Our Mission of Equity and Anti-Racism
Equity exists in our schools when all educators, students, and families, regardless of race, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, and other identifiers, have unimpeded access to inclusive learning and working environments characterized by high quality instruction, rich systems of support, robust information, and differentiated opportunities that contribute to their personal growth and academic success. We are beginning to raise awareness of bias and systematically work to dismantle the policies and institutional practices that are inherently racist and inequitable.
SEZP Voices of Anti-Racism and Equity
Our educators and students are lifting their voices, their pens, and their influence to shift hearts and minds while simultaneously working to dismantle racist policies and practices in our schools. These are their words, thoughts, and deeds.
Our educators and students are lifting their voices, their pens, and their influence to shift hearts and minds while simultaneously working to dismantle racist policies and practices in our schools. These are their words, thoughts, and deeds.
Duggan Academy Scholar, Brad Taylor
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SEZP Voices highlights the poignant words Brad Taylor penned, inspired by his reading of the text Letter to My Son, by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Taylor is a tenth-grade student at Duggan Academy. An imaginative fifteen-year-old, he loves to write and take photographs. He migrated from Jamaica to Springfield, Massachusetts at the age of ten. As a Black Jamaican-American, he wrote this letter to his past self to help navigate the complexity of racial identity that is unique to America. In Jamaica, he observed that “no one really cares about race that much and everyone is welcome,” so it was a cultural shock to come to America and experience racial tension. This poetic prose reveals his concern for Black Americans’ constant fear of brutality. He wishes that one day America will achieve equality. Taylor’s voice was lifted up for others to celebrate by his English teacher, Jaclyn Kopyscinski.
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Dear 10-year-old Brad, So, you know how sometimes America has a certain sort of crisis big or small every now and then? I know you know because you read a lot about American history. Well, the crises have gotten very much worse this year. So, prepare, because there is a lot to hear. Kobe Bryant, died on my birthday, before he died, I wanted to say “Hey.” A famous rapper that we eventually like listening to in 2020, named Pop Smoke, got shot and killed in his own home just like a few other black folks. Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) died from cancer and some of us pray to God and ask why, but we never got the answer. A big virus is pretty much taking over the earth right now and this pandemic got everybody like “wow.” You get the gist. But what I really want to talk about is our journey, our identity coming to America, facing all these hardships, and learning all these truths as a black teenager in this so-called Utopia. Like it’s crazy how America has so many complexities, so many truths you must find out the hard way about racism, being black, and differences in identities. So, I want you to know, you need to find your place of Mecca. Mecca is a place, but it has another meaning. A place where you feel comfortable about your identity and who you are as a Jamaican. It isn't easy but everyone has to get out the mud in order to survive in a country full of politicians, racists, money-hungry corrupt societies, and a corrupt government that just wants power. |
You’ll learn, slowly but surely. Once you find your Mecca, trust me you can overcome the hardest of challenges. Try your best. But you want to know my Mecca? My Mecca is my family, my home. Home is where the heart is. I remember Christmas of 2017, my mother and auntie's side of the family and I arrived at our function, we feasted: the smell of oxtail, jerk chicken, and the taste of sour sorrel roamed in my mouth. We talked about our lineage, dead relatives, and moments that were worth sharing; it felt so familiar, yet I don’t think I felt it before. It was cold, but the family made it warm. We laughed, reminisced, shared secrets that I never knew about. The look in everyone’s eyes looked so bright and it was worth every minute and every second. I met new faces, but a tree that was deeply rooted long before I was alive. Never have I ever felt so happy and comfortable because everything felt so positive. I hope you find your Mecca before hell comes at you in five years. Because it’s no joke. America is unforgiving and has no place for the weak hearted. You got to be tough and help your family and find your Mecca because when you do, that will be your haven. That is where you will be in peace and move up in life. Make sure to value every moment even though you are ten, you have limited time, so you must find that Zen. Yeah, it’s a lot to take in but in time you will find YOUR house, your Mecca, not an inn. I have faith, I am sure, because it’s never too late to get your brothers and sisters together, get the bag, keep it real and bedazzle your clothes like it’s Christian Dior. |
Dr. Tasha Boyd-Jones, Duggan Academy Educator, Poet
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About Dr. Jones
"Tasha Jones is a rare and wonderful artist that strikes a balance in a world so often lopsided. She has the soul of a Nikki Giovanni draped in the Haute Couture fashions of a runway model. Jones is a student of life and a teacher of lessons. On stage, she tells the story of her life and, in doing so, tells the story of all women, a story of love, loss, and life. She offers a perspective, poignancy, and insight in her writing that allows men to see themselves through her work and women to see themselves in her work. She proves herself to be simultaneously what women are and what they aspire to be. Once you've experienced her for yourself, you will feel better, wiser, and are enriched for it." ~Jon Goode-Emmy Nominee, TVLand/Nick@Nite, HBO Def Poetry, BET Lyric Café & CNN Black in America |
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About the Poem Series
Pyramids. Plantations. Projects. Penitentiaries. This poem highlights the intersectionality of systemic/systematic racism. The meticulous rerouting of the lived Black experience/trajectory with the depths of hate America continues to practice on one specific culture of people (the darker hue). "We went from Pyramids to Plantations, to Projects, to Penitentiaries and you think America has [any] love for me/we - We went from Pyramids to Plantations, to Projects, to Penitentiaries, to Poplar trees, and you think America gives us free." This refrain voices the lens to which this critical series explicitly recalls the civilization and kingdom building embedded in the divine natural activity (DNA) of Black people. It dissects the forced migration of a divine intellectual culture while extrapolating the depths of hate practiced. Pyramids. Plantations. Projects. Penitentiaries marries the exultation of Blackness while positioning the Black mind to recollect the true nature of self in this continuum. The poem purposefully examines race as a social construct bypassing any aspirational goals of a post-racial society. |
Resources to Elevate Your Anti-Racist Voice, Practice, and Influence
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They had been forged in trauma.
They had been made black by those who believed themselves to be white.
~Nikole Hannah-Jones
SEZP Anti-Racism and Equity Shared Readings
Educators from across SEZP schools will build knowledge, calibrate language, challenge biases, and collectively prepare to replicate and live out shared readings of texts that drive our mission of equity and anti-racism at their respective schools. Educators will choose from a menu of recommended selections, including the following:
Educators from across SEZP schools will build knowledge, calibrate language, challenge biases, and collectively prepare to replicate and live out shared readings of texts that drive our mission of equity and anti-racism at their respective schools. Educators will choose from a menu of recommended selections, including the following:
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How many iambs to be a real human girl?
Which turn of phrase evidences a righteous heart?
If I know of Ovid may I keep my children?
~ Eve L. Ewing
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SEZP Equity Influencer Residents The Equity Influencers Residency (EIR) and Systems Leader Academy (SLA) is an invitation-only cohorted learning opportunity, facilitated by our partner, UnboundEd, exclusively for the SEZP and other select districts across the country who demonstrate:
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Watch our UnboundEd partners and influencers set the course for our work in their keynotes during our Summer 2019 Standards Institute!
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Of the men and women with controlling interests in N.B.A. teams, only one, Michael Jordan of the Charlotte Hornets, looks like most of the players on his team.
~ Kurt Streeter
SEZP Anti-Racism and Equity Professional Learning Opportunities
Leaders across the SEZP will have the opportunity to attend several high-leverage learning and networking events throughout the year to improve recruitment, retention, promotion, and support for educators of color.
Leaders across the SEZP will have the opportunity to attend several high-leverage learning and networking events throughout the year to improve recruitment, retention, promotion, and support for educators of color.
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Teaching is a political act.
~Sharif El-Mekki
SEZP Anti-Racism and Equity Professional Learning and Curriculum Resources
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The 1619 Project is a major initiative from The New York Times observing the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history, understanding 1619 as our true founding, and placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are. ~The New York Times |
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Facing History and Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate. The collection of educator resources includes a wide range of flexible, multimedia materials, from primary sources and streaming videos to teaching strategies, lesson plans, and full units.
~Facing History and Ourselves |
We've got to tell the unvarnished truth.
~John Hope Franklin
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SEZP Capstone Projects
In addition to our EIR and SLA Cohorts, nearly sixty educators from across our schools attend Standards Institute and the Harvard Parent and Family Engagement Institute each summer and, as a result of their learning, develop Capstone Projects that move our equity work forward. These projects are led by school-based educator teams and identify a persistent problem of practice in their schools. Throughout the year, Capstone Project teams build a support network, develop theories of action, implement a plan to address project needs, and monitor resulting data to gauge impact. Capstone Projects range in scope from school-wide family engagement events, enhanced curriculum elements, expanded access to college and career tools, and levers for student voice, among many others. Stay tuned for updates on current year Capstone Projects! |
SEZP Equity News
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Two SEZP schools are named Kaleidoscope Collective awardees and will pursue projects to further deeper learning around writing for college and career-bound futures.
Nearly twenty parents and guardians are 2019 FACES (Families Advancing Community Empowerment in Springfield) graduates! FACES is an SEZP-wide family empowerment and partnership effort through which parents/guardians participate in an intensive nine-week learning series to understand how to maximize access to school and college/career supports for their students. The FACES curriculum is developed by PIQE (Parent Initiative for Quality Education) in California where the program has graduated tens of thousands of family members. The 2019 FACES graduation completes the pilot of the program at Commerce and the opportunity will now expand across SEZP schools.
High School of Commerce JROTC volunteers give back to their Springfield community at the annual Open Pantry Thanksgiving Day Dinner at the high school! See more photos!
Our Schools March in the 2019 Puerto Rican Day Parade!
SEZP Principal Raises Pride Flag at City Hall
SEZP Careers
