photo by: Journal-World File

Cynthia Johnson, who most recently worked as Lawrence High School's interim principal, has been hired as the Lawrence school district's executive director of inclusion, engagement and belonging — part of the district's ongoing efforts to address equity issues in public schools.

Like many organizations in the past year, the Lawrence school district has been focused on improving equity — a topic that has attracted controversy along with intense public interest.

In the last month, the district has taken two major steps in the equity realm, dealing not only with racial equity, but also with gender and socioeconomic issues, among others. District leaders say the intent of both steps has not, as some have claimed, been to introduce the teaching of critical race theory, which has recently become a political lightning rod.

The first step was on May 10, when the school board approved a policy that lays out the board’s view on improving equity and how it intends to hold the school district’s administration accountable. The policy is intended to address inequities experienced by marginalized groups in the district, such as people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, girls and others.

In the second step, a few weeks later, the district administration promoted interim Lawrence High School Principal Cynthia Johnson to a newly created position focused on inclusion and belonging. Johnson said that part of her responsibilities would be ensuring that students, particularly those who are often marginalized, feel a sense of belonging and a connection to their schools.

School Board President Kelly Jones recently told the Journal-World that the new policy and the promotion of Johnson were welcome additions to the work the district was already doing toward providing a more equitable learning environment.

“I’m really excited about the direction … at every level,” Jones said. “It’s exciting to see the policy add to the work that was already going and to really say ‘this is who we are.'”

But not everyone is thrilled about those recent steps. At least one Lawrence resident has expressed concern to the school board about ongoing programs focused on equity, suggesting they amount to the introduction of critical race theory in public schools.

As previously reported, state political leaders, including Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, have begun speaking out against critical race theory. They have argued that the theory — which some believe suggests racism in America has not subsided and continues because it is embedded in the country’s policies and culture — reframes America’s history too narrowly around race and incorrectly portrays America as inherently racist.

Schmidt, who is running for governor, joined 19 other attorneys general in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona challenging Cardona’s “thinly veiled attempt at bringing into our states’ classrooms the deeply flawed and controversial teachings of Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project,” the latter a reference to a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism project that posited that America’s founding really was in 1619 with the introduction of slavery and not in 1776, the date associated with the nation’s famous founding documents, such as the Declaration of Independence.

In Lawrence, resident Michelle Eagleman has echoed those concerns, repeatedly speaking out against district programs during the school board’s public comment periods.

In a letter to the editor on May 25, she expressed doubt that the policy would add to the quality of education. She wrote: “Our kids will be (further) indoctrinated into judging others by their outward characteristics; silenced when they voice opinions that aren’t approved; shamed for being white. Martin Luther King would be sad.”

But those concerns don’t seem to hold much weight with the district or its leaders. Administrators who are focused on diversity and equity told the Journal-World that critical race theory is not being taught in classrooms. Additionally, Jones, the school board president, told Eagleman at a recent meeting that the district was committed to improving equity.

“Board members are not distracted from our shared moral imperative, which is outlined in the equity policy,” Jones said in an email to the Journal-World. “The board receives copious community feedback supporting the equity policy,” she added.

New policy

Although improving equity in Lawrence schools is not a new concept, the school board’s new policy adds another layer to the district’s efforts. It also works as a statement of intent from the board and expresses that the current board members are serious about addressing inequities.

The stated goal of the policy is to disrupt systemic racism and other inequities by changing the district’s governance and resource allocation, among other things. The policy seeks to address disparities in access to academic opportunities, graduation outcomes and disciplinary action for students from historically marginalized communities.

But the policy also focuses on accountability, specifically from Superintendent Anthony Lewis, who said he had asked for the policy to be put in place when he was hired as superintendent in 2018.

According to the policy, the superintendent will be expected to report to the board on the district’s progress on a quarterly basis. The policy also states that the district’s building administrator performance evaluations, such as those for school principals, will include equity accountability metrics.

“Really the policy says ‘everybody,’ and we mean everybody,” Jones said.

The policy is intended to support measures like the district’s strategic plan from a few years ago that included goals of improving achievement gaps among different groups of students.

For instance, according to the district’s 2019 data, Black and Native American students were significantly less likely to perform above expectations on the state’s reading and math assessments than other groups. The strategic plan lists ways to narrow the achievement gaps, such as removing financial barriers for advanced courses.

Equity work

Jones noted that the policy itself does not create change; it’s the accountability provision that makes the difference. In other words, it’s the work that district staff members do every day.

That’s where Johnson and the district’s equity director, Leah Wisdom, come in. They recently explained to the Journal-World how the policy affects their work and what programs are being introduced to improve equity.

One in particular, Culturally Sustainable Resource Criteria, aims to create an “equity-centered curriculum” for the district. Wisdom said the program essentially makes sure the district and teachers are considering equity when selecting curriculum.

So when the school district reviews new textbooks, field trips or other educational resources, it goes through a series of criteria to consider whether it will create a barrier for students who are often marginalized. The basic idea is to make sure that when barriers exist, the district is flagging them and providing additional support where needed.

“It’s just about access to all kids,” Wisdom said. “It makes specific connections to considering a student’s race, gender, abled or disabled, which are all of the kinds of things that oftentimes create barriers for our students in accessing curriculum.”

When matters of inequity come up, they will be reasonably addressed, Wisdom said. An example she noted was a social emotional program that is used in classrooms. She said images associated with the program include caricatures of people rather than real-life photos. The district determined the caricatures appeared to be similar to offensive stereotypes of people of a certain race.

The district allowed the material to be used in classes, but without the associated images. Wisdom said the district also reached out to the company that created the program to discuss the possibility of changing its images.

“It’s about looking at what you’re doing and refining it,” Wisdom said.

Additionally, Johnson, in her new position, will oversee much of that work.

Johnson said part of her job would be serving as the supervisor for the district’s equity facilitator and for community advisory groups, such as the district’s equity advisory committee and parents of color advisory team.

She said her work with those groups would focus on ensuring that the new equity policy and similar programs were improving the district’s classrooms.

“Part of my role, and the goal of what we do, is turning those conversations into practice,” Johnson said.

Fears, concerns

Despite how the district describes its goals, Eagleman continues to believe that the equity programs are counterproductive.

When she heard of the Culturally Sustainable Resource Criteria program, she equated it with the teaching of critical race theory, the objective of which, she believes, is to tear down the history and ideas that created Western culture and America.

She also thinks that equity programs are “wrapped in euphemism”; rather than helping to solve the problem of race disparities, she thinks the programs force students to be defined by them.

“I don’t think this politically-correct, race-focused education does kids, schools, or society any good,” she said in an email.

Eagleman, who is the mother of four, told the Journal-World she pulled her kids out of Lawrence schools to homeschool them because she thinks that “politics gets in the way of academics.”

Although her children are no longer students in the district, she said she still felt compelled to speak because of the crucial role public education plays in society.

Wisdom, again, emphasizes that critical race theory, as some understand it, is not being taught in classrooms. She also noted that the equity policy and related programming are not limited to race but address many different forms of inequity in education.

Jones, when asked about criticism of the district’s equity work and claims that public schools are teaching critical race theory, redirected the criticism. She suggested that politicians pushing legislation against equity programs showed that critical race theory’s notion that America’s policies are part of a systemic problem has a point.

“One of the framework’s premises, that racism is maintained through laws and legal systems, is clearly valid,” she said.