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Asheville City Schools board holds ‘courageous conversations’ on race, links learning to policy review
Summary
Board members completed a facilitated session on isolating race in decision-making, reviewed educator-advisory feedback on policy 3,000 and agreed to draft updated mission/vision language; members debated whether the phrase “we commit to equity” is meaningful or needs clearer action.
The Asheville City Schools Board of Education opened its Dec. 1 meeting with an equity statement and a facilitated ‘‘courageous conversations’’ exercise focused on isolating race, then directed staff to draft updates to district policy 3,000 and the mission statement.
Facilitator Maggie, who led the exercise and provided handouts, asked board members to use the meeting’s ‘‘compass’’ tool and to focus their remarks on personal, local and immediate experiences when evaluating three advertisements chosen to surface racialized portrayals. ‘‘Condition number 2 keeps race at the center of your conversation,’’ Maggie said, urging the board to consider how centering race changes analysis of policy and practice.
The session moved quickly into personal reflections. Jesse described patterns of underrepresentation at school events and in district gatherings and said he attends to make others feel comfortable. Another member tied the images to historical blackface and modern depictions of athletes and celebrities, calling the similarities ‘‘painful.’’ One member questioned the value of short equity slogans. Liza said, ‘‘We commit to equity is hollow and passionless because … it just feels like a word at this point. Show, don’t tell.’’
Board members linked the learning directly to policy work: Maggie reported feedback from the Educator Advisory Council recommending that a revised policy 3,000 emphasize caregiver language (instead of always saying ‘‘parents’’), add growth language alongside achievement, elevate arts and STEM, incorporate social-emotional learning and employ asset-based language. Maggie said she will draft updated policy language and bring it to the January work session.
Members reached consensus to move the public participation policy (removing virtual comment, which staff said was added for COVID) to second read, while several urged that removing virtual comment should be paired with proactive outreach to amplify voices that do not typically appear at board meetings.
The board also discussed the survey results for a proposed mission statement (125 respondents, mostly parents). Several members favored a shorter, more concise mission for public audiences, while others supported preserving language that explicitly affirms equity and community values. Rebecca suggested that refining the mission may be easier after the board finalizes vision and core values work.
The board ended the discussion by asking staff to redraft the policy language and to return with a January packet containing the draft policy 3,000 language, a revised mission statement option and outreach plans for public participation.
The board moved on to other agenda items after the facilitated session.
