Wake school board moves new policy on closing achievement gaps by race to final vote

The first-ever equity policy for the Wake County Board of Education now faces just one more vote this month.

The policy seeks to close gaps in academic outcomes among different student demographic groups. It’s largely a set of goals and efforts to be reflective, rather than a set of procedures or regulations.

The Wake County Board of Education approved the policy on “first reading” Tuesday night, and it would be adopted after a “second reading” vote at the board’s next meeting on Nov. 16.

A new school board will be sworn in at the beginning of December, and it will feature a majority of new members because five of the nine current members aren’t running for re-election.

Several board members spoke in favor of the policy before voting, after more than a dozen public commenters spoke passionately in favor of it.

Board Member Karen Carter said the policy is about making all students feel like they have a place in school.

“I feel like all students can rise, and that looks different for every student,” Carter said.

The policy defines equity as the process of eliminating disparities in student outcomes, such as disparities in test scores among students of different races.

“There is a need to address systemic inequities that have kept generations of students from achieving their full potential,” Board Member Tara Waters said.

Proponents of the policy packed the public comment period.

Several of those who commented urged the board to pass the policy while also arguing they didn’t think it went far enough.

Without the policy, many children “will continue to be harmed,” said Letha Muhammad, executive director of the Education Justice Alliance and a district parent.

Some of those who commented said they were frustrated the policy did not address attempts to remove academic materials.
“The current policy draft does fail to protect diverse and inclusive teaching materials for all ages,” said Dana Alhasan. She gave an example: The pre-kindergarten teacher who resigned from Ballentine Elementary School after state Rep. Erin Pare, R-Wake, tweeted that the teacher’s classroom had flash cards that included a card with a pregnant transgender man. The flash cards were for the alphabet and had illustrations on them.

The teacher resigned, though she was “well-loved,” Alhasan said.

Christina Spears, president of the Wake County chapter of the North Carolina Association of Educators and a special education teacher by training, also said she wanted it to go farther but encouraged the board to revisit the policy at a later date.

Emphasis on equity has ramped up in recent years, following increase conversation nationally about equity issues, particularly when it comes to race. That’s also come with backlash, including in Wake County. While many people have spoken at school board meetings in favor of the board’s effort to draft an equity policy, noting long-standing issues such as lower test scores for Black and Hispanic students, some have spoken against it. Opponents have expressed concern for how the district may approach equity and have argued its nine-year-old Office of Equity Affairs has not closed racial gaps in student test scores.

Several of those who commented called suggested the school board needs to pass the policy in spite of those criticisms, which they couched as essentially favoring continued disparities.

Education leaders have for decades discussed the problem of disparate outcomes among student demographic groups, though they remain visible today in standardized testing data and disciplinary records and in other ways.

The district has been drafting the policy based on feedback from the board and others for several months. In the past two months, feedback has come from the board, internal groups, Wake Parent Teacher Association leaders and the student equity team at Sanderson High School.

The policy outlines 11 things the district will try to do — largely analyzing shortcomings, providing extra support where it’s needed, ensure students have diverse educators and instructional materials, ensure comparable facilities across schools and change practices that may be contributing to disparate outcomes across student demographic groups.

The demographic groups include race, sex, disability and socioeconomic status, among other factors. About a third of Wake County students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. About 44% of students are non-Hispanic white, about 22% Black, about 19% Hispanic, about 11% Asian, about 4% multi-racial, less than 1% American Indian and less 1% Pacific Islander.

Students who are suspended are disproportionately male, Black, economically disadvantaged and students with disabilities.

The policy does not attach penalties to failing to produce certain outcomes or conduct certain activities. The policy, as written, could not be used in an appeal or grievance process. For example, a student or parent appealing a school’s decision could not cite the equity policy as grounds for their appeal.