Nearly two months after Lawrence school district leaders drafted a discrimination and harassment policy that includes symbols and micro-aggressions, those changes have yet to surface for public discussion.
Originally, the policy committee that drafted the changes planned to submit them to the school board for review in June, but Superintendent Kyle Hayden said it was decided more input was needed.
“So that’s what they decided to do — to just kind of hit the pause button and allow that process to happen,” Hayden said.
Micro-aggressions can be unintentional, and are often defined as subtle comments or actions that represent negative or stereotypical beliefs about a minority group.Though the term was coined in the 1970s, the topic was examined in detail in a recent book, "Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation,” written by Columbia psychology professor Derald Wing Sue.
The Lawrence district would likely be one of the first to have a policy prohibiting micro-aggressions. Hayden said there was nothing in particular that triggered the delay for additional review, and instead that the committee and district administration decided to gather staff input before the draft was proposed to the school board.
The committee began considering policy changes after a student petition gathered hundreds of signatures in support of a district policy banning the Confederate flag. Currently, the district policy protects students against discrimination and bullying that is verbal, physical or written.
The petition was created after a Free State High School student flew a full-sized Confederate flag from his pickup truck for about a week before school administrators told him to stop. District spokeswoman Julie Boyle said at the time that the flag was disallowed because it was disrupting the learning environment and that the student was not disciplined.
The idea to include micro-aggressions stemmed from a discussion the committee had with the three Free State students who wrote the petition. Free State graduate Maame Britwum, who was one of the students involved, said she thinks including micro-aggressions in district policy will help make all students more aware of behavior that shows racial or other bias.
“I think it’s not something that a lot of people know about unless they seek out to learn more about race relations especially,” Britwum said. “…I wouldn’t expect most students to go out of their way to learn about this, because it’s not something that happens to them, but for the students that it does happen to, they’d have something in the books to say that this is a form of harassment.”
The student petition was submitted to the board in March, and the district’s policy advisory committee met multiple times to discuss policy changes before it completed the draft on May 16. In addition to opening up conversation about race, Britwum said including micro-aggressions in policy shows the district supports minority students.
“It’s just letting the kids know that, ‘Hey, we’re looking out for you; you can speak to us about the things that are going on,’” Britwum said.
If the draft were approved, it would expand the district’s definition of discrimination, harassment, bullying and hazing to include symbols and micro-aggressions. Students and staff can both be disciplined for violating district policy, up to and including expulsion from school or termination from employment. The committee’s addition to the district’s discrimination and harassment policy states, in part:
“Harassment can be a result of direct verbal or physical conduct or the use of written material or symbols. Harassment can also be the result of micro-aggressions, which are subtle but offensive comments or actions directed at a minority or other nondominant group that are often unintentional or unconsciously reinforce a stereotype.”
Britwum said she sees the addition of symbols as going beyond just the Confederate flag, and protecting students from various minority groups that may face discrimination.
“It protects a lot of students against possibilities for things that are inherently racist, or homophobic or anti-Semitic,” Britwum said. “Because a lot people don’t want to wear on their chest, like, ‘I don’t like this group,’ but they aren’t necessarily against insinuating something with a symbol.”
The draft also expands the district’s definition of bullying and hazing to include symbols and micro-aggressions in addition to written material and direct verbal or physical conduct. Like other conduct, the micro-aggression would need to be “so severe, persistent or pervasive that it creates an intimidating or threatening educational environment or it substantially disrupts the orderly operations of the district” to meet the district’s definition of bullying.
The committee recommends policy changes to the school board, which then decides whether changes will be approved, denied or sent back to committee for revision. If the district were to expand its discrimination and bullying policies as drafted, school administrators would likely have more authority to prohibit certain symbols — such as the Confederate flag or the swastika — from being displayed on school grounds.
Hayden said the additional input process will allow teachers and staff from each school to review the committee’s draft and make comments. That feedback will then be gathered and submitted to the committee, which could decide to revise the draft or submit it as is to the school board.
“I think it’s just a matter of getting more input and having more eyes on it prior to there being any more public board discussion,” Hayden said.
Hayden said there is not a precise timeline for when the policy changes will be proposed to the school board, but said teachers and staff will begin reviewing the committee’s draft once school begins in August.
“I could see it maybe not getting to the board until October or early November,” Hayden said.
Comments
Bob Smith 11 months, 4 weeks ago
There are organizations that define eye-rolling as an act of violence. http://nursing.advanceweb.com/Regional-Articles/Features/Horizontal-Violence.aspx Where does it all end?
Paul Silkiner 11 months, 4 weeks ago
One can assign meaning to anything. I will be responsible for what I say or do, you have to be responsible for what you hear or see. People will treat you the way you let them, your reactions to them. Think about it...... Get over it! No wonder this generation feels entitled. Are we going to be able to protect them from everything?
God forbid they have to go outside Douglas county.
Ginny Blum 11 months, 4 weeks ago
I'm not opposed in giving school administrators more discretion to disallow symbols on school grounds if they're disruptive or discriminatory, say like the Confederate flag, the Swastika, the Star of David, or the Cross. These things can change rapidly. The Confederate flag has always been a symbol of the slave-owning South, but after the shootings in South Carolina it because a hot point. Individual administrators should be able to ban those without a lot of discussion.
I'm less enthusiastic about a micro aggression policy. If I eat lunch in front of a Muslim student during Ramadan when they're fasting, or have a bacon/tomato/lettuce sandwich on Yon Kippur I don't want to hear that's an aggressive posture. I think it's subjective to the point of being divisive.
Bob Smith 11 months, 4 weeks ago
"...the Confederate flag, the Swastika, the Star of David, or the Cross..." How very progressive of you.
Scott Quenette 11 months, 4 weeks ago
The sooner they can get away from this microaggression nonsense, the better.
Bob Summers 11 months, 4 weeks ago
Here is a comprehensive Liberal list of microaggressions that should be enacted immediately to protect their sensitive children.
Theme: Criminality – assumption of criminal status A person of color is presumed to be dangerous, criminal, or deviant on the basis of their race.
Microaggression
A White man or woman clutching their purse or checking their wallet as a Black or Latino approaches or passes. A store owner following a customer of color around the store. A White person waits to ride the next elevator when a person of color is on it.
Liberal Message
You are a criminal. You are going to steal / You are poor / You do not belong / You are dangerous.
http://sph.umn.edu/site/docs/hewg/microaggressions.pdf
Michael Kort 11 months, 4 weeks ago
Micro-aggression means what ?
It sounds like like the common term of "micro-management" ?
Do you need a "microscope" to find "micro-aggression" ?
Waite a minute.......we are discussing a policy,.....created to make a "full sized confederate flag ( and what it commonly means to most folks ) disappear" from school property .
What is "Micro" about a "full sized symbol" of Black American Slavery and the likes of the KKK ?
Maybe this kid and his pick up truck should be towed to 55th and Prospect ave in KCMO,.ll... and left with no air in his tires, no gasoline, no cell phone, no buss fair and let him sort out other people's reactions who live there, to his stupid racist display, in an environment where his pointless behavior ( well o.k.,.....it is easily assumed, despite whatever he calls it, as racist behavior.....that has a point to intimidate ) isn't part of a dominant group mentality, in that KCMOs, mostly black part of town .
Do you think that maybe we should leave him a roll of T.P., incase he suddenly craps his pants, when he is suddenly surrounded by many non-white humans, that don't share his sence of humor, over his public displays on his truck, of the full sized confederate flag ?
Somebody needs to invent a " Go Send Him Account ".
Oh Waite.......He might (?) just learn something like respect for or tolerance of others ? ................if he wasn't sheltered here in the safety of Lawrence, which is mostly white and foreign students with few blacks.( go to Walmart and notice who comes and goes ) .
Andrew Applegarth 11 months, 4 weeks ago
There is certainly nothing 'micro' about your aggression towards somebody else exercising their first amendment rights. How very tolerant of you...
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