotal conversations about race and equity.
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