It was a remarkable accomplishment Thursday night when, by a unanimous vote and in its final meeting, the school board at Oak Park and River Forest High School approved a strong racial equity policy.
There is credit to be shared as this history is made by a proud high school with a defining blind spot of built-into-the-bricks systemic racism.
In particular, much praise goes to the hard-working, and often overlooked, African-American parents and activists in Oak Park — most of them women — who were making noise about the school’s racial inequity long before it was fashionable.
We should take special note of their achievement because the path to racial progress is often lubricated with the blood, sweat and tears of strong black women.
Going forward, we should also take note of Jennifer Cassel’s powerful last words as a board member:
“Race and whiteness and power dynamics played out in the committee room and here tonight. [This work] would not have gotten done if not for the black women [in the community, on the board and in the administration] carrying the load.
“I hope that, moving forward, some of our allies will start to become more aware of what they’re bringing into this space and show respect and deference, in particular to Dr. Pruitt-Adams, as she embarks on this work. We need allies, but it should not be done in a way that diminishes the work, experiences and professional expertise of women of color who are leading this work.”
We have watched over decades as the very notion of race bias was vehemently denied at the board table. We have watched in too recent times as timid half-measures have been considered, half-heartedly adopted and, too often, discarded. And we have watched with pride and some amazement as the school board over perhaps a half-decade evolved into a strong and united advocate for substantive change, as it finally hired and supported a superintendent capable of bringing true change, as citizen activists have powered tough conversations and, on occasion raised the roof, to guarantee headway.
There is also work left to be done in crafting the procedures which will make this board policy real in the day-by-day-by-day actions in this school. For this to be more than a feel-good moment in villages which too often celebrate lofty rhetoric but shy from the pain of making change real, the work of the months ahead is vital.
What does equity look like in discipline, in curriculum, in hiring, in special ed and IEPs, in future faculty contracts, in facilities, in the broad culture of those things allegedly best? That hard work is rightly left to Supt. Joylynn Pruitt-Adams and her hand-picked and fully overhauled administrative team. Pruitt-Adams has promised that the nuts-and-bolts procedures will be in place for the fall semester. That’s ambitious but necessary.
A hire still to be made is the newly fashioned post of Director of Equity and Student Success. The job is posted, applications, we assume, are arriving, a decision will come soon, with a July 1 start date set for this critical position.
There is one moment, right now, to feel good. Then there is a new board, also we are certain focused on racial equity, to be seated and empowered. Then it is on to our future as two villages ready to move beyond the mythology of racial integration battles long won and into the proving ground of whether Oak Park and River Forest are up for the actual fix.
