Equity and Hope in a Time of Chaos

Join us as we bridge the gap between alternative and mainstream education, bringing forward solutions and strategies that address some of the most pressing challenges in today’s educational landscape. Your voice and engagement are key to our collective success. See you at the webinar!

• Punching the Air- book
• The Art of Critical Pedagogy- book
• So You Want to Talk About Race- book
• How Districts Can Facilitate Conversations About Race-based Stress and Trauma- KDE Document
• Courageous Conversations About Race Protocol
• Continuum on Becoming an Anti-racist Multicultural Organization
• Where Am I? Racial Equity SEL Cards
• The Future of Healing: Shifting From Trauma Informed Care to Healing Centered Engagement- Article
• DEI initiatives shouldn’t be about perfection. They should be about progress.

Jason Johnson:
Officially welcome all of our guests, that are attendees and our panelists that we have with us today. My name is Jason Johnson. I am with the WhyTry Organization, and we are thrilled to be hosting this webinar on the really important topics of equity and hope.

Jason Johnson:
Just thrilled to have some really impressive guests as panelists today, to talk about this and really excited to be able to consider all of these individuals, friends of our organization as well. It’s just been really fun. What I think I’d like to do, I’m going to introduce all of our panelists, give some brief introductions.

Jason Johnson:
Then I want to get the conversation going pretty quick. My name is Jason Johnson. I’ll serve as moderator here. My goal as moderator is, really kind of to stay out of the way and get our panelists talking about these important topics, that I know are really, really important to all our attendees that are logged in.

Jason Johnson:
Welcome everybody. A couple of quick logistical things. This is being recorded, and we’ll have a link available by this evening, that should be emailed out to you, so that you can share this. I think we’re going to cover a lot of really helpful information.

Jason Johnson:
As I mentioned, my name’s Jason Johnson. I’m a school psychologist, come from public Ed. Been with the WhyTry Organization for about five years, and I am thrilled to be able to be party to this discussion.

Jason Johnson:
Our panelists that we have today, we have with us, Ms. Miranda Beard. Welcome Ms. Beard, Former President of the National School Board Association, based out of the DC area.

Jason Johnson:
In her role as President and NSBA Director, she traveled the US, as a leading voice and advocate for equity and excellence in education for more than 50 million children in our nation’s schools. Represented 90,000 school board members on a national education tour to Central and Western Europe.

Jason Johnson:
Done some really impressive stuff in her career the last 20 years, serving in leadership and helping out in the world of education in a really significant way. Welcome Ms. Miranda Beard. We are thrilled to have you. 

Miranda Beard:
Thank you, Jason. I call myself a recovering school board member. [crosstalk 00:02:31].

Jason Johnson:
That’s right. Well, we’re thrilled to have you. Next we’ve got Mr. Early King, a good, good friend of the organization. He’s currently the Principal at Youth Connection Charter School, YCCS in Chicago.

Jason Johnson:
Under his leadership, YCCS is committed to providing youth between the ages of 17 and 21, that are under-credited and over-aged with culturally relevant and rigorous academic learning opportunities.

Jason Johnson:
To enhance their reading, writing and math skills, as well as social growth to seek transition and achieve post-secondary success. He’s had a really awesome career as well. He worked with the K-12 online education organization, and is really an expert at relevance and engagement.

Jason Johnson:
He’s done some awesome stuff, kind of combining his career knowledge there at YCCS. My understanding is that you guys are averaging like at 94% graduation rate, which is just awesome. Huge, huge round of applause for the work you’re doing there. 

Early King:
Thank you.

Jason Johnson:
Then last, but certainly not least is Dr. Damien Sweeney. He’s currently serving as the Program Coordinator for Comprehensive School Counseling at the Kentucky Department of Education.

Jason Johnson:
Where he works alongside school counselors, to equip them with best practices, oversees publication of the Kentucky framework of best practices for school counselors.

Jason Johnson:
He’s contributed to guidance on how districts can facilitate conversations about race-based stress and trauma, for districts and schools within Kentucky. Also, recently… huge congratulations on this.

Jason Johnson:
Had his first publication in the ASCA Magazine, titled, Stand Up, Stand Together. Now is the Time for School Students to Take a Stand, and Fight for Social Justice and Equity for Black Students. Welcome Dr. Sweeney, thrilled to have you. 

Damien Sweeney:
Thank you so much.

Jason Johnson:
All right, so what I wanted to do, just to kind of kick it off, is maybe ask you all to briefly start… so we’re going to be talking about equity and hope. 

Jason Johnson:
I wondered if you could all briefly tell us just a little bit about some of the recent equity initiatives, or ways that you’ve been addressing equity within your field. I was wondering maybe if we could go in this order here. First, from Ms. Beard, next from Mr. King and then after Mr. King, Dr. Sweeney.

Miranda Beard:
Thank you. This is such an honor to be on this webinar today, with such esteemed colleagues in the field, working hard and working diligently for children. I want to thank everybody that’s tuned in right now to this webinar, because I know your heart and your passion is to try to do what’s right and best for children.

Miranda Beard:
As I’ve traveled across the United States before COVID-19… now, a lot of things are being done online. I noticed that leadership, whether they were counselors, administrators, principals in the field, the boots on the ground, there is a passion there, but some people just don’t know what to do when it comes to equity.

Miranda Beard:
What I would do, I would try to bring in some best practices, some ideas that have been noted across the country, that has worked well in many school districts. Whether it’s using high school students to tutor children at the elementary level, to help them with math skills or English skills and then pay those students a stipend.

Miranda Beard:
Just a thought, just an idea, because sometimes leaders will say, “Well, where am I going to get the resources from? I don’t have the money. What am I going to do?” When we sit down at the table, which is the main thing that I focus on, getting all the voices together, to sit down at the table.

Miranda Beard:
All the stakeholders, whether it’s business leaders, the administrators in your district. Whether it’s counselors, whether it is people that are advocates for children. Whether it’s the Department of Education. All these people coming together, sitting at the table, talking about the issue of equity.

Miranda Beard:
When I think about equity and I talk about equity, equity is really just doing what’s right with the resources that you have, to make sure all children are taken care of. I know that if we don’t do it on the front end, then guess what? We’re going to have the issues on the back end.

Miranda Beard:
See, what we do now, will determine the outcomes for the future. Those are the things I focus on, when I’m out there talking to leaders across the country. Who are focused, but they don’t know how to focus some of the skills and the abilities that they may have in their district.

Miranda Beard:
They need all the voices at the table to tell them what the needs are. If you don’t get those voices there, how will you know? It’s almost like trying to hit a moving target and you never hit it.

Jason Johnson:
Thank you so much. Mr. King, tell us a little bit about what you’ve been working on. 

Early King:
Well, from the school level, we have allocated money to personal development, professional development and conferences this year. Additional fundings were added to that line item, to allow the staff to go out, get training other than what we provide them on site.

Early King:
On site, we do monthly trainings, culture and diversity trainings. That’s mandatory for all staff. They can attend it asynchronously or synchronously, just thinking kind of loud. That’s one on a local level.

Early King:
Being a social justice school and a career pathway school, way before the protests and the riots, we were doing this three years ago, to teach our students about themselves. We are 60% African-American, 38% Latinx and then the other one’s other, other 2% is other.

Early King:
This is something that we wanted our black and brown kids to learn about themselves. Equity and who am I? Is part of our theme. It has been a part of our theme for the last three years.

Early King:
CPS has also provided training for schools, for diversity and sensitivity and it’s optional. Those are the things that it has extended to everyone on my team, on a monthly basis. That’s what we’re doing locally and that’s what we’re doing in-house. 

Jason Johnson:
Awesome. Thank you. Dr. Sweeney, tell us a little bit about what you’ve been up to.

Damien Sweeney:
Yeah, so again, Jason, thanks for having me. I’m really, really honored to be here. We’ve been doing just a lot of presentations, a lot of presentations throughout our state, within our agency, within the Kentucky Department of Education and nationally. 

Damien Sweeney:
Through those presentations, we’ve been trying to really equip school counselors, different school personnel, with tools that they can use to have courageous conversations about equity, and about race and about racial trauma. Also, talk a lot about the racial trauma lens, which all of us should be considering as educators.

Damien Sweeney:
There’s so much. Something that I’ve also been thinking about a lot lately, is equity walks, Data Equity Walks. How can we look at the data as a school team, as a school leadership team, as a school staff? How can we look at the data and then create solutions in regards to that data?

Damien Sweeney:
Then how can we get our students to look at the data, and be part of the solutions as well? It’s really trying to equip the people that I serve, to have some of these conversations. To make sure that their voices are being heard. Sometimes our friends don’t feel like they have a seat at the table.

Damien Sweeney:
It’s my job to make sure that they know that their voice is important. Their voice matters. They are a school leader. I’m specifically referring to school counselors, and that they have to have these conversations. I’m also really trying to tie everything to school counseling, ethical responsibilities.

Damien Sweeney:
We have this ethical responsibility to fight for social justice. I think that’s the coolest thing about our profession. That’s just a little bit about what I’ve been up to. I think the last thing I would talk a little bit about is, I mentioned being trauma informed, the racial trauma lens.

Damien Sweeney:
Really talking about the learning brain versus the survival brain. Also, talk about how black culture right now, and black and brown students, our communities are just really, really struggling. Many of us have that survival brain right now. We’re kind of in that survival brain right now.

Damien Sweeney:
What it’s going to take for us to be equipped, to get to move towards that learning brain, is for people to show us unconditional regard and love. A bit about what I’ve been up to. 

Jason Johnson:
Awesome. Thank you. I think everybody here is excited to hear a little bit more about everything you’ve just described. I was wondering if maybe we could… let’s just start digging into it.

Jason Johnson:
I think one of the first places to start, that might be helpful is, if you could talk a little bit about what some of the obstacles are, that make it difficult for organizations and institutions to do a better job of promoting and working towards equity.

Jason Johnson:
These could potentially be systemic, individual or other obstacles. Maybe if we could hear from Dr. Sweeney, then Ms. Beard and then Mr. King after. 

Damien Sweeney:
Yeah, so one obstacle that I am constantly seeing within education is that, people may be a little bit fearful of what other people are going to think, so having some of these courageous conversations. 

Damien Sweeney:
Making sure that their black and brown students are a priority, making sure that equity is a priority is really tough, because it hasn’t been such a focus in some of our communities. That’s been an obstacle. I would also say that really taking a hard look at the data, I keep going back to the data.

Damien Sweeney:
If we have our schools and our districts just focus on three pieces of data, what does the attendance data look like for our students? How do our black and brown students fit into that data? What does the behavior data look like? What does the course passing data look like?

Damien Sweeney:
Course passing within course passing, you can be talking about graduation rates. You can be talking about state assessments, retention rates, et cetera. If you just look at that data through a racial equity lens and say, “Are there disproportionalities that we need to address? 

Damien Sweeney:
Are there equity issues that we need to address?” Be willing to boldly confront those issues. I think that you’re going to go far. What I see is that people at times, districts at times, or schools at times are unwilling to have those critical conversations. 

Jason Johnson:
Awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much. Ms. Beard. 

Miranda Beard:
I wanted to share my screen for just a moment, if I can pull this up.

Jason Johnson:
Yeah.

Miranda Beard:
Just to share a slide with those that are with us today. I’m pulling this up, because there’s something I wanted to share here, concerning understanding the difference between looking at things through the equity lens, and then looking at things in terms of equality.

Miranda Beard:
When you look at this, it says “Equity is the quality of being fair and impartial.” Well, when you look at equality, “It is the state of quality of being equal.” See, we can provide equal things for everybody, but it’s just that in some schools, some children may require more.

Miranda Beard:
We have to be fair as leaders and impartial, to make sure that happens. For example, if I have a school that has 10 counselors, another school that has 10 counselors, but I understand that school B needs 12 counselors. 

Miranda Beard:
How do I move counselors without school A feeling as if I’m taking something away from school A, to provide what is needed for school B? I don’t have additional monies or resources, but I can shift resources to make sure all children are fairly taken care of. Without people feeling like something is being taken away.

Miranda Beard:
Look at the next section of this slide. It says that, “Equity involves treating each individual according to his or her needs.” Equality says, “It involves treating every individual the same manner, irrespective of their differences.” 

Miranda Beard:
I can’t come with a size 10 shoe and give it to all the children, because guess what? A size 10 shoe won’t fit everybody. I’ve got to find out what fits and what works, to help these children be successful in life. Look at equity again, it considers individual needs of people. That’s what equity does.

Miranda Beard:
Equality says, it does not consider needs and requirements of people. Understanding the difference between equity versus equality is very important. When you look at this slide, it says, “Equality versus equity.” Everybody has the same thing in terms of what they need.

Miranda Beard:
As leaders and those that are in the field and looking to address equity issues, I like the third part of this slide the best. In this third image, it says, “All three can see the game without any supports or accommodations, because the cause of the inequity was addressed.”

Miranda Beard:
In other words, the systemic barrier has been removed. That’s what we have to look at. Finding those best practices and those things that are actually working, that we can share to help people get rid of those systemic barriers to equity, in order for people to be successful. 

Jason Johnson:
Awesome. Thank you. Mr. King. 

Early King:
Yeah, so I’m [inaudible 00:17:36] with Miranda on this. I think understanding is one of the biggest gaps that we have faced right now. Part of understanding is being open minded, and courageous enough to say, “I don’t know.” Just like Damien was saying, you got to be able to have courageous conversation.

Early King:
I think there is a lot of fear around having those courageous conversations. How do you broach that, when you have people that’s fearful about talking about it? I think that’s one of the biggest obstacles that we are facing.

Early King:
From a school level, I think that the resources or lack thereof, prevent our students when they leave YCCS-West and go back to the home environment… it prevent them from being successful. 

Early King:
Their success is longer term. What I mean by that is, we build them up in school and then they’re faced with seeing their brother get shot, or seeing somebody get molested or snaps off the streets, because that’s a big thing where we’re from. Coming back into the school, we’re teaching social justice and, “Who am I?”

Early King:
Teaching them about themselves, but they feel hopeless sometimes, going back into the neighborhoods and knowing that they’re going to face something when they leave a safe haven at YCCS-West. I think that’s the obstacle for us as a school, because it seems like sometimes we’re skating uphill. 

Jason Johnson:
Thank you. Let’s stick with that theme for just a little bit. By the way, you all are being very polite. If you have anything you want to add to any of these… I can see the wheels spinning, feel free to jump in and add anything.

Miranda Beard:
[crosstalk 00:19:37].

Jason Johnson:
Let’s stick with that theme that Mr. King talked about a little bit, some of those challenges with students. I loved, Dr. Sweeney mentioned earlier, trying to connect these issues to both the grown-ups, the faculty and staff, but also the kids. 

Jason Johnson:
Right now, when it comes to working with kids, we’ve got a lot of competing ideas. We have a lot of things that are vying for their attention. Then we also have in a lot of cases, that sense of hopelessness that Mr. King suggested.

Jason Johnson:
What are your suggestions, to really try to connect with kids and help them…? One, keep their attention in this very digital, very virtual world that we’re in. Two, kind of inspire messages of hope, amidst areas that may feel hopeless. I wondered if maybe we could hear from Mr. King first, then Dr. Sweeney, then Ms. Beard.

Early King:
I always think, “You got to keep the student in mind, and how they think.” We have this acronym that we use at the school, WIFM, What’s in it For Me? The students always want to know, what’s in it for them?

Early King:
The way that we hook our students to really buy into what we’re trying to offer first and foremost, are internships. They love working and getting credit for working. Also, they love getting paid to help at the home front. 

Early King:
The way we’re connecting with the students, if they engage in our education, we can show that they’re really responsible to our donors and our vendors that’s helping us out with job placements. 

Early King:
Students buy into that big time, because they love working. Another thing is, we have… from our social justice department, a English and audio-video production teacher, that’s going out in the community, working with the students, videotaping the protests, interviewing folks, doing podcasts. 

Early King:
They get paid for doing it and then also earning credit. Those are some of the ways we’re working with our students to make that connection, and also using curriculum like WhyTry in our advisory space. The students love that. I mean, we have the most engagement on Tuesday and Thursday using WhyTry. Thank you guys.

Jason Johnson:
You bet, and I’m going to show you one thing that… I’ve had the chance to visit and listen with you several times. When I talk about you being an expert at engagement, that’s not hyperbole.

Jason Johnson:
You even just kind of tipped your hand a little bit about one of the things I think you’re really sensitive to, is figuring out how to kind of double dip and give kids the opportunity to do the stuff that’s really relevant and important to them. Also, help them get credit for doing that.

Jason Johnson:
Whether that’s in the form of compensation for work or credits towards graduation. That’s always impressed me within your model. I think it’s really, really brilliant. Let’s go… I think we said, Dr. Sweeney next and then Ms. Beard.

Damien Sweeney:
Yeah, so first off, students need to see themselves in the curriculum. I think that has to be a priority.

Damien Sweeney:
If we’re talking about some of these equity issues and some of our black and brown students that have endured racial trauma, they need to be able to see themselves in that curriculum. Jason, I don’t know if you’re able to show a couple of those slides, but if you could show slide 17.

Jason Johnson:
Yeah, let me help you with that.

Damien Sweeney:
That’d be awesome. This is from a book that just came out, yeah.

Jason Johnson:
You said 17?

Damien Sweeney:
Yeah.

Jason Johnson:
Okay.

Damien Sweeney:
Just so you guys know, I’m from Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville is where Breonna Taylor is also from. There’s just been a lot of unrest in our city. Of course, to our country, to the world and our students need to talk about it. We need to provide safe spaces for them to talk about it.

Damien Sweeney:
Take a look at this. This is a book that just came out from two of the folks that were part of the Exonerated Five. Imagine reading this with your students, “All because we were in the wrong place, we were in the wrong skins. We were in the wrong time. We were on the wrong bodies. We were in the wrong country.

Damien Sweeney:
We were in the wrong, we’re in the wrong, in the wrong. All because they were in the right place, they were on the right skins. They were in the right time. They were in the right body. They were in the right country. They were in the right, were in the right, in the right.”

Damien Sweeney:
Offering opportunities to read texts like this, really becomes a conversation starter. You can have these conversations within the academic core content classes. You can certainly have them within your tier one, if you’re a mental health professional.

Damien Sweeney:
Providing multi-tiered systems of support. If you’re doing your tier-one lessons, which I submit to you, all of our mental professionals should be doing, you should all be getting into the classrooms and making sure that people know who you are. Know the supports that you provide.

Damien Sweeney:
Then also, so that you can kind of normalize behavior. That you’re able to use different texts like you see on your screen right now, in order to kind of normalize what people are feeling. To allow them to recognize that other people are dealing with very similar things that they are. 

Damien Sweeney:
I used to do small counseling groups. In some of those small counseling groups, I would have a group of like eight African American boys who came from single-family households. They were getting in a lot of trouble. Well, what we would do is, we would use a text like this or what would you use a song.

Damien Sweeney:
They would annotate that song or they would annotate that text. Then I would ask them, “What stood out to you? What lyric or what part of this text stood out to you?” Then they were able to circle or underline. 

Damien Sweeney:
They were able to say, “Well, when they said we were in the wrong country or we were in the wrong bodies, that really stuck out to me. It reminds me of this time that I experienced feeling like, just because of the color of my skin, I was being stereotyped or I was being discriminated against.”

Damien Sweeney:
Then another young man would say, “Oh my gosh, holy crap. I didn’t realize that you have had a similar experience to me. I thought I was the only one.” This serves as kind of a foundation to that. If you can go to slide 16, Jason. I talked a little bit earlier about-

Jason Johnson:
[crosstalk 00:26:28]. 

Damien Sweeney:
Yeah, that’s it. I talked a little bit earlier about this idea of critical pedagogy, so asking your students to get involved. Your students want… I can’t tell you how important it is to empower them to use their voice. 

Damien Sweeney:
If you can say to your students, “Your voice is so important, that I want you to help our entire school or our community solve some problems.” I told you a little bit about ABC data for instance. I told you that behavioral referrals could be one data set that you look at.

Damien Sweeney:
Well, you could actually show your students… potentially in like your tier two, so some of your smaller groups. You could show those students, “This is our behavior data for my school. School X, Y, or Z, for your school. This is the data.” You can have them research the problem.

Damien Sweeney:
Right now I see that people that look like me are disproportionally getting more and more office referrals, or behavioral referrals than anybody else, is this happening throughout my state, is this happening throughout the country? 

Damien Sweeney:
Then they can develop this collective plan, action plan to address the problem next. Next, they can implement the collective plan of action. Finally, they can evaluate the action, assess its efficacy and re-examine the state of the problem. 

Damien Sweeney:
You can get students involved in this process and empower them to have their voice, and share their voice and actually help you solve problems. Okay, so you can stop the screen share. There were just a couple other things that I wanted to tell you.

Damien Sweeney:
If you’re looking at this from a multi-tiered system of support, you’re doing your tier one. You’re working on behalf of all students. If you’re an academic or content teacher, you’re making sure that students see themselves through their curriculum.

Damien Sweeney:
If you’re doing your tier two, your small groups, your individual school counseling, you’re asking questions. You’re empowering, you’re creating safe spaces, so that everybody can be part of the conversation and part of the solution. 

Jason Johnson:
Awesome. Thank you. Ms. Beard. 

Miranda Beard:
Oh my, everybody has touched on everything pretty much that I had in mind. One of the things I wanted to say was this, if you are a leader or an individual that’s in a position to look at equity policies or create equity policies in your district, that is something that is to be focused on as well.

Miranda Beard:
If you can change a policy that best fits every student, why not do that or look at doing that as a possibility? The other thing is, children don’t need sympathy. They need empathy, but not sympathy.

Miranda Beard:
When they come into our classrooms or in our counseling sessions, they need to know that they are valued, they are respected and that they have a purpose in life. That’s what got me over and through crisis situations as a child, because my life was very traumatic at times in crisis situation.

Miranda Beard:
Sometimes wanting to commit suicide, because I didn’t feel like I had a purpose in life, so that when we can show children that we love them and care about them, yet having some sympathy, but that not being the main focal point. 

Miranda Beard:
Empathy where you understand what they’re going through, but letting them know that they are in a safe environment. Where they can come in and they can learn, despite the traumatic things that they might be going through.

Miranda Beard:
Even in that trauma, providing them what they need. Whether it’s food, a clothes closet where they can put on decent clothes. Where they feel like they can be a part of the setting that they’re in, it makes a difference in a child’s life. 

Miranda Beard:
Sympathy, yes, some sympathy, but empathy has to be above that, so that children will know that you care about them and they will learn. When a teacher truly cares, when people show that they care, even though they may be going through trauma, guess what? You can make a difference in the lives of a child when you do that.

Miranda Beard:
Then the other thing I wanted to say, having all the voices at the table. Why not have an equity committee that includes students, include counselors, includes teachers, administers? All the stakeholders sitting at the table, where everybody has a voice to share those concerns, where there are no assumptions.

Miranda Beard:
I can’t do the right things for you, if I don’t really know you or know what you need. It is about building relationships and that’s very, very important, if we’re going to move forward with the things that we’re concerned about. Making sure everything is done through the equity lens.

Miranda Beard:
That’s going to be very important, building those relationships going forward. Small steps, but we’ve got to begin somewhere. It may be one thing, but create that strategic plan out of that equity committee. That strategic plan will have steps. You begin small, but guess what? Know you have a target direction.

Miranda Beard:
You know where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. Putting all your resources and everything that you need, to get those things done. There are people in the business communities right now. If we called upon them and asked them for help, because they care about children and they care about their businesses.

Miranda Beard:
They know the children coming out of our schools systems or… will be a part of possibly their business. Of course, they want the best. Guess what? Many of them will share their resources, to help schools, counselors, people that are focused on helping children. They will do what they can do to try to assist in that way. 

Jason Johnson:
Thank you so much. [inaudible 00:32:19]. I think that concept of relationships, has probably been one of the really strong points that I think attracted us organizationally and individually to one another. That started kind of our shared passion with one another, towards helping kids in this common approach.

Jason Johnson:
I think thematically, I think it would be helpful to kind of stay on that idea. Maybe if you could share your thoughts on what you think the connection is, between equity and hope. There’s kind of this collective sense of dread and hopelessness right now, that I think both students and educators and faculty, and staff are all feeling.

Jason Johnson:
It’s magnified I think by the pandemic situation that we’re in, and then all of the strife that we’re witnessing throughout the country. What do you see as the connection between hope and equity? Let’s go, Ms. Beard, Mr. King, Dr. Sweeney. 

Miranda Beard:
Well, one of the things I wanted to say was, dealing with the spirit of fear. Right now, Jason there is a spirit of fear that has ripped this country and ripped leaders and individuals that deal with children on a regular basis. To the point where they feel paralyzed, as if they can’t move forward in the midst of all of this.

Miranda Beard:
I was in the media for about 30 years and the media doesn’t help the matter very much. When we watch those things pan out before us, then it creates a certain emotion and feeling in us, to the point where I want to say something, but I don’t know what to say. I don’t want to offend anybody.

Miranda Beard:
Nobody’s talking. Nobody wants to communicate, but yet all of these issues are looming before us and we know they need to be addressed. Nobody wants to really step out there, out of fear that their peers will criticize them for what they’re about to do or what they’re about to say.

Miranda Beard:
Or even their race will be critical of what they’re wanting to do, to bring equity in a situation or in an environment, to make sure children are taken care of. See, at the end of the day, it’s not about us anyway. It’s about the children and that’s where our focus should always be. Not on ourselves. 

Miranda Beard:
Sometimes we have to do things that are uncomfortable, in order to make a difference and make a change. Change is not always easy, but we focus on why we do what we do. When we focus in on the children, in everything that we do, then it becomes easier for us. Sometimes I have to turn the TV off.

Miranda Beard:
I won’t even watch what’s going on and playing out before me, because I know emotionally, I get charged because of that and it will make me not make the right decisions sometimes in what I need to do. I can’t do it emotionally.

Miranda Beard:
I’ve got to step out of my emotions for a minute, and really look at the issue to create and come up with the plan or best solutions, in order to create that environment, to get that conversation started.

Miranda Beard:
That’s what leaders have to focus on. Not focus on everything blowing up around you. We have to stay laser focused, be creative. Be adaptive, be transformative in order to do the things that we need to do, to make a difference in the lives of children. 

Jason Johnson:
Thank you so much. Mr. King. 

Early King:
Yes, what was that? When I think about hope and equity, I think you have to have hope in order to get to equity. I just think about, people usually say, “You got to see it to believe it.” I think believing it, you have to believe this to actually get it.

Early King:
I think about Martin Luther King and his vision, his dream, of one day everyone being equal, treated equally. If he never dreamt that, he never galvanized [inaudible 00:36:42] he never had hope, it would be really sad to think about what would be going on to today.

Early King:
Today, this is worse right now [inaudible 00:36:53] has been over the last 10 years, with what’s been going on in the country. What I’m trying to get at is, just imagine all the stress that we have made as a country, as a world, because Martin Luther King had hope. He had a vision.

Early King:
He galvanized people to actually start to believe it. I think as a result, we’ve seen some stress happen in this country. I think that’s the connection between hope and equity from my standpoint, Jason.

Jason Johnson:
Thank you. Thank you, I appreciate that.

Early King:
You got to have hope before you get equity.

Jason Johnson:
Dr. Sweeney.

Damien Sweeney:
Yeah, well done by Miranda and Early. I think that you have to have hope, you have to provide hope. I think that’s our biggest goals as educators, is providing hope for students.

Damien Sweeney:
I think we do that through the relationships that Miranda and Early spoke about earlier. I think that by showing unconditional positive regard, we are providing hope. 

Damien Sweeney:
Also, by showing that we’re willing to have some of these conversations. That we do in fact see our traditionally marginalized students, as individuals who need our help and need our love and need our support, I think we are providing hope. Then as a result, we can provide progress in our equity work.

Jason Johnson:
Thank you so much. When I hear you say unconditional positive regard, you’re speaking to my school psychologist heart. As a fan of that, the client-centered approach. I just want to add one piece on hope. Organizationally, the WhyTry organization that I represent, we have a resilience and a social-emotional learning curriculum. 

Jason Johnson:
Within our resilience model, we’ve identified individual sources of resilience that really impact individual’s ability and their relationship to their challenges, and how they deal with challenges. One of our key sources of resilience, is a thing we call Rock Bottom Resilience, that’s really connected specifically to hope.

Jason Johnson:
Hope and resilience have an interesting relationship, when you start to dig into it. Hopelessness destroys resilience. Hopelessness and resilience have a hard time coexisting in the same body. 

Jason Johnson:
When hopelessness creeps into a person, it starts to kind of destroy that resilience. Then it really negatively impacts their ability to deal with adversity and challenges.

Miranda Beard:
[crosstalk 00:39:32].

Jason Johnson:
Any time we can boost and increase hope, then I think we’re helping increase resilience. As I look at these equity issues, I think that’s one of the really, really destructive pieces about them, is when those equity issues exist longterm, perpetually across generations. They really start to destroy hope in individuals.

Jason Johnson:
When that hope dies, it can really impact resilience in a negative way. I think there is a really strong connection with everything you’re saying. Then we know the impact that relationships have on hope as well. 

Damien Sweeney:
Jason, if I may, I wanted to just speak a little bit about relational resilience as well.

Jason Johnson:
Please, yeah.

Damien Sweeney:
I’m thinking about the students that would come to my office, when things happen in our community and happen in our society, that just scared them. This was a really, really scary summer for a lot of our students. I think that relational resilience can be taught by everybody on this call.

Damien Sweeney:
By showing people that, “Hey, we see you. We might not have the answer for you, but we care enough to listen and to see you, and to care for you.” I think that’s going to go a long way. 

Damien Sweeney:
I also want people on this call to think about having… we often talk in education about being trauma informed, which is, as we know, is extraordinarily important. I also want people on this call to have a healing-centered approach. Instead of saying, “What’s wrong with you?” We know that we should say, “What’s happened to you?”

Damien Sweeney:
I want to take it a step further. I want you to ask your students, “What’s wrong with you?” Ask them, “What’s wrong with you? What are your character strengths?” I would take a look at different character strengths that youth have, show them a chart.” I would them choose the character strength that they most connect to.

Damien Sweeney:
Then whenever something happens, you can say, “Hey again, I’m here for you. I love you. I support you. I care for you, but I want you to also know…” so there’s that relational resilience I was talking about a little bit ago.

Damien Sweeney:
“I also want you to know, we’ve talked about this. Even though this is really, really challenging and this is really, really hard, you are going to be able to overcome it. You are going to be able to become resilient, because of those strengths that you possess.”

Jason Johnson:
Thank you so much.

Miranda Beard:
I think, Jason part of that is being open and honest too. Keeping the lines of communications open, between people who may not look like each other. I feel sad when people that don’t look like me are afraid to approach me, to ask why certain things are the way they are, because they truly don’t understand.

Miranda Beard:
Until you have walked in a person’s shoes, some of the shoes of the children that we serve and that we deal with on a regular basis, then how will you really know how to deal with them, unless somebody is communicating what those needs are? See, we were caught off guard by COVID-19, this pandemic.

Miranda Beard:
I’ll tell you one key area, technology. We have over 20 million families… now this is according to the Federal Communications Commission. 20 million families across this country, with no form of technology or internet in their homes. What do you do as leadership, to make sure equity is there and those children are taken care of? 

Miranda Beard:
Well, some districts and some schools across this country use buses as hotspots. They’ve set them up as centers, where children can go on the bus to do their homework, because guess what? They can’t afford computers. They don’t have access to these things.

Miranda Beard:
Then some districts say, “Well, we gave them notebooks or computers?” Guess what? You forgot, do they know how to use those things? What about professional development for the teachers, that have to teach children online now, distance learning?

Miranda Beard:
All those things, we have to sit down and talk about, to make sure the equity is there. It’s communications, the line of communications. Not being afraid to talk about issues, because for every issue, there is a solution. 

Jason Johnson:
Thank you so much. This is incredible. What I want to pivot over to now, is ask you all for advice. I think you all have expressed some amazing things you’ve been doing. A lot of it, I think has involved some important and difficult conversations.

Jason Johnson:
A lot of people in the chat and in the questions, have expressed a desire to learn what specifically they can do. We talk about equity sometimes, and it’s this big idea, but we don’t necessarily have a specific vehicle for it or we don’t know where to start.

Jason Johnson:
Then I think in a lot of cases, people are really nervous to approach it. What I was wondering if you could address is, any specific tips or advice that you would offer to people, to help get these conversations going?

Jason Johnson:
I’m going to even ask you if you’d be willing to speak to people that are in the majority, and let them know what they can do. I think there is a lot of people that are really nervous, about how to approach this topic and this conversation.

Jason Johnson:
Any advice that you would offer to help out, I think would be really appreciated. Maybe we could start with, Mr. King and then go Ms. Beard, and then go Dr. Sweeney. 

Early King:
Yeah. I think the first thing that pops to mind, you have to be courageous. I know we keep saying courageous conversations, but I think that’s half the battle, just having the courage to be open and open-minded. Just be wide open to talking about any and everything. Then the other part is, know that it’s going to take work. 

Early King:
It’s not just a one-and-done training or diversity sensitivity training. It takes much more. It takes some researching and going in the weeds, to try to see what’s out there. What’s the on? Why things are the way they are. My advice would be those simple things.

Early King:
One, be courageous, be open minded and be willing to actually do the work of research. To actually get out there and get into the weeds, to see what’s going on. I think a lot of people are… including myself, brainwashed by the media and never get the opportunity to go out and see some the of beauty.

Early King:
Even in some of the broken down communities that we come from and you see our cities built of. There’s still beauty out there. I think when people can see the beauty that’s out there, and focus on what’s right versus what’s wrong, me included, I think we can actually start making progress. 

Jason Johnson:
Thank you. Ms. Beard.

Miranda Beard:
One of the things I wanted to say was, don’t make assumptions, get the facts. Talk to people, cultural proficiency is important, training for the teams of people that are working with students or with children.

Miranda Beard:
As Mr. King said, go into some of the communities, boots on the ground, to really see how children are living and see their families. Some of the children that we’re dealing with, their families truly love them. We have to do things on purpose, to get that family engaged in certain things.

Miranda Beard:
For example, if I have a parent-teacher conference at 5:00 in the evening, half of my parents may not be able to come. My assumption is, they don’t care about their children, so why should I really care? 

Miranda Beard:
Now I’m just saying that, putting it out there. The fact is, they do. 5:00 is not a good time for them, because they’re working two jobs. Trying to put food on the table for their children, and they can’t come at 5:00 in the evening. They’re not communicating that to you.

Miranda Beard:
You’re not communicating with them, because the assumption is there that, “You don’t care.” The truth is, they really do. They’re just trying to make ends meet. They’re not on welfare. They are a working class family. We have to turn around and do things on purpose, to make sure everybody has that opportunity.

Miranda Beard:
Even if our set time is at 5:00, we may want to set up a time for some parents to do one-on-one, because they can’t come at that set time. It’s doing things on purpose, to make sure certain things happen.

Miranda Beard:
Unless we do that, and take action and not be afraid to take those actions, then we sometimes are at a stalemate or a standstill. We can sit in the stands and look at the game going on, or we can get in the game. That doesn’t mean we won’t get hit, we won’t get tackled, but guess what? You get back up again. 

Miranda Beard:
We got to try and try even harder. Even if in trying, we make a few mistakes. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, trying to do the right thing. Talking to the key people that we need to talk to, to make sure we are well informed to make the right decisions, using data or data, to make those informed decisions.

Jason Johnson:
Awesome. Thank you. Dr. Sweeney, I know you’ve been working on this for quite a while. What are your thoughts on how we can get it this going in an effective way?

Damien Sweeney:
Yeah, can you see my screen? 

Jason Johnson:
I can.

Damien Sweeney:
Okay, awesome. I’m going to give you some tools. First and foremost, we know that educators are super overwhelmed with just how much is out there right now. What we’ve done at the Kentucky Department of Education, we’ve created really, really succinct documents that help guide these conversations.

Damien Sweeney:
This is one of them. Just this literally just helps you know, “What steps can I take to facilitate conversations about race-based stress and trauma?” Then this other one, this is called, Where am I? Racial Equity SEL Cards. I love this. Let’s just look at one of the five castle, social-emotional competencies.

Damien Sweeney:
Let’s just look at this. This is going to help your school, your school district do self-reflection, professional development. It can be an opener for professional developments as well.

Damien Sweeney:
If you’re like, “Well, we know these conversations need to happen, but where in the world do we start?” Well, here is a cool tool. Again, just looking at one of the competencies, how do you help students develop a sense of pride in their racial identity?

Damien Sweeney:
You’re talking to your staff about that and asking your teachers about that, asking your principal about that, asking your mental health professionals about that. How do we collectively and individually within our practice, do these things? This kind of gives you another foundational point to start conversations.

Damien Sweeney:
Then I’m going to show you just a couple other things that I think are really cool. Again, this isn’t to overwhelmed, but this is really just to show you that there are just a few things out there that you can do, to really start these conversations.  

Damien Sweeney:
There’s these cool courageous conversations about protocol, and this protocol walks you through literally four steps. You want to have these conversations. If you can make these four commitments, then that’s going to help you through them. Sorry, I’m not trying to play video right now.

Damien Sweeney:
There’s also this cool continuum on becoming an anti-racist multicultural organization. We have to also look at our systems. We can’t just look at the individuals within our schools and say, “Well, we need you to make sure that equity is a priority. 

Damien Sweeney:
We’ve got to look at our systems. What do our schools look like? What do our districts look like? Are they anti-racist? If not, let’s figure out where we are on this continuum. What are some steps that we can do to progress in our efforts?” That’s there as well.

Damien Sweeney:
Then this is simple. This is super simple. Have you ever spent a day in the life of some of your most underprivileged students? I suggest taking a student’s schedule, a traditionally marginalized student. Whether they’re a special education student, whether they’re a black and brown student. 

Damien Sweeney:
Whether they’re a poor student, and follow with them… don’t follow them around. Follow their schedule and see, what is a day in the life like for that student? Again, just some quick options for you to take a look at, in terms of resources that I think will be helpful.

Jason Johnson:
Thank you so much. The chat box is blown up a little bit. People are asking about how to access some of those. I don’t know if all of those [crosstalk 00:53:24].

Damien Sweeney:
Yeah, I’ll put the links in. 

Jason Johnson:
Okay, so Dr. Sweeney will put those in the chat tool. Then if you want to email those to me, we’ll send a follow-up email out, with info on the recording for this.

Jason Johnson:
We’ll make sure to include any links that we have as well. Mr. King, Ms. Beard, do you have any resources or anything that… any practical advice that you might offer up as well, that might be helpful? 

Miranda Beard:
Well, I know the National School Boards Association has a site. You can go to that site and pull up equity information. There is a department of equity, with the National School Boards Association.

Miranda Beard:
Verjeana Jacobs is the individual to contact there, who will be very instrumental in helping to provide some information to you. Also, your state associations across the country will share information with you as well, that will be very helpful going forward.

Miranda Beard:
To assist with your equity issues and concerns, especially dealing with policies, changing your focal point when it comes to policies and setting those policies. To make sure they’re equitable in terms of what we do. Those are some key issues there or areas or context.

Miranda Beard:
National School Boards Association, as well as your state association for school boards that can help you. It’s not just school boards. They will share this information with anyone, who’s willing to make contact with them to get that information. 

Jason Johnson:
Thank you. Mr. King. 

Early King:
Yes, I’ve been involved in several equity trainings over the last three to four months. I would actually [inaudible 00:55:20], so we can share with the folks at the end of the presentation. Outside of that, I have things that I have been exposed to from the city level, Jason that I could share with you as well, that you can attach. 

Jason Johnson:
[crosstalk 00:55:37].

Early King:
Both in the school level from our PD standpoint, that we have professional people like Gallup come in and train the group. Then the stuff that we’re getting from the district level. 

Jason Johnson:
Awesome. Thank you. What we’ll do, we’ll send a follow-up email out to everybody that registered for this. We’ll have links to the resources that have been discussed and shared. We’ll also get a link to the video, so that you can share this. We recognize that this is going to be a starting point for a lot of people.

Jason Johnson:
We want this to be a starting point, to get these important conversations going. We’re getting close to the end of time. I wish we had twice as much time, but what I would love to hear… because as an educator, this was something I always appreciated.

Jason Johnson:
It’s easy to get bogged down with all the heavy things that we’re dealing with. I was wondering if each of you could just share something that’s giving you hope right now. What’s giving you hope amidst all these challenges that we’ve discussed?

Jason Johnson:
That we can really look forward to, to get us through this, to kind of boost our own hope. Then I think we’ll wrap it up. Maybe we could go… let’s go, Mr. King, Dr. Sweeney, Ms. Beard.

Early King:
Yeah, so Jason, I’m always amazed how resilient young people are. Particularly, my students that I work with at the school for the last four years. I’ve seen students across the country when I was working for K-12, but I kind of moved away from that over the years.

Early King:
I came back locally, to work hands-on with the students and families, and the team. I remember, when this thing hit us back in March, I did not think that we would have the 90… because we’re averaging at 90, 94 and 96% graduation rate. I did not think we will make that this year.

Early King:
It was a struggle to engage students. Go from the face-to-face model, to blend it in a fully virtual model and they proved me wrong. I mean, we had the 90… almost 95% graduation rate this year. I’m just amazed how resilient they are. When it’s time for them to show up, they show up.

Early King:
It’s just amazing to sit back and learn, and watch from the young people these days. It’s crazy. I’m hopeful about our children, our kids. That’s going to be our future. They’re going to be okay, and they’ll probably be better than us. 

Jason Johnson:
Thank you so much. Dr. Sweeney.

Damien Sweeney:
Yeah, so I come from an urban school district. I’ve been so excited about some of the rural school districts, that are unnecessarily stereotyped far too often. About how open they’ve been about wanting to do this work.

Jason Johnson:
[crosstalk 00:58:48].

Damien Sweeney:
I had two superintendents call from Western Kentucky. They said, “We’re in small rural districts. There was recently a peaceful protest on one side of the street. On the other side, there were Confederate flags and there was cussing and there was spitting, et cetera.

Damien Sweeney:
It was just really nasty,” but what they said next was so profound. They said, “We realize that our school, our students, once they graduate from our school, once they’ve had our education, they get to choose which side of the street they’re on. We want to make sure that they choose the right one.”

Damien Sweeney:
Now we’ve got more and more people that are saying, “All right, this has gone on far too long. It’s time to have some real authentic conversations.” That’s absolutely what’s giving me hope.

Damien Sweeney:
I will also say, my school district, my home district is Jefferson County Public Schools, which is one of the biggest districts in the country. They’re amazing. They are ensuring that all educators in their district read four books on equity. 

Damien Sweeney:
I’m reading one of them, that’s called, So You Want to Talk About Race, which is just mind blowing, amazing. That’s also given me hope. The fact that such a large school district in our state, is willing to do this work and make sure that their educators are equipped to have courageous conversations.

Jason Johnson:
Thank you so much. Could you say the name of that book again? A couple of people have asked.

Damien Sweeney:
Yes, it’s called, So You Want to Talk About Race.

Jason Johnson:
Thank you. Ms. Beard. 

Miranda Beard:
Equity is not by luck or chance. It’s on purpose, for purpose. That’s what’s giving me hope. Seeing leaders across this country coming together, and not only about equity issues and their concerns, but actually taking action. That’s what it’s going to take.

Miranda Beard:
They’re putting their politics aside, and not letting that interfere with the work that’s at hand. They’re looking at people from not their gender, not their race, not their socioeconomic status and putting them in a certain category. 

Miranda Beard:
Many of them are saying, “When children come to us, we’re looking at them just as kids who need help. We are here as a resource, to make sure those needs are met.” That’s what gives me hope. That’s why I’m passionate about what I do and what I say, because I see the desire.

Miranda Beard:
I see the passion of others out there, who want to do what’s right despite what we may be seeing in the media, that may want us to think otherwise. There are people really working hard, to try to make a difference in the lives of children. I see children like mustard seeds. That seed has potential and destiny.

Miranda Beard:
When they come into our environment, it should be a safe environment where they can learn. Where the potential that’s on the inside of them can be pulled out, to do something awesome and great. Every child was born with something significant they were supposed to do in this earth.

Miranda Beard:
It’s about us serving them, and then them in turn serving us. It’s about us working together. That’s what it’s all about. That courageous conversation, transformational leadership, not being afraid to talk about these issues. 

Miranda Beard:
Not being offended when we say things that people may not sometimes understand, but asking questions and communicating, that is so important and that’s what gives me hope across this country.

Jason Johnson:
Thank you so much. We’re out of time, this has been incredible. Do any of you have any parting thoughts? Anything that you realize you wanted to say you didn’t, before we shut this down? 

Damien Sweeney:
Yeah, I would-

Miranda Beard:
[crosstalk 01:02:48] go ahead.

Damien Sweeney:
I was just going to say… Miranda, sorry. I would echo what Miranda said. Society would have you… and the media would have you believe that the black and brown people are… honestly, they’ve been dehumanized by society and media.

Damien Sweeney:
We’ve got to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to celebrate our black and brown students, and go out of our way to celebrate them daily. Show them that they do have the resilience, that they can overcome. That they do have power. That they are significant people, and that we do love them. 

Jason Johnson:
Thank you.

Miranda Beard:
Use your gift-

Early King:
Miranda, go ahead. Go ahead.

Miranda Beard:
Use your gifts, your talents and your ability to make a difference. Your gift is for other people. It’s a really not for you. Sometimes we have to get outside ourselves, overcome fear, in order to do what is right. 

Miranda Beard:
Equity is just… as I said earlier, doing what is right and best for individuals that need our help and need resources. Channeling Title 1 funds, looking at your budget, looking at everything, all your resources, to make sure those resources are channeled in the right place.

Miranda Beard:
When we do that, you can sleep at night. I know I can sleep at night as a board member, knowing in my heart that I did what was right and best. Even if I made mistakes sometimes in that process of trying to do what’s right. Don’t let fear paralyze you and stop you from moving forward.

Jason Johnson:
Thank you, Mr. King. 

Early King:
Yeah, so just one right from Miranda. Just this whole thing about fear and being courageous. I think that’s step one. We’re talking about public speaking, and practice to make perfect. You can kind of get rid of fear, I think is the same thing with this whole thing.

Early King:
The more that you do the work, the more you get involved and get into the weeds of what’s going on, I think the fear would dissipate. It would dissipate, and you and me can actually coexist. 

Early King:
We can contribute to this world, and actually lead the best possible future for our kids. I would stress that courageous conversations and being able to just step up, do the work.

Early King:
It is work, to get to know and learn about all cultures, in order to level the playing field. Be courageous, that’s what I always say. At the end of the day, be courageous and it will be all right. We can get through this together.

Jason Johnson:
Thank you so much.

Early King:
Absolutely.

Jason Johnson:
We’re going to put contact information up for our panelists in a minute. I wasn’t going to say anything. My heart’s really full. I just wanted to thank our panelists first of all. Give them all a round of applause. Then I was thinking about what gives me hope.

Jason Johnson:
I’m not just an educator, I’m a parent. I have five children in the public education system. The thing that gives me hope is my opportunity… I’m going to try not to get emotional, my opportunity to engage with educators and mental health professionals throughout the country.

Jason Johnson:
The best humans in the world get into this, because they all have a common desire to help kids. I hope these messages today will boost all of your hope. I want you to know you’re making a difference. 

Jason Johnson:
All of you are making more of a difference than you may think you are, in these unprecedented times. Keep fighting the good fight, and take these conversations and build on them. Continue to make a difference in your communities. Thank you so much to everybody.

Jason Johnson:
Thank you huge. Thank you to our panelists. I’m a better person, from my opportunity to affiliate with all of you. That’s all we’ve got. The people are clamoring for a part two. We’ll have to discuss this offline and see what we can do.

Miranda Beard:
[inaudible 01:06:56]. This is huge. This is so big, that an hour really with four people, it doesn’t do it real justice. I wanted to do a shout out for WhyTry, because WhyTry Organization has touched millions and millions of children across the country, and staff members who are looking for equity solutions. 

Miranda Beard:
WhyTry is one of those equity solutions that can help. WhyTry didn’t pay me to say this, but I know the work and I believe in the work that the organization is doing. That may be one area for people to reach out as well. I wanted to share that. Thank you for the-

Jason Johnson:
Thank you so much.

Early King:
I second it. 

Miranda Beard:
Thank you for the opportunity.

Jason Johnson:
Yeah. Thank you all. I’ve got contact information for how people can look up information on WhyTry, how they can get in contact with all of you. That’s all we’ve got today. Thank you.