Coming to you from the Universe Public Media Center.

Welcome to this community conversation.

Allentown schools and social justice.

Here's your host, Brittany Sweeney.

Good evening, and thank you for joining us.

Diversity, equity and inclusion.

They're popular concept in schools and businesses right now.

But are they buzzwords or are there actions behind the initiatives in this community conversation?

Allentown schools and social justice.

We will explore these themes and talk to the people who shape the cultures around them in schools.

Now, the catalyst for this conversation starts at the Allentown School District, who recently faced a torrent of questions after an independent equity audit showed gaps in its social justice policies and practices.

Those findings were released to the school board in August.

Educational consultants from the Howard Group conducted the audit from January to April of this year.

They surveyed more than 5100 students, staff and community members and had 86 district leaders engage in focus groups.

According to the district, the report highlights the need for stable leadership and noted frequent turnover of the superintendents position.

The need to develop and implement support systems that reflect the needs of educators and students, and the need to address equity gaps and foster a more inclusive environment.

Now, during this program, we'll speak with leaders in the Dei sector.

Talk about the results of the audit and get public sentiment and opinions from students, parents and stakeholders.

We'll also explore the audits, recommend sessions and the district's response for creating a more equitable and inclusive environment going forward.

Now we will speak to the Superintendent of the Allentown School District in just a couple of moments.

But first, we begin the conversation with Jenny Roberts, our education reporter for Lehigh Valley News.com.

She's here to give us some background.

Jenny.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Hi, Brittany.

Thanks for having me.

It's great to have you.

So this audit first came out to the school board in August.

You were there when those findings were released.

So what happened at that school board when this came out.

Yeah.

So the findings were gone over by the Howard Group back in August.

There wasn't much response from the school board at the time.

Some school directors did say though, like we welcome, you know, any feedback, even if it's negative.

So they did express the importance of getting that feedback, through the audit, even if it wasn't necessarily positive.

And Doctor Berks did mention, as I know you speak to her later, about the importance of the strategic plan and how implementing the plan will address some of the findings of the audit.

Sure.

So speaking of those findings, what were some of the key takeaways?

What were some of the glaring issues you saw?

So what stood out to me was staff members reported a higher rate of school belonging compared to students.

When it comes to students, male students and Spanish speaking students reported higher rates of school belonging compared to their, English speaking and female peers.

And then, interestingly, elementary school students reported a higher rate of belonging school bullying compared to the older students.

Elementary school students were also more likely to report that their teachers create an inclusive, classroom environment where they feel comfortable discussing racism and where they learn about people from different cultures.

I think it's also important to note that on district leaders of color, expressed through through the surveys and the focus groups that they feel, a sense of urgency when it comes to creating a more inclusive environment for students of color.

Whereas their white peers acknowledged the need for an inclusive environment but expressed that same urgency.

And those district leaders of color also, shared that they felt like they were more likely to experience retaliation when it came to pointing out systemic inequities in the district.

Sure.

And so this report was presented in August.

It took people a few months, few weeks, months to digest it.

And then now where are we finding ourselves with the district and moving forward?

Has there been any action taken that you see.

Yeah.

So when the the audit report was presented at the school board meeting, there was like minimal response to it in the meeting itself.

We didn't really hear much buzz in the community until our report came out at Lehigh Valley News.com.

Highlighting the findings.

It did take me a few weeks to get through the 50 page report and to pull together a story on what was all in there.

And I think that that report generated, conversation within the Allentown School District community.

As Doctor Berks has told you, the strategic plan was already in process over the last several months.

They developed that and approved it in October.

So that plan is really going to be the the roadmap forward in terms of addressing the findings of the audit report.

And Doctor Berks has reiterated in many times in public that she's always open to conversations, always open to to listening and hearing feedback.

So I know that she is, planning opportunities for teachers to share their concerns moving forward.

Wonderful.

And, Jenny, if folks want to take a look at your article and the audit as well, where can they find that information?

Yeah.

So if they want to read our article, come to Lehigh Valley News.com and check out the education section.

Under that section, you'll also find an op ed written by Doctor Berks that responds to the equity audit.

And if you'd like to take a look at the equity audit itself, there's a link in my story that'll take you to the district website where you can read the 50 page report.

Wonderful.

Jenny Roberts, education reporter for Lehigh Valley News.com.

Thank you so much for this information.

Thanks for having me.

And we recently sat down with doctor Carol Berks, the superintendent of the Allentown School District in the heart of the city, where their administration building is.

Superintendent Carol Berks, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me, Brittany.

Absolutely.

So we're talking about diversity, equity, inclusion a really hot topic right now across the country in school districts who are working on improving this topic within their district.

It looks different for everybody in the Allentown School District.

An audit was recently conducted.

And so let's talk about that audit and some of the results of it.

But let's start with what prompted this audit.

So as a as you may be aware, I've been the superintendent of the downtown school district since, March, officially the superintendent of 2023.

And so prior to my arrival, there was an audit that was conducted in 2016, basically citing that we were not providing equitable access to language, a language acquisition for our families, to the district.

And so, in about May of 2023, I received this email from the Office of Civil Rights saying, congratulations, we're happy to know and hear that you're superintendent.

However, some of the recommendations that were made in 2016 were not addressed.

And so but as an organization, I really thought about coming into the district.

What I knew through my learning and learning, leading and learning plan about think about how can we ensure that our students are getting what they need, despite where they live, their backgrounds, race, culture, and everything else?

And so we engaged in equitable practices prior to the equity audit.

So we commissioned, Doctor Howard and the equity in the Howard Group in order to ensure that we had an objective way separate from us.

We know what was cited in the equation, but we want it to look across the district and see in, assess our practices.

Sure.

When we talk about equity and something that the Office of Civil Rights wants you to work on, what are some of those things?

Could you give us some example?

So, you know, as an organization and I want to because sometimes we say, oh, d I know, but as an organization, what we're trying to do is create conditions where everyone feels value.

They feel power empowered, they feel included, and they feel loved.

In our organization and that they matter and what they bring in terms of their assets, culture, heritage, language and all that and just themselves are valued and can and to maximize the strengths of everyone within our organization.

So we looked at our human capital resources.

How are we providing resources to one school compared to another?

We went really up.

We started the school quality review process and we looked at how we fund schools across the district.

And what we realized is that some schools had maybe 50 or something of staff that may or may not have need it, and whereas another school needed those resources.

So we really drilled down and looked at every single school, all staffing or financial resources and said, okay, we need to distribute these resources differently.

We also looked at repairs.

And so we're undergoing a major feasibility study right now, as well as our capital improvement efforts.

And you were there at, William Allen High School.

And we need to fix the Hvac system over there.

So we were able to write grants and things.

Thank you to our elected officials.

Secure some dollars from the state to help make improvements.

So as an organization, even the overall schooling experience, we have to increase our academic rigor, create more meaningful and challenging learning experiences for students.

So out of that audit, these types of things emerged time, money, our people, resources, our focus on facilities and again, and how the schooling experience looks for our students, our students who have exceptional is our students who are English learners.

And so we were on the path anyway, but we wanted to elevate to our overall community that we want to know where we are.

We want the baseline here so we understand where we need to work together to move forward as an organization.

Sure.

So the Office of Civil Rights says, hey, there's some things you need to work on.

So the school says, you know what?

We're going to have this audit done by the Howard Group.

So how did it go from there?

What was the next steps?

Once the Howard group stepped in?

What did they need to know to find out?

You know, this is where you need to work on versus.

So they had to they did an extensive assessment of our quantitative measures, attendance discipline.

And as well as, you know, the overall classroom experiences at school.

So they visited schools.

They had engaged in focus groups, had our staff members engage in teachers, families, administration and such, and so gathered all those data and said, here's our report here.

We need to provide more rigorous academic experiences.

Some of our students were still taking developmental courses.

Well, there's research that suggests if students don't get to higher levels of mathematics in their academic careers, they're more inclined not to be successful not only in school but in life.

So imagine so they're saying we need to.

So we're looking at our program of studies, taking out some of those developmental courses that students are taking so that Susan can take algebra and geometry and get to the higher levels of mathematics.

They said to us that we need to look at our resource allocation in general about how we fund schools and what the overall experience.

One school has certain resources or curriculum.

And so we were ahead of that.

So we purchased $22 million to make a huge investment in curriculum.

And so this year is the first year of curriculum implementation.

So they gave us some great feedback on our facilities and oh, and otherwise.

So there was a lot there, and providing us critical feedback for the way forward.

And as a result of that, we put out a mass, you know, appeal to individuals that become, equity fellows.

And so we've had people raise their hands and say, yes, we want to become equity fellow.

So within our strategic planning process, we have equity commitments and why it's important to commit.

And actually, you know, I get a little I like to have visuals because I'm the former language arts teacher.

So it's all our equity, our, our, strategic plan and our equity audits in here.

But it has commitments within the particular plan that we are going to commit to, not just these goals and actions, but we're going to do them, and we're going to gauge everyone with an equity lens, ensuring that if we build a school, okay, what community does that impact our friends on the East side, for example, there hasn't been a school been built over there in many years, and our newest school was recently built in 2021.

But prior to that it was like 11 years prior.

And we have 1 in 12 schools that are more than 50 years old and a lot more schools that are 100 or plus years old.

So is that equitable to learn in the conditions or even have our staff working conditions, that the buildings need upgrades.

And we made huge investments even in Hvac.

And for some people are like, oh, is that a big deal?

Was it hard to learn we are too hot or too cold?

So and there's a researcher, Kurt Lewin says behavior is a function of a person in his environment.

So we need to create the environments where people feel that we value them and that they can be their best selves, and that we can nurture their intellectual capital, their strengths, their creativity, and their gifts.

So we have along with four so the equity, fellows, the United Way and the University of Pennsylvania is going to train these particular provide them with professional learning so that they can become ambassadors and help us ensure and hold us accountable to ensure that we execute on those commitments that we made as an organization.

Sure.

When you look at the findings from this report, was there anything glaring to you?

Is there anything that stuck out that surprised you?

And on the same, you know, the other side of the aisle, was there things that you already knew that you had to work on or things that you said, you know, we were doing this, right?

So I think, no surprises.

I mean, given that as we have to put things into context, I mean, as an organization, we've had seven superintendents in 11 years.

And when you have that much churn in an organization, you know, sometimes, you know, you have one group of people come in with different ideas and another group come in.

And so some things are lost in the midst of all that change.

And as a result of that, not like people did anything wrong.

It's just that different ideologies, viewpoints and then the stops and goes, then that helped the organization.

And so I think it really underscored that we need to, sustainability and stability as an organization and that we are moving in the right direction.

As I mentioned about resource allocation, we had every school leader in every department.

We sat for like an hour with every school leader and went through all their data.

How your students are performing looked at all of the staff and looked at the resources that are going into those but that particular school for every single school and then said, okay, what more do you think you need?

And how can you leverage different resources?

We also organized the organization as a support organization to schools.

So we had people at the central office, everyone, not everyone, but quite a few people sat in the central office.

And so now they they're tied to schools so that we can create greater accountability so that all the heavy lifting is not just on the school leader, the teachers, the staff at the school level.

Whereas we know that teachers are are the greatest lever in impacting student achievement.

And second, to teachers, the principal.

And so we as an organization have these network improvement communities that everyone's in support of.

The work that's happening at the school.

You're you're in finance, you're tied to a school, you're in human, talent management.

You're tied to a school that is your school.

So it's not just a principal's responsibility.

Well, how's the school going to get staff?

No human capital manager.

How is your school or all your schools going to be staff?

So we want the principal and the school leaders to focus on improvement.

Continuous improvement and learning because we are in the learning process, really we are a learning organization.

So we are building and as you know, I just got here in March in 2023.

So it's going to take time, persistence, focus and fortitude to continue to move this work for sure.

So we talk about moving forward.

What are the action steps whether it be, you know, the next few weeks, months, years, what does that look like?

Are there steps being taken already to address the issues in the report?

And when?

What will we see the long term?

So as an organization within our strategic plan and end with an equity audit, is having various opportunities for students to engage and learning our groups.

So as an organization, one we are we've commissioned a special education audit.

And so we have people looking at our practices across the district.

So we want to make sure that we are implementing equitable practices for our students who have exceptional lives.

So focus groups we've had they're looking at all our data.

And he's heard our board ask for like 12 years of information.

So this one is going to take a little bit longer.

How we fund our special education programing and what do we need.

So that's a concrete example of us addressing how are we meeting our needs.

We have bilingual services.

Well, we had students who were English learners, newcomers into the district.

We just recently, as an organization started offering some bilingual programing.

And then we opened our new Sotomayor Dual Language Academy.

As a result of that, we want to honor the language the Spanish.

73% of our students are Spanish speaking in the district.

So we want to honor their language, their culture.

And so in our non English, Spanish speakers, some of our students who are traditional American students who don't speak Spanish, they're learning in a 5050 model so that we can heighten the importance of being multilingual.

Well, so that's a concrete example as an organization, for more than, I guess, 15 or more years, we didn't offer early learning, and so we didn't have any pre k probing programing in the district.

And so this year we opened a new early learning center.

And so that we have about 130 students who are attending that that new early learning center will be bridges.

And so we also offer our offering more pre-K programing throughout the district.

And so here's a again, equity move or shift, because we know if students come to school earlier and they learn how to read earlier and all those fundamental skills, then we'll be more successful in school and life.

There's so much research that supports that.

We also, as an organization, have created we're going to move towards creating, steam, well, theme based schools.

And we offered a stream.

We have a stream academy, a partnership with the DaVinci Science Center, again, another learning opportunity.

So students will be immersed in more rigorous academic programing.

And our aim is to across the district to create theme based schools and also involve more families in the decision making and students.

So we established a Superintendent's Family Advisory Council and have studied 80, 80 families that have signed up for that.

We had our most recent meeting, about 50 family members came.

And so they're empowered.

We're being responsive to their needs.

And since we're focusing on the whole child, and that was something that was a part of this audit.

We offer mental health supports.

So to our students, of course, we had local providers that were providing, but we also offer counselor was an, which is an app that students can text with a therapist.

We also are offering Hazel health, where students who are, can basically get a therapist on demand and their families as well, as well as health services.

And we were able to secure some additional funding from a grand tour to help provide health services on demand for families.

So we really want to dismantle, some of the barriers that are keeping students and families from being successful.

We have a very great partnership with Valley Youth Partners in which we're offering vision, screenings as well as glasses for our students.

So they're really excited to.

So there's some cute little glasses of like I.T glasses, but we're trying to really put all those safeguards in place so that families and our students and our overall staff, we're offering lots of professional learning for our staff because we need to empower them, you know, within all our research to show that our staff didn't feel like they were being supported, that they were, getting opportunities to grow as leaders as well as teachers and such, and other staff members.

So, again, trying to make sure that our students have the most high quality, teachers and staff and people who are in front of them every day and that they feel empowered.

So we are offering opportunities for our staff to become certified, our paraprofessional staff.

We have a rich partnership with Hampton University online, one of my alma maters, and which our staff can get their degrees for, for free, you know, so online we also have a partnership bloom board.

And so our staff again, who are not told don't have degrees, have an opportunity to go to school and a district incurs all these costs.

So we're really trying to make a difference for our students and expand early learning opportunities and pathways for our students.

And that's what it said right there in the audit, as well as all the work done with the strategic plan.

We have a partnership with the IBEW.

We're expanding our office.

We had an AI institute this summer for our students with the sales university, and we even paid.

We have a amazing and I have to say this because I wish I had this type of experience as a student.

We have this internship opportunity in which our students work with us as well as our partners in the community, and they get paid $15 an hour.

So and they make more than some of our staff.

But so we really want to expose students to more meaningful experiences.

And that's what our equity audit said as well as the strategic plan.

We need to create more conditions where families, our students, our staff see themselves within our learning community.

Great has a long way of responding, but I get so excited about this right now.

And one final question for you.

You mentioned the families and the students, and they're at the heart of this.

Right?

And so what are you hearing from them?

Since this audit came out and you've set a couple of motions in, in place, things to do, action items.

And so what's the what are you hearing from them right now.

So of course, you know, people are happy that we did it.

And then some people don't understand like what?

What does it really mean for me?

And how quickly are you going to get this done that works.

And so we're also hearing from families that they're happy that they have been a part of it, and that we are honoring their voices.

When I met with our of my Superintendents Family Advisory Council, that group, a smaller group, started last year, and they're about 25 people.

And now it's growing and has grown.

And they said the things we talked about in terms of providing resources to us as families and students, you're actually doing it.

The students asked.

I remember, for a block party one day, right.

We were in this room and they're about 40 students in the room.

They said, we I said, what project do you want to take on?

Well, what do we want, a block party.

I like.

Oh, so I looked at Miss Reese, my communications manager.

She was like, how are you going to get yourself out of this?

Went back to work.

She talk all the time.

You always have something to say.

And so but in response to that two consecutive years, we had a back to school bash year one.

We had about 8000 people.

This all came from the students.

And in year two there was 9000.

We had all of our partners there giving out free resources, free backpacks, food information, and they were like, wow, we did it!

Yes, you did it.

You wanted to elevate your voices when the community, they told me, that works.

We need jobs.

We need money.

We're tired to walk when we we created the Allentown Youth Internship Corps, and over the past two years, we've employed, you know, three of, well, 350 students.

And so when they were able to make money as well as learn various aspects of the work, and we have some of them who have graduated and they're studying and they worked in our communications office, and they're actually graphical studying graphic design and communications and other areas that were of interest for them.

And they, like we laid the foundation here for them to have these authentic learning experiences.

So and again, overall, they want new schools.

They want us to go quickly.

And I tried to understand the fiscal implications of all these shifts and moves.

But I over I think that as an organization, we have we have work to do.

You know, we need to continue to work.

And so and we it's not utopic.

But as we buy right now, it's a great time to be in the district.

And I have to really elevate again our elected officials and my school board of directors for allowing me to lead, because it's important.

Sometimes you can have all these great ideas, but you are not given the opportunity to lead.

And I want to thank all my team because I stretch, I stretch them, I have high expectations and I thank them for all their hard work and commitment to ensuring that we provide the Allentown School District students with opportunities that are rigorous, that are meaningful, that really help them to learn and grow.

So I'm really excited about being here right now.

Brady I'm so excited.

Well, I thank you so much for joining us for this conversation.

Doctor Carol Burke, superintendent of the Allentown School District, thank you.

Yes, thank you.

So thank you so much.

If you'd like to hear more about what's being done to improve the Allentown School District, Doctor Berks is hosting a state of the district Wednesday, December 4th from 8 to 10 a.m..

The event will be at the Americus Hotel in downtown Allentown.

It is free and open to the public now.

In order to get the audit findings, the Allentown School District hired an outside firm to assess the district.

California based company, the Howard Group, was contracted to do so.

We spoke to the company over zoom.

Doctor Laura Cervantes is a lead researcher with the Howard Group.

She's the lead on the case in the Allentown School audit.

Doctor Cervantes, thank you so much for joining us.

Of course.

Thank you for having me.

It's great to have you.

If you could start by telling us a little bit about what the Howard Group does, especially in the education realm.

Sure.

Well, the Howard Group has been partnering with schools and districts nationwide for over a decade.

We specialize in survey development, data analysis and supporting the schools and districts that partner with us by providing evidence based professional development training and keynote services.

Wonderful.

So you were hired by the Allentown School District to look into some of their Dei services and what they offer throughout the district as a whole.

And so what goes into an audit such as this?

How long does this take?

And and what really goes into the research?

Sure.

So conducting an audit involves a review of policies, practices and outcomes, to identify disparities and develop strategy strategies.

Excuse me for, creating more inclusive and fair learning environment, specifically for the Allentown School District, we, initially establish the purpose and the scope.

And they in this case, it was, twofold.

So supporting their efforts to strategically and effectively identify and prioritize critical areas of growth and improvement.

And secondly, it was to examine the policies and practices, to determine progress towards a fairer distribution of their resources.

And then the, sorry.

And then we outlined the specific areas, to be assessed for Allentown specifically.

This included culture, the climate, curriculum, instruction, talent recruitment, retention, family and community engagement, and district policies and practices.

And then finally, we ensured alignment between the Allentown School District, goals.

And in this case, it was understanding the extent to which the district is providing fair opportunities, access, access to programs and resources for all students.

Right.

You know, it's it tends to be subjective.

And, it's that way because it is very particular and specific to what that district is looking to examine.

Sure.

And so what were some of the key findings in the Allentown School audit that you looked at?

Sure.

So the key findings, you know, the two that really stuck out to me were the high turnover and inconsistent leadership, which resulted in a lack of unified policies and initiative fatigue and a disconnect between the district and the schools.

And it led to confusion about practices.

Individual educators and schools, were left to implement initiatives without sufficient guidance or resources.

And the other one I think I would highlight is, the definition of student success was primarily centered on behavior, attendance, and grades, with limited emphasis on well-being, belonging, safety, and access.

That's a good question.

You know, creating a safe environment, for interviewees is essential for participants to feel comfortable in sharing honest, meaningful insights.

The Howard Group prioritizes safety and trust and respect throughout the audit process.

Fostering a space where participants can feel comfortable sharing their experiences openly.

This way we get positive, meaningful change.

And so why is this work important for schools, for the students that they serve, especially in the sector?

You know, it's important because it gives an understanding of the landscape.

And, you know, the recommendations that we, come up with, which, you know, allows a roadmap for districts to engage in the work in the future.

And in this case, it's developing an action plan, implementing and monitoring progress to establish metrics and timelines and feedback loops and also transparency of data and findings so that the work can be implemented in a meaningful way.

Doctor Cervantes, given your expertise in this field, what in this audit stuck out to you?

If anything, you know?

Yeah.

So I think it would be the the two that I had previously mentioned, you know, the high turnover rate and inconsistent leadership and the definition of student success.

Sure.

And so how do you suggest the clients, in this case, the Allentown School District, move forward?

And what does that timeline look like when you make these recommendations?

What we had recommended for them to move forward was, again, you know, developing an action plan.

So setting goals, prioritizing actions.

Allocating resources, implementing and monitoring progress in this case at the establishing metrics and timelines to measure the progress and a feedback loop so that, we are regularly assessing and reviewing and making adjustments as needed as the work moves forward and then transparency of the data and findings.

So this means regularly sharing the results to provide updates on the progress with the school and the community as a whole.

In terms of the timeline that is really dependent on, you know, the district, and, and their own specific needs.

Wonderful.

Doctor Laura Cervantes, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you so much.

Bye bye.

At the crux of the matter are the students.

We recently spoke to a few of the high school kids about the state of diversity, equity and inclusion in their schools.

Some of Pennsylvania's top leaders in education paid a visit to the Allentown School District this month to highlight the importance of a public school facility improvement grant.

I'm simply overjoyed to be here today as I look out into the audience and I see our students.

The state Secretary of Education, Doctor Khalid Mumin, spoke to students and administrators at William Allen High School about how safe, efficient buildings play a pivotal role in an equitable education.

When you're looking at areas in regards to diversity, equity, inclusion, it provides an opportunity for educators to safely individualize the educational needs of each child.

The Education Secretary, commenting on what tackling social justice issues can do for school aged kids across the state.

The students deserve the freedom to chart their own course for success.

And this is just an area where we're able to really hone in to students individual skills and talents, to be able to make sure that they have the opportunity to write the future that they want.

He was joined by Allentown Superintendent Doctor Carol Burks as a learning community.

We are moving forward.

We are making great strides.

Also in attendance, State Representative Peach Wire, who serves the 134th Legislative District in Lehigh County and holds the title of majority chair of the House Education Committee.

He believes creating a diverse, inclusive and equitable school experience comes down to funding.

The people that will say that money doesn't fix everything.

Are willing to give up their dollars for the next town over.

This school district is still severely underfunded over the course of the last three budget cycles in Harrisburg.

We've invested about $100 million into our school district.

Our facility needs alone are probably 5 to $600 million.

We are still underfunded to the tune of about 150 to $200 million annualized.

We're all just a bunch of Allentown kids trying to do our very best for all their Allentown kids.

Meanwhile, we ask students and parents outside of William Allen High School to weigh in on whether they feel included in the urban district.

I don't know, I feel like they always like, try to find something to do for everybody so that I feel like that they do like try to include everybody.

But, you know, some people are different.

So they don't like, like most of the stuff that they're doing.

But they definitely like try to have something for everybody.

So I think that they are I think they actually do make us feel included most of the time.

It's like it's not the school's fault, it's the kids.

Like they're the ones who are making the racial comments and all that.

Otherwise, I think the school is doing a great job on equality.

They're always making sure we do stuff for like this.

Hispanic Heritage Month and Black History Month sometimes, like they'll do like little things, I say like where I feel like with the big like cultures, like Puerto Ricans, like Hispanics, you know, sometimes they'll do it for like, religions and stuff like that, but mostly like, they don't really try to, like, include students, like, I don't know, it's more of less like they try to like make it for certain things, but other things they won't like, pay too much attention on.

And then when you sit there and you bring it up to them, they won't like try to fix it or like make something better to like, you know, to the point where everybody feels like we're all together.

They have like dance programs.

They do like the different dances, for different cultures.

What else?

Or they have like the cooking program inside here and they do different foods and stuff.

So they, they do different, cultures.

Parents and students we spoke to said they like to see their peers do more to bring their schools together, start writing them up for calling people black, racial, like everything.

Just start writing up.

Do something.

I guess the parents more have to reach out and the kids more have to.

Do they want.

Thank you to the students and parents who shared their thoughts.

And we heard the issues at hand.

But how does the district move forward with addressing them?

For answers to that question, and a look at how other districts are tackling the topic, we welcome Guillermo Lopez, who is a Dei consultant for the Guillermo Lopez dei Institute, and doctor Jack Silva, superintendent of the Bethlehem Area School District.

Welcome, gentlemen.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Guillermo, we'll start with you.

You are a Dei specialist, and you've actually had a hand in creating a plan, the strategic plan for Allentown moving forward.

And so what does that look like for Allentown and what do they need to do to improve their efforts?

I think, I think first of all, we have to step back and look at, prior to what's happening now, the fact that the school system has had, if I'm not mistaken, six different superintendents since 2010.

That's a difficult challenge to develop.

Kind of a path for leadership for sustainability, for, people to be able to say, okay, I have trust and confidence in this school district.

We have the fact that Allentown has suffered through an economic, draining of its resources tax base as well as its people.

It's been going on for a couple of decades and since the early part of recovery and, I would say that all the struggles that have happened in the last few years of getting the school district on course have brought us to this space, to this place now.

And, I think I think the, the their desire to do their own audit of themselves by an outside organization, even though it was required by the state, but their desire to lean into it and get it done shows to me a lot of promise of how they're going to move forward.

Sure.

So this isn't a problem that started yesterday.

You know, this has been something that's been ongoing, and now there are fixes that are going to be in place to try to improve this.

And so what do you suggest?

What do you suggest the school district does the city as a whole?

Well, I think I think for the school district, I think one thing is, the hiring of, Doctor Burks as their superintendent is a big plus.

I think there was a, as we struggled through the last few superintendents on how to how to set a path.

It was a difficult thing to have happen.

There was a lot of struggle in community, and too many different sides were being taken.

And, she's there a year now, and you can see that the community is coalescing under her leadership.

And it takes time.

And she's working hard.

And I have a lot of, faith and support.

And what I've seen in her leadership, I was part of a group that was questioning how well they were doing and bringing in a new superintendent.

And then once they did hire, we've decided to partner and to help support the movement forward.

Great.

And we're going to talk about that support in just a couple of minutes.

But Doctor Silva, I'd like to bring you into the conversation.

Bethlehem has a D-I position and kind of a department.

So how are you tackling this issue in your school district?

Brittany.

The two tracks that Bethlehem uses is the traditional track of teaching and learning, and what our students are doing in the classroom and how that contributes to opportunity and equity.

And then the other track is, what are we doing as an organization itself to to improve equitable outcomes and our own operation within the Bethlehem Area School District?

In the teaching and learning part, we're, in agreement with the NAACP that the teaching of reading is an extremely important topic when it comes to supporting students of color, creating opportunities.

So we've for the last five years, more than five years have really emphasized on that.

And trying to close those those stubborn gaps in Bethlehem, our vision is to eliminate race and economic standing as reliable predictors of success, academic and equitable success.

And that can only happen if we really change practice in our classrooms and create better students.

But then there's also the Bethlehem Area School District.

As a large school district has 2000 employees.

So we have to hold ourselves to some high equity standards.

So we a few years ago, we passed an equity policy that requires equity, audits on a regular basis.

And we created a, Office of Equity Affairs, which is really runs point along with the superintendent's office, to address equity issues in the school district.

That includes a strategy for parents as teachers.

When, there are parents of young children, it's our childcare.

It's our, pre-K counts program.

It's our early intervention and supports of things in kindergarten.

It's professional development for our teachers.

But, you know, more importantly, it's making sure we look through the equity lens at all the functions of the school district hiring, how we use our funds, student services, and making sure that we're really, considering the effects of of our actions, our policies, the things we promote, as are they impeding or are they helping the idea of equity?

Sure.

So so since implementing some of these programs, what has been the response from students, from teachers, from the district as a whole on the academic side?

It's been very positive.

And now we've seen the improvement of student learning.

We've closed some achievement gaps.

We still have a lot of work to do to live up to that vision of eliminating, race and economic standing as reliable predictors.

But we're starting to see in some of our schools that have had more challenges, them creeping up to the student average as a whole.

So a lot of work done there and still to be still to be done there on the other side, the hiring, you know, we want to make sure that it's a tight market to hire.

So do we have a lens on attracting and retaining teachers of color?

Because we believe in the mirror effect, students need to see, adults in their in their lives, in their classrooms and in their, in their schools that look like them and understand them.

So making sure that that and the mentoring programs that follow that are a part of our hiring strategy as much as just getting people in positions.

Sure.

Are these a lot of the suggestions that you make as a consultant?

What are some of your suggestions?

And to be clear, you can expect the school district to fire one group of people to hire another group of people.

That's not how it works.

How it works is through transformational change.

Those that are there now get on board with the plan that actually helps the community better than it has before.

And as you move forward, pay attention to how it is that you hire, how it is that you bring on people on board and how you develop leaders.

Sure.

And so moving forward, folks are calling for less emphasis on Dei.

What's your perspective on that?

And do we need to make sure we're focusing on this as we move forward as a country, as a local area, as a school district?

I would say, that the challenges to D-I are not in the, extremes.

I think, dei, when it's done in its purest form, it's about removing harm.

It's about not harming people, about, remembering the harm from the past and repairing that harm and not causing more harm in the present.

And we move forward when we do that.

Sure.

Doctor Silva, what are future plans for Bethlehem to expand Dei services, that kind of thing, if there are any, we always have the goal of making it clear that we want our students, our faculty, to be able to show up as their authentic selves.

So when folks are talking about Dei and some of the political issues that go around it, I just can't imagine what it would be like for a student or a teacher to be able to, to have to not be themselves in the learning environment, in a supportive environment of a school.

So diversity equity should give kids what they need to be able to be successful and inclusion, that's what every that's what everybody wants.

So I don't see it in the political reference of it.

And I know it's a hot topic, but the Bethlehem Area School District is really, really committed to removing the barriers that can make all students successful.

And, many of our students of color have have some of those barriers to remove.

So we can't we can't shrink from that challenge.

Sure.

And, Emma, what's your suggestion to school districts like the Allentown School District, who may have some obstacles to getting to a higher level of Dei?

I want to I want to say something about the arguments about the I.

The people that argue against it are arguing against it because they feel excluded.

And the purpose of the is to include everyone.

So that's one thing that we have to figure out.

Your question again, some of the suggestions that you make to whether it be a company that you're consulting, a school district that you're consulting or other entities that you may be consulting with, where do you start and how do you move forward?

One of the things I've learned is I don't know exactly what what their challenges are.

I can't make an assumption.

It just doesn't make sense for me to do that.

Every, project that I'm involved with has its own nuances.

And so the first thing is to find out how committed they are, what do they believe and what is the goals that they want to make.

And then we go from there.

Sure, sure.

And in the strategic plan for Allentown, what we suggested, I think, everything that the audit pointed out is being worked on as we speak.

I think it's too early to, say what the outcome is going to be.

But I think, as we did the strategic plan, I don't think there was a layer of operations in the school district that wasn't gone over.

It was very comprehensive about how we move forward with that equity lens attached to it.

Sure.

Gentlemen, do you have final thoughts on the topic?

Yeah, I'm just glad there are people in our community and, people within our organizations that understand and appreciate the importance of equity and inclusion and in an educational environment.

Your Mo was right.

It's going to take some generational changes as far as how we teach and learn, how we develop leaders, how we run our organizations.

But you you can't get to being a great school district without being great for everybody.

And that requires, a real focus on equity and inclusion.

Wonderful.

I, I have complete faith in what it's truly about.

And, I think we never move forward when we don't do things truthfully.

And I think when we do things truthfully, it may be a little messy, but once we I believe conflict is actually a good thing.

Conflict is that both time around the gift, when you untie that bow, you get to the gift.

When we get past a conflict, we get to the good stuff and we move forward.

Wonderful.

Guillermo Lopez, doctor Jack Silva, thank you both so much for your input today.

Thank you.

For.

The turnover and leadership was noted in the audit along with other social justice issues.

The Allentown School District is not the only one facing these problems.

John Drescher teaches the Urban Principals Academy at Lehigh University.

He joins us now.

Professor dresser, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me here.

So as I mentioned, these are not issues specific to the Allentown School District.

Do you see these in districts across the country, especially in the leaders that you teach?

The the problem is not unique, certainly to Allentown.

It's as a former principal and superintendent myself, I saw it everywhere I worked.

And, you know, it was always the issue of what are we really looking at here?

And I think all too often most school districts are spending too much time looking at academics and standardized test scores and not enough about social issues, dealing with equity and diversity and inclusion.

And, our schools need to do that.

Our students need to feel accepted and safe where they are.

Sure.

So give us an overview of the urban principals Academy at Lehigh University.

This is a whole program based on teaching the leaders of tomorrow.

It's actually, it's a UPL is a, 13 month master's program.

It's part of the overall Ed leadership, program at Lehigh, which is made up of, several different programs, all wonderful.

And it's really looking to establish a certain state of mind about leadership so that when people go out and become school leaders, where which is where are you going to learn?

Most of what you need to know is a leader, which is on the job.

We sort of prepare them.

And, an underpinning of what we're trying to do is look at issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, dealing with race and gender issues, because no matter where you go, these are going to be in front of you as a leader.

Sure.

So I ask, are these issues something that just cropped up?

It seems like a hot button issue right now, or is this something you've seen long term in your years of teaching?

I'm sure that they are not new.

I go way back, too far back.

And, I think even growing up, I grew up in New York City, and I think even back in those ancient days, there were still issues, I think, and rightly so.

It's come more to our attention.

And we're looking at the more.

I think the key element is how are we going to look at them and how are we going to address them.

Sure.

And how do you teach that to these folks who are looking to become principals?

How do you teach diversity, equity and inclusion?

What are some of the things they look at and do?

Well?

I think first of all, you have to start with self-reflection.

Who am I?

What are my values?

And before you do that, it's really hard to look at anybody else's.

So a big part of our program is using the arts to sort of identify in a safe manner, and collaborate in front of three, two and three dimensional works of art, working with jazz musicians, taking us out of ourselves, looking at other people, looking at their perspective on things and their experiences.

That leads to a sense of trust.

And so really, one of the places we start is how do you develop trust in a school and in a school system?

Because without that, none of these conversations are going to take place.

Turnover at the top was something that was cited in this audit.

How big of a role does leadership play when it comes to tackling these issues?

Well, I know in the audit, certainly, a number of people spoke about the fact that, what did they call it?

Initiative fatigue and that, you know, we're going to work on this, but maybe we work on it.

And in a few years, somebody else is going to be there, and they're going to ask us to do something else.

So consistent in leadership, especially, positive consistency, collaborative consistency, creative consistency I think is would go a long way to addressing these issues.

Another one of the points was inequitable allocation of resources in the funding.

What part does that play?

Is it important for all schools, all schools to be funded equally?

I think it's important for leadership at the upper level to work with individual school leaders and individual school leaders, to be working with their staff, the people who are closest to the children, to the students.

What is it we're looking at?

What do we need?

And then bringing those issues back to district leadership and saying, here's what our school needs and how can we make that happen?

Schools too often are one size fits all.

And that's really not the way schools, really operate, because each school has their own student population, their own staff, the parents, the community that comes in, and the leaders are all different.

So to see that, everything being exactly the same, my experience is that doesn't work.

Well, sure.

And how does that leadership and the trickle down effects ultimately impact the students?

How can it impact their learning and their success in the future?

I think what happens sometimes is that when, teachers feel that they don't have a voice, when they are not being asked, what do you think?

What do you see?

What do your students need?

But we're just going to say, you know, it appears that you need this or we're going to provide this for you, but it may not be what they need.

I think that impacts morale in a negative way.

Voice is so important.

The ability to have a voice, to be creative and to have a certain sense of what?

Autonomy.

To really address the needs of the students right in front of me.

And what do you say to those critics who say schools should just go back to the basics reading, writing, arithmetic?

None of this D-I what do you say to those critics?

Well, the three R's, there's you know, there's also respect responsible, and so many other areas that we should be looking at.

But yes, of course, the students need to be able to read.

Well, to, certainly do math to have an idea of the world around them.

One of one of, my colleagues at Lehigh, Doctor Floyd Beecham, wrote a wonderful book called, Cultural Collision, Cultural Collusion and Collision.

And it's about the fact that very often the adults sort of get together and make assumptions about what the students need, but it kind of collides with the students interests, and we need to feel that we can reach out and sort of engage our students kind of half way and really get to know them, and that will really open students up.

They'll be happier and feel safer in school.

Professor.

And so how do we move forward?

What would be your best advice for the Allentown School District, especially as it pertains to urban school districts?

Because it is an urban school district, I think they need to sit down.

I mean, certainly a strategic plan seems to be in place.

I'm not sure about the wording, because I saw something about implementing it in 2030.

This is something that needs to get going.

Ten years ago.

And, you know, having a six year strategic plan is fine, but as long as it's organic.

Let's look at this.

And who are we collaborating with?

Who's giving us the input?

Are we sitting down with families, with students, with teachers, with individual school leaders, and really hashing this out about how we move forward and then looking at where are we going?

Is this working, possibly learning from our mistakes and keeping it evolving so that it's not just a stagnant document?

Sure.

Professor John Drescher, who teaches the Urban Principals Academy at Lehigh University, thank you so much for this great information.

Well, thank you.

Appreciate being here.

Thank you.

All right.

That will conclude this community conversation.

Allentown schools and social justice.

Thanks to all of our guests for joining us and you for watching from all of us here at PBS 39 and Lehigh Valley News.com, I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Have a good night.