Commentary: DJUSD Cut of Climate Position Threatens To Set Back Efforts by Two Decades

Within the course of cutting $4 to $4.5 million from the school district's budget, you know that the cuts are going to - for the most part -be deep and painful. In fact, that is one reason I have mostly avoided hitting this topic head-on. I have a full understanding that there are going to be painful cuts for all.

That being said, with proposals now on the table, I think we also have to think about the bigger picture and along those lines I have some concerns about some of the cuts.

However, I will start with perhaps some good news, without being too flippant or speaking too far out of school. On the other hand, this is the Vanguard and people have perhaps come to expect a bit of irreverence and even honesty that you will not find elsewhere.

Personnel matters are tricky, in fact, as I would suggest, I think state law goes too far to protect the privacy of top level employees. It is one thing to protect the private records of assistants and custodians and other classified employees. It is another thing not to disclose that a top level public official such as a Superintendent or City Manager has been fired and not explain why that occurred. When you have huge amount of responsibility and large salary, I do not think you have the same privacy rights as those making $30,000 per year.

Yesterday's Davis Enterprise reveals that Ginni Davis, the associate superintendent for educational services is leaving the school district.

In a somewhat contradictory release at first it says

"she decided last month not to renew her contract when it expires in June. Her decision is becoming public now, as part of the district's plans to reduce staffing in many areas to correct a growing budget deficit."

She's quoted as saying:

"I'm part of that proposed $200,000 in reductions among district office administrators."

As is often the case there is something happening between those lines.

While I cannot say for certain what happened, I do know some board members have had deep concerns about her for a good deal of time. At the end of the day however the Superintendent was going to be allowed to make his own personnel decisions. I have no direct knowledge of what happened here, but I suspect that this was not merely a budget move.

I first became aware of Ms. Davis during the case of the junior high school student who was bullied on the Harper Junior High campus largely, because he has two gay fathers. It was Ms. Davis, who became so intransigent during talks with the family that it turned from simply a complaint to a lawsuit. This was in late 2006 and early 2007.

More recently word has it that the truancy issue became a far bigger problem with the school district last fall due to decisions made from her office not to fully disclose to the school board what was occurring. Indeed, Pam Mari who was newly appointed as Director of Student Services, was hung out to dry in that meeting, believing that the board knew of this policy and she was merely providing an update for them. The board had no idea what was going on and Ms. Mari was left in a very bad position.

Finally, it was Ginni Davis who authored the resolution that opposed the Valley Oak Charter School. This resolution in December was very antagonistic and set the stage for what would happen in January. At that time, the Superintendent had to step in and put forth a large amount of work to reconcile the district's position with those of the Charter Petitioners. Prior to that point the district was very reluctant to meet or help out with the charter petition and it seems that Ms. Davis played a large role in that as well.

At the end of the day, Board President Sheila Allen issued a statement:

"We want to thank Ginni for her leadership during these difficult times, and we wish her luck in [her] next endeavors. I think she knows a lot about the educational process; that's a strength she brought to the position."

I am hopeful that when this budget emergency passes, the school district will find a new associate superintendent of educational services that will work well with the new superintendent to serve all of Davis' students.

I am less hopeful about the cut of the School Climate Coordinator position.

This position arose out of very serious concerns in this community about the "climate" on campus especially with regards to race relations and bullying. Indeed in 2004, several hundred parents and students came forward at a Davis Human Relations Commission meeting held at the Veteran's Memorial Center to press for changes to district policy on bullying and racism.

One of the outcomes of the changes was the creation of the then part-time School Climate Coordinator position which is now held by Mel Lewis.

In the fall of 2006, in the wake of events that centered on the anti-gay harassment of a junior high school student, one of the proposals put forth was to expand the climate coordinator position to full-time.

The Vanguard wrote on November 21, 2006:

"During the meeting last week, the school board asked Mel Lewis, now the district's School Climate Coordinator, to draw up an action plan designed to reduce or eliminate harassment not just at Harper but at all Davis schools.

Lewis at the meeting pointed out he was doing a 1.5 time job on a half-time salary. The school board seemed to agree that the Mr. Lewis needs to be better sourced as did the father of the student, Guy Fischer. Fischer said "this is a full-time problem. There are a lot of things that could be done."

What followed in 2007 was a series of events on the Davis High School Campus and in the community that underscore the need for a continuation of that program.

Instead what we see is that as soon as the budget gets tight, this will be one of the first things that go. Nevermind the recommendations that have come from a whole variety of studies that the district has invested time and money into. Nevermind the continuing complaints about disparate treatment for students of different races with regards to discipline policy. Nevermind the stark findings of the Achievement Gap Task Force or the DHS Catalysts for Social Justice Student report. Nevermind that last year Tansey Thomas stood up and told the school board that in 1990 they had done a "Racial Climate Assessment Report" and at that time the district struggled with the same problems that they are currently struggling with. Those recommendations were put on a shelf and never acted upon. Let us shelve promising new programs such as the school ambassador program, because we simply are out of money.

I understand that we need to cut money. I also understand that we cannot cut money from core programs if possible, and that these cuts will be painful to all. But if we set ourselves back we are literally setting ourselves back another 18 years, because these programs will not come back until the next incident occurs. And, we will once again wonder why it is that we never acted upon the recommendations of the 2007 Achievement Gap Task Force just as we never acted upon the recommendations of the "Racial Climate Assessment Report."

When we cut programs for the most vulnerable students, the students who we have long since determined are at-risk, we risk truly damaging the students.

For all of the people who have said that this school district is irresponsible and we should not approve a parcel tax until they demonstrate they have their house in order, I disagreed. I disagreed because these are students, they are kids, and I do not believe we can play politics with the education of students.

At the same time, we cannot merely cut programs for at-risk kids, because we have a budget crunch and it is "easy" (and I know it is not easy) money to cut. Too much work went into establishing this program and this position in the first place to merely throw it out the door.

We need to have the same commitment to school climate and helping at-risk kids as we have for core curriculum because for some kids, without this work and these programs, there is no core curriculum. The achievement gap will grow. Students who are at-risk will not graduate, they will not go to college, they will not succeed in life. That sounds harsh, perhaps too harsh, but in my mind that is what we are facing here.

I'm sorry, but I think we have to find a better way than to balance our budget on the backs of the most vulnerable in our schools just as at the state and federal level we cannot merely balance our budget on the backs of the poor and the working class.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

DHS Events Show Both the Promise and Problems of Race in Davis

As adviser Dr. Jann Murray-Garcia said in her introduction last night, "Adults, I wish we could just learn from young people, they are not afraid to go there [ask tough questions and make tough conclusions]. Adults are afraid to go there." In many ways this embodied the entire presentation of the research designed, conducted and implemented by the Davis High School Catalysts for Social Justice Student Research Scholars. This panel of 13 students of racially, ethnically, religious and academically diverse backgrounds was commissioned to ask the tough questions that the school district and we as a community have dealt with all year and for many years. It explored "the causes and solutions to the persistent disparities in academic achievement and discipline patterns seen at DHS and throughout this high-performing school district."



This research was arranged and presented as an academic would collect, analyze, and present their research at a conference. Dr. Murray-Garcia announced that the course "Race and Social Justice in U.S. History" had been approved by the school district. It is a course that meets the graduation requirement for U.S. History and "explores the struggle of both White and non-White ethnic groups in their historic and ongoing struggle for social justice." It currently has over 100 students registered which has allowed for three classes taught by Kevin Williams. (I hope to do a story on this course in the coming weeks).

The theme of this research and title of the presentation was "Growing Up Biracial in Davis." One of the themes that they discussed with an author was "How would children feel if they had no role models and if none of the protagonists could they relate to?" This is the dilemma facing biracial students who at times feel that they belong in several groups but at the same time belong in no groups.

The presentation began with survey data, many of which had just been presented to the Davis Joint Unified School Board by the Achievement Gap Task Force. The racial breakdown of DHS students shows that just under two-thirds of the students are white (63.4 percent), which marks a somewhat sharp decrease from six years ago when nearly 70 percent were white. Latino students grew from 10 to 12 percent and Asians from 15.7 to 19.3 percent. Africans stayed fairly steady with a small increase to 4 percent.

An examination of teacher race and ethnicity shows that there was very little change in the racial composition of teachers over the last six years. White teachers comprise 85 percent of the certificated faculty. There are just four African American teachers this year out of 464 teachers district-wide and none of them are at DHS.

In addition to underrepresentation of teachers, there was a considerable racial gap among DHS Graduates. Over 80% of White and Asians students met UC/CSU requirements while just 51 percent of African Americans and 45.7 percent of Latinos did. That disparity is very pronounced in math where 62.5 percent of Asians and 44 percent of whites were enrolled in advanced math course. That number falls to 22 percent for African Americans and 15 for Latinos.

GATE enrollment showed a similar disparity. According to their research,

"Key finding here is that there have been increases, albeit small, in the proportion of students who were of African American, Latino, and Native American descent enrolled in the district’s GATE program. Disturbingly, these proportions are not close, even with re-screening, to the proportions of White and Asian students enrolled in the district’s GATE program."

On the flip side, minorities were more than twice as likely as Whites and Asians to receive Special Education Services.

"African American, Latino and Native American students are 2 times as likely as Whites and 3 times as likely as Asians to receive Special Education services. This phenomenon is consistent with national trends in racially unequal assignment to Special Education. There were small increases in the proportion of Black, Latino, and Native American students receiving special education services."

The suspension data show a large and demonstrable disparity as well. For 2005-06, 1 in 30 White students and 1 in 80 Asian students were suspended. Compare that with 1 in 8 African American and 1 in 12 Latino students.

"The data are consistent with the well-documented and persistent national and statewide finding that African Americans and Latinos receive more harsh sentences for their criminal convictions than Whites. In an article in Time Magazine (May 27,2002) entitled, “Learning While Black,” a research study in Indiana was reported, with the original paper having been published in the December issue of The Urban Review. "

They also looked at in-house suspension (as opposed to at-home suspensions). District-wide for this year, 1 in 20 White students, 1in 5 African American students, 1 in 7 Latino students, 1 in 50 Asian students, and 1 in 30 Native American students served In-House Suspensions.

"In-House suspension data are not usually collected and are not federally-mandated to be reported. Interestingly, these rates are more racially unequal than traditional at-home suspension data."

That was the first part of their findings. The second part is a focus group study that interviewed 10 biracial students in three groups. Here they explored the research question: "What is the experience of growing up biracial in Davis, and is there anything that parents, teachers and/or peers can do to make it more positive?" They present three sets of findings. First themes common across all three groups. Second, themes distinct to each group. And finally advice for parents, teachers, and peers.

The Latino participants really liked Davis as a place to grow up biracial. As one student in focus group said:

"We are fortunate to live in Davis because everyone’s very open-minded and I think people are willing to embrace your culture if you tell them about it..."

On the other hand, they also found, that it was more challenging growing up biracial in Davis than in other more racially diverse cities.

"Yeah, it is different in different cities. It’s partly because we go to a city that has a population of maybe like one Black person. Then they really do look at you weird, and they’re like, “What are you doing here?” And then they do not know like what you’re wearing and then like…no clue. And like, they’re totally against Black people. And they actually think that Black people have like a way of living differently from everyone else. So, it’s different in different cities. It matters how many biracial people there are and how many Blacks and how many whites there are there."

They also expressed difficulty at times with having multiple identities.

“Yeah, they’ll criticize you. “Hey, why are…I thought you were Black. Why don’t you…why are you dressing White?” Like. And then you feel out of place. And then if you dress Black and you’re in a big group of White people, they’re like, “Oh, look at this ghetto fool walking up over here.”

Moreover that treatment differed based on their social group. They found their black friends were less accepting of them being biracial but whites were uncomfortable with the racial identity at all and thus very hesitant to talk about it out of fear of offending.

"I have White friends they always seem like really careful like anytime they ever mention somebody who’s Black. They’re always really careful to try and not offend you. So sometimes that gets kind of too annoying. It’s like, come on, calm down, I won’t be that offended if you just express your opinions. "

The students also present advice to teachers, students, and their parents. A couple of the key recommendations to teachers included not prejudging a student's ability and motivation to learn based on their identity.

Another key was that they all wanted more teachers of color. This has been a persistent theme in all of these studies. But it is good to hear it from a student's perspective in addition to an educator. Remember also the early theme about role models and the lack thereof.

"Yeah, it’s kind of disappointing. You know. I’m pretty sure that they can teach just . as good and they might have different approaches to teaching. The school might learn something new. Like if there’s noone that can teach this class or they’re just not given that chance. Cause I just wanna know that. Probably won’t ever find out, but I just kinda wanna know. "

A key theme in the advice to both parents and teachers was to teach the children about both sides of their heritage and to be direct about it.

Like all good research they concluded with a summary and also limitations of their work. Anytime one does research, it is very important to understand the limitations of the work. First, they would have liked to have had more students in the focus groups because they acknowledge that they did not capture the entire spectrum of experiences and perspectives of their biracial students in Davis. Second, while focus groups help to generate ideas, they do not help to quantify their prevalence. And finally, they wanted more time to analyze and think about the data.

Overall they suggest:

"We can say that there is a distinct experience, sometimes positive, sometimes more challenging, to growing up biracial in Davis.

Young people in Davis are some of the best experts on their experiences, and it benefits all of us in the community to take their ideas seriously."

Following the presentation there was a lengthy question and answer period. There were more than 100 people in attendance, including four of the five school board members: Keltie Jones, Gina Daleiden, Tim Taylor, and Sheila Allen. Also Davis City Councilmember Lamar Heystek and Yolo County Supervisor Mariko Yamada.

The concerns about the lack of diverse faculty were of paramount concern this part of the pointed criticism expressed by both the public and some of the students.

As one student put it:

"This has been about the third or fourth time its been brought to their attention [lack of minority teachers at DHS], if that doesn't work, I don't know what will."

According to Jann Murray-Garcia it is in part a public relations problem.

"Davis has been known as the Mississippi of the west, and that's not being fair to Mississippi."

Civil Rights leader and Reverend Timothy Malone said pointedly and passionately:

"We're told all the time they can't find an African American teacher--they are not looking hard enough!"

Longtime Community Activist Tansey Thomas asked point blank:

"Why would an African American want to teach here?"

Finally school board member Tim Taylor, himself African American said:

"I refuse to look at the glass as half-empty, I choose to look at it as half full... I'd like to fill it up the rest of the way to the top, however."

His response drew some angry rebukes. Many of the longtime members of the audience believe that the situation has actually gotten worse and not better.

The passion of the audience reflects the longevity of this issue. As my wife, Cecilia, mentioned on the way home last night, it was just amazing to her that this is even an issue, that we are in 2007 and we do not have an African-American teacher at Davis High School.

In all, it was a strong and passionate presentation and reflected well on the strength of the students and their abilities. I understand fully that the school board is taking steps to address these issues, but this community has seen attempts in the past and seen good suggestions that were simply not implemented. As we suggested previously, reports making many of the same suggestions have sat on the shelves collecting dust. I think this community wants action rather than rhetoric and I think that above all else is what drew some of the ire in the direction of Tim Taylor.

However one point needs to be driven home--the great work of these very talented, bright and articulate young students and the direction that they got from Dr. Jann Murray-Garcia.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting