Racial Equity & Inclusion 

- A message from the Superintendent

Our families trust us to provide their children with a safe and equitable learning environment. Yet racism exists, at all grade levels, from elementary to high school, from classmates, from school staff, in the classroom, at lunch, recess and beyond. Schools play a powerful role in changing people’s perceptions, and we are called upon to work together to be explicitly anti-racist.

Our board of education passed a resolution in June affirming our commitment to take an unwavering stand against racism in all forms. The board directed staff to create a plan to meet the goals stated in the resolution, including hiring more diverse staff to reflect our diverse students, incorporating more culturally-rich and representative curriculum, and
enforcing clear consequences for racist behavior.

District leadership has been meeting with parent and student representatives to ensure their voice is reflected in our planning as well. We have hired top-quality educators of color. We are partnering with the San Diego County Office of Education to provide our school sites with equity coaches for ongoing professional learning for our staff. We are strengthening discipline procedures to ensure any use of racial slurs is addressed directly with consequence and intervention.

But our community must also say “enough is enough.” We must replace complacency and denial with commitment and resolve. Change is oftentimes painful, but imagine the pain of students who have been marginalized and discriminated against for years. I’m proud of our students for having the courage to make their personal stories public so that it allows us to engage in difficult conversations and make the uncomfortable more comfortable. If we don’t engage in difficult conversations, we can never learn and grow, to arrive at a place of greater understanding of our own biases, whether unconscious or intentional. 

All of our children are precious, and we owe it to our young people to do better.

Marian Kim Phelps, Ed.D.
Superintendent