♪♪♪ Todd: Rather than seeing them for what they don't have looking at their lives through a loss frame, we want to look at their lives through a gain frame.

Narr: Every one of Madera Unified School District's 2,500 employees attends a unique training program called the Student Champion Course.

Todd: The goal of this curriculum is for our teachers to understand how incredibly important it is to be human first, to really understand who kids are, know their names, know their story, um, know their values.

Narr: The student champion course was developed in response to numerous racist incidents within the district.

The course directly addresses racism and discrimination, and challenges staff to see students in new ways.

Tod: The creation of the student champion course was really a massive collaborative effort.

There's nothing like it that we know of in the state of California and probably beyond.

Narr: In 2018, the district partnered with WestEd, a non-profit research agency.

WestEd focused on the experiences of students of color who may not see themselves reflected in the district's teaching staff.

Rose: One of the recommendations that we made was that, listen to the students.

Learn from your students.

What is their lived experience in this district?

Todd: Their voice was the, the most absent aspect of the whole thing.

And so, we decided we'd ask.

Rose: After the listening sessions one of the most, um, telling outcomes was that the African American students, uh, some of them made a very compelling statement - “There's nothing for us here.

” Jeremiah Goodman was one of those students who felt that way.

Jeremiah: I came to Madera Unified in kindergarten, and I experienced a lot of racism and discrimination from both students and faculty throughout my K-through-12 education in Madeira Unified.

Narr: But on the first day of his senior year, something horrendous happened to Jeremiah.

Jeremiah: It was during a pandemic.

It was my first day of senior year.

It was civics class.

We were in the zoom because all classes were virtual.

The teacher was going through the first day of class presentation.

The Zoom chat lit up and said, I hate [bleep] over and over again.

And I remember seeing it and, like, literally freezing.

I felt like everybody on the Zoom screen was looking at me ‘cause I was the only black kid in the class.

So, it was only directed at one person.

And, um, class went on like normal.

Todd: No one said a thing.

No one.

And no matter what, the message was sent, um, that this was tolerated.

For me, and I think for many members of my executive cabinet, uh, we grew up here and all we could see were people that... that we loved and cared about who were hurt.

So, there's a real sense of commitment and conviction that this was a moment that we were going to meet one way or the other.

And that took this concept of the student champion and put it into high gear for us and really, um, caused us some deep reflections.

The work we've been doing wasn't sufficient, it wasn't meeting the moment.

We needed to do something more.

So, we really needed to reset.

Narr: The Student Champion course officially launched in the summer of 2022.

Jeremiah and his fellow students played an instrumental role in building the curriculum.

They all shared their stories with the staff.

Jeremiah: My name is Jeremiah Goodman.

I'm a sophomore psychology pre-med major.

Narr: Amanda Asklof is one of the teachers who heard Jeremiah speak at the conference.

Amanda: I had Jeremiah in first grade, and I remember him being one of my only black students in my class, and after hearing him at the conference last year, I had a wake up call.

Hearing how he was excluded.

He wouldnt play with anybody at recess.

It's a... a mom's worst nightmare to know your child is going through that.

And he cried for help in his own little quiet way.

It rips my heart apart.

Now, I'm always, I mean, my head's on a swivel looking for situations.

Is someone alone?

Why are they alone?

Let's get this kid playing with this group no matter what.

But I, I needed to hear that story.

Jeremiah: I'm studying psychology.

Amanda: Right.

Make time to make the relationship with your students.

It's the most important thing you'll ever do.

Jeremiah: Hearing, you know, testimonies from, uh, past teachers like Ms. Asklof really does make me feel like, okay, like we're actually getting somewhere.

It's slow change, but we're going somewhere.

Todd: I don't think it's enough.

I think it's time will tell.

But I do think there is a really powerful commitment.

There's a sense of authenticity that's growing.

There's a sense of vulnerability that's growing.

And there is a sense that students are being seen and heard and they're telling us that.

Jeremiah: I'm just really glad I was able to take something that was so negative at the time and now see that it's like helping something beautiful blossom.

Todd: And that's why this vision and mission, these values, this student champion course, this culture has to be alive and the story has to be told.