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www.cabe.org
Vol. 24, No. 8
August, 2020
New Members Appointed to State Board of Education
Anti-Racist Policies:
The Key to Diversifying the Educator Workforce!
Sheila McKay
Sr. Staff Associate for Government Relations, CABE
Kevin Walton
Human Resources Specialist for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee, Area Cooperative Educational Services (ACES)
Superhero Kids!
Social and Emotional Learning and Support Must Be a Focus of Reopening
According to the Connecticut State Department of Education, in 2019-20, 90.4 percent of educators in Connecticut were identified as white while the remaining 8 percent included Black, Hispanic and Asian educators. This number represents a 1 percent increase since the 2014-15 school year. Furthermore, “nearly one-quarter (44 of 201) of school districts in Connecticut employed no Black or Hispanic educators in the 2015-2016 school year” according to Jeremy B. Landa in Race, Place, and the Uneven Distribution of Black or Hispanic Educators in CT published November 8, 2019. Despite the many efforts put forth to address this issue, there remains a significant ethnic and racial gap in the educator ranks in Connecticut. Research shows that it is important for students of color to have smart, intelligent and authoritative role models who look like them for various reasons. The presence of an educator of color can positively impact the way a student of color views areas of education such as attendance, enrollment in higher-level courses, discipline, graduation and college enrollment. As referenced in Dr. Maxine Ursery’s dissertation entitled Black Teachers’ Perceptions of the Obstacles and Catalysts to Becoming and Remaining Teachers in Connecticut, “American public schools need Black teachers because they advocate high expectations
great deal during the pandemic but had not previously been identified. Districts may not even be aware of their needs. As students and staff head back While the social and emotional to school this fall, educational leaders needs among our students may not have been working round the clock to have been identified, one thing is cerdetermine what procedures and protain - schools need to develop a plan tocols need to be put in place in order to support all students. There are five to ensure staff and students feel safe major steps that should be taken by and secure while making sure to meet districts to address these needs: their most critical needs. These needs •U se of a social emotional screennot only include closing academic er; gaps that were widened by Covid-19 •D evelopment of multi-tiered school closings, but, also addressing systems of support; the social-emotional needs of students •T raining of staff on trauma-inexacerbated by the pandemic and the formed practices; social justice events in our state and •R ecognizing the social and emoacross the country. tional needs of staff; and, Much research has been done on •H iring additional student suphow trauma impacts student learning. port staff as appropriate. What constitutes as trauma can vary Social-emotional screeners, which and often be measured by a student’s are tools for assessing students’ social Adverse Childhood Experiences emotional states, coupled with multi(ACE’s) score. Situations created by the tiered systems of support to address pandemic certainly have created levels the results of the screener for each of trauma for both staff and students. student, would enable districts to There were students who were struggling with mental health needs See LEARNING page 10 See POLICIES page 10 prior to the pandemic and students who did not have access to technology in order to participate in distance learning. They became further isolated Nutmeg Policy Book Review: June State from staff and peers. The needs of stuBoard’s Implications Schooling Board of dents with disabilities could not always Reopening for Reopening for Critical Education be met through technology. There are Plan Consciousness Meeting also students who have struggled a Virginia A. DeLong
Government Relations & Advocacy Chair, CT School Counselor Association and the 2020 CT School Counselor of the Year, CABE
inside
Over the last few months five new members have been sworn into the State Board of Education. Brief biographies from the State Department of Education website are as follows: Bonnie Burr is the Assistant Director and Department Head with the Cooperative Extension System at the University of Connecticut College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources. Dr. Karen DuBois Walton is President of the Elm City Communities Housing Authority of the City of New Haven, President of the Glendower Group LLC, and President of 360 Management Group Co. Awilda Reasco is the Director of Pre-Collegiate and Access Services at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU). Martha Prou is the Director of Administration and Compliance at Phoenix Manufacturing Inc., a machined aerospace components manufacturer. Elwood Exely is the owner of Exley Communications LLC, a 31-year-old enterprise, providing editorial services to major corporations in Connecticut and beyond. In collaboration with the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, Mr. Exley manages the Alma Exley Scholarship Program (https:// almaexleyscholarship.org), which encourages greater diversity in the teaching profession. Returning State Board of Education members are Eric Clemons, the Founding Chief Executive Officer and President of the Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology Inc. (ConnCAT), an organization that prepares youth and adults for educational and career advancement through after-school arts and job training programming and Malia Sieve, a Director at HCM Strategists in Washington, D.C., where she works with system and institutional leaders from regional universities and community colleges and elected officials on higher education goal setting, monitoring, and policy development in states across the country.
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