Protests move to Kansas City’s suburbs as residents tell schools to act on racism
Almost every weekday morning, Carla Broadnax would go through the same routine: Wake up her children, help them get ready and then try to convince them that they belong in their Johnson County schools.
“My African American children would have challenges every morning. They would tell me, ‘Mom, I’m the only one like me in my classroom,’” said Broadnax, who is now a substitute teacher in the Shawnee Mission school district. “And almost every day, I had to motivate them until they had the confidence to say that no matter how people look at me, even if I hear ugly jokes or the N-word, this education is for me.”
Across suburban Kansas City, more parents and students are opening up about racism in their schools. Black Lee’s Summit students shared a litany of stories via the hashtag #OurstruggleLSR7, such as being called racial slurs by schoolmates and told to go to the back of the bus while on field trips.
“A lot of students face a lot of discrimination in our schools,” said Ovie Oghenejobo, who teaches cultural anthropology at Lee’s Summit North High School. “These kids are hurt.”
In the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, as protesters called on police to confront systemic racism, there is a growing outcry for local suburban school districts to do the same. They argue that the suburbs are growing more diverse but officials haven’t kept up. Parents and students are urging districts to hire more people of color, end the disproportionate punishment of Black students and do away with “whitewashed” curriculum.
The May 25 death of Floyd — a Black man killed when a white police officer pressed his knee against his neck for nearly 9 minutes — led many area school districts to quickly join with companies, celebrities and organizations in issuing statements condemning racism and vowing to guard against it.
And several districts have done more than issue press releases. They have committed to recruit more teachers of color, require staff members to complete equity training, rethink curriculum and host community conversations on the issues of race and oppression. And there are signs that the all-white makeup of some school boards is starting to change.
But some activists argue that despite promises, many districts aren’t acting fast enough, or at all.
“Those are just a bunch of words on paper,” said Anisha Jackson, an activist and mother in the Shawnee Mission school district. “It feels like a bunch of lip service. We’re so beyond words now. It’s time to fix what is broken.”
Outcry in the suburbs
After the protests raged on the Country Club Plaza over police brutality, suburban students and parents staged their own demonstrations on or near school property. And school districts swiftly responded, with mixed results.
In Lee’s Summit, more than 100 students, teachers and residents gathered for a rally at the administration building, saying they were “fed up” with as lack of response to complaints of racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia.
The chanting quieted as Yonny Astatke, a 2019 graduate, shared the racism and fear he faced during his days in the district.
He was a sophomore at Lee’s Summit High School when he posted his political viewpoints on social media. Another student replied with a threat of violence: “Black Knives Matter.”
“I was terrified,” he told the crowd. He reported the incident to school leaders. “They made me shake his hand. They made me shake the hand of the person who threatened violence toward me,” he yelled through a megaphone. “I complied because I was afraid. I am vehemently frustrated with our school district.”
Even though the school board last year adopted a plan for equity training of teachers and staff, protesters said they are not sure district leaders hold the same contempt for racism as neighboring districts.
Interim Superintendent Emily Miller said in a message to the community that the district’s priority is to make sure students and staff feel safe. She said she was “saddened” by the stories of discrimination that students posted on social media and “it is up to us as educators to listen. We want to be responsible to our students and our community.”
In Blue Springs this month, students created the hashtag #BlackatBSSD on Twitter and posted about their experiences: Many have been called the N-word. One said a white classmate told him he wouldn’t mind dating a Black girl but wouldn’t marry one.
“That is why we are taking action,” a Blue Springs statement said. “We are reviewing and changing policies, addressing teachers with violations, creating an anti-racism campaign and so much more.”
This past school year, Blue Springs established a diversity committee to focus on training, support and recruitment, including a program to help prepare some students to eventually become teachers in the district.
District leaders also promise changes to curriculum. And they said they will have a “systemic strategic plan” by the start of the school year to address racism.
The Black Student Union at Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, organized a demonstration last week as well. Parents and students said they faced discrimination in the district, or pointed to a lawsuit filed last year in which a Black student said she was told that her skin was “too dark” to perform with the school dance team. She sued the district for racial discrimination. The dance team’s coach, Carley Fine, was fired.
District leaders previously issued a statement saying that racism and discrimination would not be tolerated: “We are committed to cultivating a deeper sense of social awareness so that our students and staff develop the ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures.”
The message was met with dozens of comments telling the district to take action and hire more people of color. Some alumni said they’ve had at most one teacher of color.
In response, district leaders issued a second statement saying, “We hear you and we are seeking to understand your experiences. We have read every comment. Although we do not have all the answers today, we encourage you to continue to use your voice.”
Incoming superintendent Tonya Merrigan said in a statement to The Star that the district is committed to hiring a diverse workforce. The district over the past couple of years required staff to be trained to be aware of any unconscious bias. And Merrigan said Blue Valley is revising its curriculum and adding reading materials that shed light on racism.
Is it enough?
But even as districts make commitments to diversity, critics say some of the efforts seem superficial.
Brandi Newry, who has been a school psychologist in Shawnee Mission for three years, said the district’s equity training “lacks depth” — a common complaint among parents in this district and others.
“Our deep equity conversations need to be just that. We could start looking at the data, the disproportionate rate of suspensions. Look at special ed and the disproportionate rate that Black students, particularly Black males, are identified as special ed, and do something about it. That would create a better relationship with those students, which again, goes to equity.”
“Yes,” she said, the district has “been preventing students from being their best. Yes Shawnee Mission School District has a diversity and inclusion problem with children who are African American and Spanish speaking.”
“They don’t feel seen,” Newry said. “They don’t feel respected. There are Black children in a building where there is no one, no one, who looks like them. It just about makes me cry.”
Racial inequity has long plagued schools across the country. National and local statistics show that students of color fare worse on standardized tests, aren’t equally represented in advanced courses and are more harshly and frequently punished than white students.
School districts in the majority-white Kansas City suburbs have been coming to terms with these inequities in recent years, especially as many acknowledge that the makeup of their student bodies is changing.
In Shawnee Mission in 2010, 69% of students were white, 7.7% were Black and 14.2% were Hispanic. In 2019, fewer than 64% were white, 9% were Black and 19% were Hispanic.
“We know that the demographics in Shawnee Mission are changing,” said school board President Heather Ousley. “This is a continuous area of improvement. We know we’re not where we need to be. I think everyone in leadership is dedicated to continuing to make progress.”
She added that Superintendent Mike Fulton was hired a couple of years ago after leading the Pattonville school district in suburban St. Louis, which went from being a mostly white district to now claiming to be one of the most diverse districts.
In a message to the community amid protests, Fulton said, “memories of Ferguson flooded my mind.”
He pointed to the district’s five-year strategic plan, saying, “We are training every staff member in cultural proficiency, actively seeking to create a more diverse workforce and publicly reporting” discipline and academic performance data to “hold ourselves accountable.”
For years, a parent group has lobbied for such changes. Since Fulton arrived, the district hired its first-ever diversity and inclusion coordinator, and it requires faculty to be trained to better understand other cultures. Leaders also eliminated several discipline infractions in hopes of addressing discipline disparities among students of color, Ousley said.
This past week, administrators also said they are reviewing the district’s curriculum, which many parents have argued lacks adequate Black history lessons and the representation of authors of color.
Jackson, who was a member of the parent group, said she was “floored” by Fulton’s statement and wrote him a response: “Dr. Fulton, if you were truly serious about ending systemic racism in the SMSD district, you would implement a comprehensive Diversity and Inclusion plan.”
“You have not learned the lessons of Ferguson as you state because the data in your new district continues to trend down for black students,” she wrote. “You continue to not hire black professionals as teachers, leaders and administration positions within your district.”
Jackson argued that many of the district’s promises aren’t leading to results. She instead applauded the response by leaders in Blue Springs, saying, “it’s not rocket science and it’s not going to take them 5 years.”
“I’m not the first parent to bring this up,” she said. “There have been parents 20 years before me who saw these same things. But time after time, nothing happens.”
Few Black teachers
After years of helping her children get through school and come to terms with sitting in classes where they were often the only Black students, Broadnax decided to leave her job as a paralegal and become a substitute teacher.
“Financially, I lost big time. But I gained a lot, and not just with my kids. I learned I was a blessing to other students as well,” she said.
Broadnax has made it a mission to teach African American history, which she said is lacking in the curriculum. Even when teaching a science class, she has taken out flash cards featuring historical Black figures. But most importantly, she said, she is there, in classrooms and in hallways, when students need someone to turn to.
“My presence is needed. All of the kids want to see a reflection of the students that are in their classrooms, and a reflection of themselves in the staff and administrators as well,” she said. “I could go somewhere where I’m more comfortable. I could work in Missouri where people look like me. But that’s not the answer to this. This is bigger than us.”
Critics point out that as the students grow more diverse, the staffing has not kept up.
▪ In Shawnee Mission, out of more than 2,000 teachers, about 80 — or 4% — were people of color, compared to 36% of students, according to 2019 data provided to the state department of education.
▪ In Blue Valley, out of 1,785 educators whose race and ethnicity were reported, about 80 — or 4.5% — were people of color, compared to 30% of students.
▪ In Lee’s Summit, of the 1,302 teachers, 40 — or 3% — are people of color compared to about 25% of students.
▪ In Blue Springs, of the 991 teachers, 3% are people of color, compared to 29% of students.
“Both of my kids checked out pretty early in terms of being engaged. They heard the N-word a lot in the hallways and experienced a lot of other microagressions. And they had no teachers or anyone in administration to go to about these things,” Shawnee Mission parent Janet Williams said.
At last week’s Shawnee Mission school board meeting, Superintendent Fulton said the district is working to recruit teachers at historically Black colleges, and is creating a “grow your own” program to encourage students to come back to the district as teachers.
Broadnax argued that efforts will not be successful unless the district has faculty members of color lead recruitment efforts.
“If you’re going to recruit at historically Black colleges, that’s great, but you should have somebody there that looks like me. If I don’t see someone who looks like me, I’m going to walk past, because that won’t look welcoming to me,” she said. “And you’re going to have to pay for education, pay for student loans, and offer a nice package to bring teachers to Kansas.”
District leaders hope to hire more than 70 additional teachers starting next year, which will help secondary school teachers reduce their workloads — a major point of contention during union contract talks this past year. Fulton outlined the plan, which might require a bond issue and tax increase, during the board meeting.
“It’s not common to be able to go out and hire that many additional educators. So we need to make sure we have a diverse candidate pool applying in Shawnee Mission,” Ousley, the board president, said.
In Blue Valley, Merrigan said that in the district’s new strategic plan approved in May, leaders commit to recruiting from a diverse candidate pool. And high school students of color have been encouraged to participate in a mentorship program and pursue a career in education, as part of the district’s partnership with MidAmerica Nazarene University’s FORCE Program, she said.
Some parents have expressed frustration at how long the hiring efforts are taking. At last week’s Shawnee Mission school board meeting, administrators emphasized the difficulties of finding educators of color in a limited candidate pool.
But activists say now is the time for districts to move past the planning phase. They want districts to examine why they struggle to retain teachers, plus immediately hire teachers of color, and create a pipeline for promoting more diverse educators to administrative positions.
Jackson and others have been pushing for the district to hire a more diverse administrative team, pointing out the majority-white leadership in schools. They argue changes can be made that don’t require the implementation of a five-year strategic plan.
“I’ve been a civil rights attorney for 14 years, and change is slower than anybody would want it to be,” Ousley said. “It can be difficult to bring about systemic change in institutions that have been lacking diversity for many years. So we’re steering the ship in the right direction and I think we’re going to get where we need to go. We’re going as fast as we can.”
At the end of last week’s Shawnee Mission school board meeting, member Brad Stratton announced he will not seek reelection when his seat is up in a few years.
“SMSD has never had a person of color serve on the school board,” Stratton wrote on Twitter. “My hope is that by announcing today, this will help begin to grow a diverse list of candidates now.”
In an interview, Stratton said that he has “always questioned the process that we use to elevate people to eventually run for office.”
“The process of endorsing candidates is often a quiet one that elected (officials) hold close to the vest,” he said. “The traditional methods that people have used to move up through the ranks leaves out a lot of people who have natural abilities. So I wanted to open this up now so I have several years to recruit and find candidates, to help open the door a little wider.”
Stratton’s move comes after Lee’s Summit voters this month elected the school district’s first Black school board member, Megan Marshall.
“Mr. Stratton stepped out of his environment and saw there was a problem. That’s how we all should be thinking, about how to solve problems, not make them worse,” Broadnax said. “And if we get more minorities on the board, you will see more minorities in the meetings. Lee’s Summit also broke ground this year. It shouldn’t have taken this long, but now we can move forward.”
Some parents said they are tired of hearing that a committee will be formed or that problems will be addressed in a long-term strategic plan.
“The frustrating thing to me is that nothing happens fast enough and that leaders are just tone deaf,” Williams said. “There are some easy things that can be done. I’m just praying that all of this that’s happening right now will create change.”
This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
