Dear People’s Vanguard Readers,
I have been asked in several forums about STAR testing over the past two days. I want to make it very clear that the boycott will serve neither the organizer’s goals nor the individual students’ academic needs.
In my short tenure here, I have been happy to meet with community groups about their concerns with the district. We do have issues of differential student achievement, and we do need to address them. A boycott only keeps us from collecting important information about achievement; it hampers us rather than helps us in addressing the issues because we won’t know at what grade levels or in what strands of the curriculum we are failing certain groups of students. It’s a mistake to boycott.
Other bloggers are correct about the possible outcomes of not meeting the state’s and federal government’s testing requirements. If we don’t test 95% of our students, in the aggregate and in each subgroup, our Title I schools and the district as a whole will be designated as “Program Improvement” eventually. This means state-ordered reviews with the possibility of sanctions if it happens over multiple years.
The state and federal accountability issues, though, are a secondary concern. We need current data about each child, for that child’s sake, so we know if there are critical skills and knowledge that haven’t yet been acquired in the classroom, and that we need to remediate so that child can go on to success for his or her stay in our district. We need it so that we can evaluate our curriculum across groups of students, for instance at a certain grade level or at a certain school. Maybe the textbook is not providing coverage. Maybe we are not covering the standards that are being tested effectively. Maybe we are not reteaching the students who “don’t quite get it” the first time. If we are going to offer our children a successful educational experience, we need the information about what they’ve learned.
With respect to Ms. Toney’s requests of the district, many of them could become the basis for a reasonable discussion. I have already advocated that we review our discipline policy and make sure we are using best practice in a way that separates behavior from academic success. I’m also happy to take a look at the data with respect to disproportionate suspensions. I think some of the suggestions regarding language accessibility of our district documents are good ones, too.
We are already underway with other of these suggestions, such as the training regarding unconscious bias. I will be meeting with a trainer in the next several weeks and we currently plan to offer the training to all administrators. We are also actively seeking new venues to recruit teachers of color.
In summary, we are already making a concerted effort to respond to these concerns, and most importantly, the concerns about student achievement. A boycott will set us back with respect to the data we use to evaluate that concern. A boycott also won’t move us forward on the other issues. Meetings, and developing a common understanding of the issues, and setting out a mutually understood work plan, will move us forward.
Please don’t boycott the STAR test. Boycotting the test is not a child-centered decision.
Thank you for your time and thanks to the People’s Vanguard for creating a forum in which the community talks about education.
Best regards,
Richard Whitmore
Richard Whitmore is the interim Superintendent of Schools for the Davis Joint Unified School District.
Thank you for your response here. I am happy to see an administrator reaching out to the community in this way.
Thank you for your response here. I am happy to see an administrator reaching out to the community in this way.
Thank you for your response here. I am happy to see an administrator reaching out to the community in this way.
Thank you for your response here. I am happy to see an administrator reaching out to the community in this way.
Well and rightly said Sharla. I have very serious concerns about what has been going on particularly at the high school level this year in addition to in the past. I think a very serious situation is developing there.
However, I am very heartened by the responsible leadership by both the School Board and the Superintendent.
I will have my commentary on this issue in the coming days, I do not fully agree with the Superintendent, but I think we can all see that he is taking this very seriously, as he should
Well and rightly said Sharla. I have very serious concerns about what has been going on particularly at the high school level this year in addition to in the past. I think a very serious situation is developing there.
However, I am very heartened by the responsible leadership by both the School Board and the Superintendent.
I will have my commentary on this issue in the coming days, I do not fully agree with the Superintendent, but I think we can all see that he is taking this very seriously, as he should
Well and rightly said Sharla. I have very serious concerns about what has been going on particularly at the high school level this year in addition to in the past. I think a very serious situation is developing there.
However, I am very heartened by the responsible leadership by both the School Board and the Superintendent.
I will have my commentary on this issue in the coming days, I do not fully agree with the Superintendent, but I think we can all see that he is taking this very seriously, as he should
Well and rightly said Sharla. I have very serious concerns about what has been going on particularly at the high school level this year in addition to in the past. I think a very serious situation is developing there.
However, I am very heartened by the responsible leadership by both the School Board and the Superintendent.
I will have my commentary on this issue in the coming days, I do not fully agree with the Superintendent, but I think we can all see that he is taking this very seriously, as he should
Back in 1983 when I was a student in High School a friend, who was also a student, Kris Korte (wonderful guy — happened to receive straight “A”s in every subject)decided to challenge the STAR test for the very same reasons that parents in the Davis community are challenging STAR. We all joined him and boycotted the test after we didn’t get any results from disucssions with administrators. Parents and students alike were frustrated and this was not even Davis High, it was a completely different district in a completely different town.
Now, I find myself in Davis, CA…the “most educated city” in CA??? And, I find it rather interesting that 24 years later this test is still causing concern for many.
What has been done to address concerns over the years? Why has there been no proactive steps taken to address issues that students and parents continue to have with STAR?
These concerns may need to be taken up with members of the Legislature and/or the Dept. of Education.
I’m not advocating for a boycott necessarily, but I am amazed that years later these issues with STAR still continue.
Back in 1983 when I was a student in High School a friend, who was also a student, Kris Korte (wonderful guy — happened to receive straight “A”s in every subject)decided to challenge the STAR test for the very same reasons that parents in the Davis community are challenging STAR. We all joined him and boycotted the test after we didn’t get any results from disucssions with administrators. Parents and students alike were frustrated and this was not even Davis High, it was a completely different district in a completely different town.
Now, I find myself in Davis, CA…the “most educated city” in CA??? And, I find it rather interesting that 24 years later this test is still causing concern for many.
What has been done to address concerns over the years? Why has there been no proactive steps taken to address issues that students and parents continue to have with STAR?
These concerns may need to be taken up with members of the Legislature and/or the Dept. of Education.
I’m not advocating for a boycott necessarily, but I am amazed that years later these issues with STAR still continue.
Back in 1983 when I was a student in High School a friend, who was also a student, Kris Korte (wonderful guy — happened to receive straight “A”s in every subject)decided to challenge the STAR test for the very same reasons that parents in the Davis community are challenging STAR. We all joined him and boycotted the test after we didn’t get any results from disucssions with administrators. Parents and students alike were frustrated and this was not even Davis High, it was a completely different district in a completely different town.
Now, I find myself in Davis, CA…the “most educated city” in CA??? And, I find it rather interesting that 24 years later this test is still causing concern for many.
What has been done to address concerns over the years? Why has there been no proactive steps taken to address issues that students and parents continue to have with STAR?
These concerns may need to be taken up with members of the Legislature and/or the Dept. of Education.
I’m not advocating for a boycott necessarily, but I am amazed that years later these issues with STAR still continue.
Back in 1983 when I was a student in High School a friend, who was also a student, Kris Korte (wonderful guy — happened to receive straight “A”s in every subject)decided to challenge the STAR test for the very same reasons that parents in the Davis community are challenging STAR. We all joined him and boycotted the test after we didn’t get any results from disucssions with administrators. Parents and students alike were frustrated and this was not even Davis High, it was a completely different district in a completely different town.
Now, I find myself in Davis, CA…the “most educated city” in CA??? And, I find it rather interesting that 24 years later this test is still causing concern for many.
What has been done to address concerns over the years? Why has there been no proactive steps taken to address issues that students and parents continue to have with STAR?
These concerns may need to be taken up with members of the Legislature and/or the Dept. of Education.
I’m not advocating for a boycott necessarily, but I am amazed that years later these issues with STAR still continue.
David,
I just read the superintendent’s commentary on the STAR boycott. I thought he sounded really good. The person who wants the boycott doesn’t have to personally face the “testing police.” I think if they want to do something about the ridiculous test–and I’ve personally administered it from grades 2-6–it needs to be a political movement. My school is this year a Performance Improvement Year 4 school, and next year will be year 5. We were given a lot of flexibility in our benchmark assessments this year by our school board, because of the strength of our principal and teachers, but each year is going to be worse regardless. The system is rigged. Our District is now a Performance Improvement District, and I don’t think Davis minority parents should willingly try to solve their problems through that stream–because their voices will not be heard. Money may be taken from the District which certainly never helps anyone, favorite and unfavorite principals and staff and curriculum may replaced by the state. So, if parents are unhappy, they shouldn’t go that route.
The problem with the test itself is that the standards are artificially high and do not show relative growth for a particular student–only that they haven’t gotten to “grade level.” They may have made grown by one year, but because they were already behind, that doesn’t show on the next year’s test, because they’re still behind. And, we’re rotten teachers, even though they’ve learned a lot.
Jack O’Connell pushes his particular STAR test, which if you saw it you would agree how difficult it is in so many ways–both in composition and content level. It doesn’t really show growth because of the ratcheting up of level, so that it looks like our English language learners haven’t learned anything, which is not true. I love Jack’s philosophic idealism, but think the test needs to be more realistic and show relative growth for students who have learned a lot, but not caught up.
I thought your superintendent made good sense.
PS. I just viewed Jack’s video and signed my pledge not to discuss the contents of the test or to cheat in any way. However, they now are going to be sending out “police” to make sure things are on the up and up. We’re wondering how that will work.
David,
I just read the superintendent’s commentary on the STAR boycott. I thought he sounded really good. The person who wants the boycott doesn’t have to personally face the “testing police.” I think if they want to do something about the ridiculous test–and I’ve personally administered it from grades 2-6–it needs to be a political movement. My school is this year a Performance Improvement Year 4 school, and next year will be year 5. We were given a lot of flexibility in our benchmark assessments this year by our school board, because of the strength of our principal and teachers, but each year is going to be worse regardless. The system is rigged. Our District is now a Performance Improvement District, and I don’t think Davis minority parents should willingly try to solve their problems through that stream–because their voices will not be heard. Money may be taken from the District which certainly never helps anyone, favorite and unfavorite principals and staff and curriculum may replaced by the state. So, if parents are unhappy, they shouldn’t go that route.
The problem with the test itself is that the standards are artificially high and do not show relative growth for a particular student–only that they haven’t gotten to “grade level.” They may have made grown by one year, but because they were already behind, that doesn’t show on the next year’s test, because they’re still behind. And, we’re rotten teachers, even though they’ve learned a lot.
Jack O’Connell pushes his particular STAR test, which if you saw it you would agree how difficult it is in so many ways–both in composition and content level. It doesn’t really show growth because of the ratcheting up of level, so that it looks like our English language learners haven’t learned anything, which is not true. I love Jack’s philosophic idealism, but think the test needs to be more realistic and show relative growth for students who have learned a lot, but not caught up.
I thought your superintendent made good sense.
PS. I just viewed Jack’s video and signed my pledge not to discuss the contents of the test or to cheat in any way. However, they now are going to be sending out “police” to make sure things are on the up and up. We’re wondering how that will work.
David,
I just read the superintendent’s commentary on the STAR boycott. I thought he sounded really good. The person who wants the boycott doesn’t have to personally face the “testing police.” I think if they want to do something about the ridiculous test–and I’ve personally administered it from grades 2-6–it needs to be a political movement. My school is this year a Performance Improvement Year 4 school, and next year will be year 5. We were given a lot of flexibility in our benchmark assessments this year by our school board, because of the strength of our principal and teachers, but each year is going to be worse regardless. The system is rigged. Our District is now a Performance Improvement District, and I don’t think Davis minority parents should willingly try to solve their problems through that stream–because their voices will not be heard. Money may be taken from the District which certainly never helps anyone, favorite and unfavorite principals and staff and curriculum may replaced by the state. So, if parents are unhappy, they shouldn’t go that route.
The problem with the test itself is that the standards are artificially high and do not show relative growth for a particular student–only that they haven’t gotten to “grade level.” They may have made grown by one year, but because they were already behind, that doesn’t show on the next year’s test, because they’re still behind. And, we’re rotten teachers, even though they’ve learned a lot.
Jack O’Connell pushes his particular STAR test, which if you saw it you would agree how difficult it is in so many ways–both in composition and content level. It doesn’t really show growth because of the ratcheting up of level, so that it looks like our English language learners haven’t learned anything, which is not true. I love Jack’s philosophic idealism, but think the test needs to be more realistic and show relative growth for students who have learned a lot, but not caught up.
I thought your superintendent made good sense.
PS. I just viewed Jack’s video and signed my pledge not to discuss the contents of the test or to cheat in any way. However, they now are going to be sending out “police” to make sure things are on the up and up. We’re wondering how that will work.
David,
I just read the superintendent’s commentary on the STAR boycott. I thought he sounded really good. The person who wants the boycott doesn’t have to personally face the “testing police.” I think if they want to do something about the ridiculous test–and I’ve personally administered it from grades 2-6–it needs to be a political movement. My school is this year a Performance Improvement Year 4 school, and next year will be year 5. We were given a lot of flexibility in our benchmark assessments this year by our school board, because of the strength of our principal and teachers, but each year is going to be worse regardless. The system is rigged. Our District is now a Performance Improvement District, and I don’t think Davis minority parents should willingly try to solve their problems through that stream–because their voices will not be heard. Money may be taken from the District which certainly never helps anyone, favorite and unfavorite principals and staff and curriculum may replaced by the state. So, if parents are unhappy, they shouldn’t go that route.
The problem with the test itself is that the standards are artificially high and do not show relative growth for a particular student–only that they haven’t gotten to “grade level.” They may have made grown by one year, but because they were already behind, that doesn’t show on the next year’s test, because they’re still behind. And, we’re rotten teachers, even though they’ve learned a lot.
Jack O’Connell pushes his particular STAR test, which if you saw it you would agree how difficult it is in so many ways–both in composition and content level. It doesn’t really show growth because of the ratcheting up of level, so that it looks like our English language learners haven’t learned anything, which is not true. I love Jack’s philosophic idealism, but think the test needs to be more realistic and show relative growth for students who have learned a lot, but not caught up.
I thought your superintendent made good sense.
PS. I just viewed Jack’s video and signed my pledge not to discuss the contents of the test or to cheat in any way. However, they now are going to be sending out “police” to make sure things are on the up and up. We’re wondering how that will work.
Whitmore is quoted as saying “The state and federal accountability issues, though, are a secondary concern. We need current data about each child, for that child’s sake, so we know if there are critical skills and knowledge that haven’t yet been acquired in the classroom, and that we need to remediate so that child can go on to success for his or her stay in our district…” and so on. Everything he says is correct, and everything he says indicates that he is performing duties for the DJUSD that could just as easily be performed by a public information officer at half the price.
The STAR tests in and of themselves are neutral ways to measure student performance. How these kind of tests were used in the 1980s or now or 20 years from now is a political issue. In the absence of No Child Left Behind (No Child’s Behind Left) NCBL, the STAR tests could serve as an indicator to do just what Whitmore said it should be used for, to help us make improvements in our schools. However, with the high stakes consequences of NCBL, the goal of improvement is overshadowed by the threat of punitive actions as Evelyn above describes. We no longer need to improve our children’s critical thinking skills; we are focused on avoiding sanctions. These policies are not designed to make any schools better, but to divide and conquer, disrupt and destroy public education.
Whitmore is a professional administrator and knows that STAR tests and all the other mandated tests add no value. The testing tells us nothing that teachers don’t already know. When we attend a parent-teacher conference we know exactly what are kids need to do to improve and develop. We don’t need the STAR tests for that. Because most parents in Davis are interested and engaged (some would say too much) in their children’s education as a participating partner, our District scores very high. This is about socio-economic status and about a supportive social momentum for education in Davis that spills over from the majority of kids who do well into homes that are not as highly supportive through social association between kids. And we have King High. We don’t need the STAR tests to tell us what to do.
DJUSD needs to score high on the STAR tests to avoid the negative sanctions, to get the matching money and we need 90% or so to participate. It’s really about the money. Mr. Whitmore would do better to lay it out clearly: “Don’t boycott the STAR tests because we don’t want to lose the federal money. In return I’ll put a plan together to recruit x number of minority staff by the fall” or something like that. What I’d really like to see is DJUSD and the citizens of this town completely opt out of the whole standardized test/NCBL/corporate educational consulting scam entirely and pay the difference to run our own first class educational system.
Maybe someone out there knows how much money this school district would need to replace by not participating in this nasty game.
I understand the temptation to boycott the STAR tests as leverage to get some badly needed attention to the issue of race at the local level. Few people who are not members of a racial minority can understand the level of frustration and anger that results from the injustice of racial discrimination. We should also recognize that there is a connection between race and NCBL and its underlying agenda of destroying public education. That is a much larger and more complicated task than increasing the number of minority teachers or getting action on other race-related issues at the local level. Racism and its effect on our kids is clearly a political issue for DJUSD Board elections and subsequently for the Superintendent
that they hire to carry out their policies.
The Board and the Superintendent can avoid a boycott (which will have to be a multi-year effort with 11% of enrollment to be credible as leverage) by taking appropriate action. That’s what the Board and Superintendent should do.
Whitmore is quoted as saying “The state and federal accountability issues, though, are a secondary concern. We need current data about each child, for that child’s sake, so we know if there are critical skills and knowledge that haven’t yet been acquired in the classroom, and that we need to remediate so that child can go on to success for his or her stay in our district…” and so on. Everything he says is correct, and everything he says indicates that he is performing duties for the DJUSD that could just as easily be performed by a public information officer at half the price.
The STAR tests in and of themselves are neutral ways to measure student performance. How these kind of tests were used in the 1980s or now or 20 years from now is a political issue. In the absence of No Child Left Behind (No Child’s Behind Left) NCBL, the STAR tests could serve as an indicator to do just what Whitmore said it should be used for, to help us make improvements in our schools. However, with the high stakes consequences of NCBL, the goal of improvement is overshadowed by the threat of punitive actions as Evelyn above describes. We no longer need to improve our children’s critical thinking skills; we are focused on avoiding sanctions. These policies are not designed to make any schools better, but to divide and conquer, disrupt and destroy public education.
Whitmore is a professional administrator and knows that STAR tests and all the other mandated tests add no value. The testing tells us nothing that teachers don’t already know. When we attend a parent-teacher conference we know exactly what are kids need to do to improve and develop. We don’t need the STAR tests for that. Because most parents in Davis are interested and engaged (some would say too much) in their children’s education as a participating partner, our District scores very high. This is about socio-economic status and about a supportive social momentum for education in Davis that spills over from the majority of kids who do well into homes that are not as highly supportive through social association between kids. And we have King High. We don’t need the STAR tests to tell us what to do.
DJUSD needs to score high on the STAR tests to avoid the negative sanctions, to get the matching money and we need 90% or so to participate. It’s really about the money. Mr. Whitmore would do better to lay it out clearly: “Don’t boycott the STAR tests because we don’t want to lose the federal money. In return I’ll put a plan together to recruit x number of minority staff by the fall” or something like that. What I’d really like to see is DJUSD and the citizens of this town completely opt out of the whole standardized test/NCBL/corporate educational consulting scam entirely and pay the difference to run our own first class educational system.
Maybe someone out there knows how much money this school district would need to replace by not participating in this nasty game.
I understand the temptation to boycott the STAR tests as leverage to get some badly needed attention to the issue of race at the local level. Few people who are not members of a racial minority can understand the level of frustration and anger that results from the injustice of racial discrimination. We should also recognize that there is a connection between race and NCBL and its underlying agenda of destroying public education. That is a much larger and more complicated task than increasing the number of minority teachers or getting action on other race-related issues at the local level. Racism and its effect on our kids is clearly a political issue for DJUSD Board elections and subsequently for the Superintendent
that they hire to carry out their policies.
The Board and the Superintendent can avoid a boycott (which will have to be a multi-year effort with 11% of enrollment to be credible as leverage) by taking appropriate action. That’s what the Board and Superintendent should do.
Whitmore is quoted as saying “The state and federal accountability issues, though, are a secondary concern. We need current data about each child, for that child’s sake, so we know if there are critical skills and knowledge that haven’t yet been acquired in the classroom, and that we need to remediate so that child can go on to success for his or her stay in our district…” and so on. Everything he says is correct, and everything he says indicates that he is performing duties for the DJUSD that could just as easily be performed by a public information officer at half the price.
The STAR tests in and of themselves are neutral ways to measure student performance. How these kind of tests were used in the 1980s or now or 20 years from now is a political issue. In the absence of No Child Left Behind (No Child’s Behind Left) NCBL, the STAR tests could serve as an indicator to do just what Whitmore said it should be used for, to help us make improvements in our schools. However, with the high stakes consequences of NCBL, the goal of improvement is overshadowed by the threat of punitive actions as Evelyn above describes. We no longer need to improve our children’s critical thinking skills; we are focused on avoiding sanctions. These policies are not designed to make any schools better, but to divide and conquer, disrupt and destroy public education.
Whitmore is a professional administrator and knows that STAR tests and all the other mandated tests add no value. The testing tells us nothing that teachers don’t already know. When we attend a parent-teacher conference we know exactly what are kids need to do to improve and develop. We don’t need the STAR tests for that. Because most parents in Davis are interested and engaged (some would say too much) in their children’s education as a participating partner, our District scores very high. This is about socio-economic status and about a supportive social momentum for education in Davis that spills over from the majority of kids who do well into homes that are not as highly supportive through social association between kids. And we have King High. We don’t need the STAR tests to tell us what to do.
DJUSD needs to score high on the STAR tests to avoid the negative sanctions, to get the matching money and we need 90% or so to participate. It’s really about the money. Mr. Whitmore would do better to lay it out clearly: “Don’t boycott the STAR tests because we don’t want to lose the federal money. In return I’ll put a plan together to recruit x number of minority staff by the fall” or something like that. What I’d really like to see is DJUSD and the citizens of this town completely opt out of the whole standardized test/NCBL/corporate educational consulting scam entirely and pay the difference to run our own first class educational system.
Maybe someone out there knows how much money this school district would need to replace by not participating in this nasty game.
I understand the temptation to boycott the STAR tests as leverage to get some badly needed attention to the issue of race at the local level. Few people who are not members of a racial minority can understand the level of frustration and anger that results from the injustice of racial discrimination. We should also recognize that there is a connection between race and NCBL and its underlying agenda of destroying public education. That is a much larger and more complicated task than increasing the number of minority teachers or getting action on other race-related issues at the local level. Racism and its effect on our kids is clearly a political issue for DJUSD Board elections and subsequently for the Superintendent
that they hire to carry out their policies.
The Board and the Superintendent can avoid a boycott (which will have to be a multi-year effort with 11% of enrollment to be credible as leverage) by taking appropriate action. That’s what the Board and Superintendent should do.
Whitmore is quoted as saying “The state and federal accountability issues, though, are a secondary concern. We need current data about each child, for that child’s sake, so we know if there are critical skills and knowledge that haven’t yet been acquired in the classroom, and that we need to remediate so that child can go on to success for his or her stay in our district…” and so on. Everything he says is correct, and everything he says indicates that he is performing duties for the DJUSD that could just as easily be performed by a public information officer at half the price.
The STAR tests in and of themselves are neutral ways to measure student performance. How these kind of tests were used in the 1980s or now or 20 years from now is a political issue. In the absence of No Child Left Behind (No Child’s Behind Left) NCBL, the STAR tests could serve as an indicator to do just what Whitmore said it should be used for, to help us make improvements in our schools. However, with the high stakes consequences of NCBL, the goal of improvement is overshadowed by the threat of punitive actions as Evelyn above describes. We no longer need to improve our children’s critical thinking skills; we are focused on avoiding sanctions. These policies are not designed to make any schools better, but to divide and conquer, disrupt and destroy public education.
Whitmore is a professional administrator and knows that STAR tests and all the other mandated tests add no value. The testing tells us nothing that teachers don’t already know. When we attend a parent-teacher conference we know exactly what are kids need to do to improve and develop. We don’t need the STAR tests for that. Because most parents in Davis are interested and engaged (some would say too much) in their children’s education as a participating partner, our District scores very high. This is about socio-economic status and about a supportive social momentum for education in Davis that spills over from the majority of kids who do well into homes that are not as highly supportive through social association between kids. And we have King High. We don’t need the STAR tests to tell us what to do.
DJUSD needs to score high on the STAR tests to avoid the negative sanctions, to get the matching money and we need 90% or so to participate. It’s really about the money. Mr. Whitmore would do better to lay it out clearly: “Don’t boycott the STAR tests because we don’t want to lose the federal money. In return I’ll put a plan together to recruit x number of minority staff by the fall” or something like that. What I’d really like to see is DJUSD and the citizens of this town completely opt out of the whole standardized test/NCBL/corporate educational consulting scam entirely and pay the difference to run our own first class educational system.
Maybe someone out there knows how much money this school district would need to replace by not participating in this nasty game.
I understand the temptation to boycott the STAR tests as leverage to get some badly needed attention to the issue of race at the local level. Few people who are not members of a racial minority can understand the level of frustration and anger that results from the injustice of racial discrimination. We should also recognize that there is a connection between race and NCBL and its underlying agenda of destroying public education. That is a much larger and more complicated task than increasing the number of minority teachers or getting action on other race-related issues at the local level. Racism and its effect on our kids is clearly a political issue for DJUSD Board elections and subsequently for the Superintendent
that they hire to carry out their policies.
The Board and the Superintendent can avoid a boycott (which will have to be a multi-year effort with 11% of enrollment to be credible as leverage) by taking appropriate action. That’s what the Board and Superintendent should do.