PUSD’s Effort and Initiatives Towards Racial Equity
In response to the Black Lives Matter movement, Poway Unified School district has begun to reevaluate its policy on racial equity within its schools, making strides to be more racially inclusive.
After the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, two PUSD students created an instagram account, @blackinpusd, dedicated to telling the stories of students in the district who have experienced targeted acts of racially motivated bullying.
This quickly gained traction across San Diego county and they began to receive hundreds of responses from students, parents, and staff explaining the racism they had experienced or seen. Now exposed to these stories, the school board has promised to take action against the racism and descrimination at their schools.
At the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, PUSD established their Equity/Anti-Racism Task Force. DNHS teacher Tasha Giffin leads Del Norte teachers, administrators, counselors, and students in their efforts to enact change by supporting cultural awareness, diversity, inclusion, and equity. The task force provides teachers and students who want to encourage equity with resources to do so. The task force wants to use instances of racism against students to increase awareness surrounding racism and its effects.
Giffin states that the overall goal of the task force is to empower students and teach them to be aware of their identity so that Del Norte can become a more inclusive community. The hope is that once Del Norte students graduate, they are able to bring hope, justice, and unity into the world.
Furthermore, the task force is encouraging changes being made in curriculum to be more inclusive and informative about race. There are to be lessons created about equity and social justice that have been previously excluded from traditional teachings.
PUSD has created a new Ethnic Studies course that will be offered to all Del Norte High School students. The course will be taught by Ms. Volger. Students will have the opportunity to learn about different marginalized groups and their experiences in the United States, as well as how to take action towards social justice and equity.
The Ethnic Studies course will have a large emphasis on action. The final exam will be for the students to create a social justice project and become activists for a cause. This class is designed to create a more inclusive and accepting community by supporting a better understanding for students of races.
Through these initiatives, PUSD is making strides to create racial equality in their schools, and there is more on the horizon from PUSD in their efforts to combat racism and create an inclusive environment for all students.