Roughly 100 people turned out last Wednesday to hear UCLA professor and education commentator Dr. Pedro Noguera speak on “excellence through equity” at Mercer Island High School.
Those in attendance included Mayor Bruce Bassett, Superintendent Dr. Gary Plano, the Mercer Island School Board and several City Council members.
The narrative of the speech was in line with the goals and objectives of the school district’s Diversity Advisory Committee.
Two years ago, Plano launched the committee, comprised of parent and community members to advise the superintendent on matters of diversity and equity. It was in response to the Mercer Island community experiencing changes in demographics, showing fewer students identified as Caucasian and more families in the district from around the world.
Among the committee’s responsibilities are reviewing the district’s efforts to provide all students, irrespective of racial and ethnic differences, with access to equity of educational opportunity, individual empowerment and equal and fair treatment.
“I think there’s a lot more that you can do for your children in Mercer Island than they’re doing right now,” Noguera told the audience of community members.
Talking points in his hour-long speech included that equity was not about treating all children the same, nor something solely concerning schools serving poor children of color.
Equity in action, he contended, required a fair allocation of resources, attention to the individual academic and social needs of students, access and support in rigorous courses, preventative rather than punitive approaches to discipline, staying attentive to racial and socio-economic disparities and maintaining a focus on diversifying staff.
“I believe this community, this district, is better prepared than most to address this issue because you’re starting from such a place of privilege,” he said. “Now the question is can you go further and not settle.”
To make his excellence through equity vision a reality, he said, would require community buy-in.
Among his essential ingredients for improvement was having a guidance plan in place with ongoing professional development within the school, a student-centered learning climate, and shared leadership and a common vision with an understanding of the challenge at hand.
Noguera told the Reporter he hoped parents walked away from his speech believing that more is possible in their community. He spoke to school district staff earlier in the day, and appeared encouraged from the conversation.
“I think there’s a lot of interest in doing more here and I think that you could tell from the conversation,” Noguera said. “The question we should be asking is, ‘How do we proceed? Where do we begin?’ I think that’s a good question, but stop just talking about it. You actually have to follow up.”
