Katie Zaback is a White mom of two girls, 4 and 7, who attend an integrating school in Jefferson County Public Schools, just outside of Denver, Colorado. She is the co-leader of the Denver Integrated Schools Chapter. She also serves as part of the Integrated Schools staff collective.
Last month, Brian Flores, the former Miami Dolphins head coach, one of just two African American coaches in the NFL during the 2021-22 season, filed a suit against the NFL and several teams citing racial discrimination. Fundamental to the suit is the “Rooney Rule.” Modeled after approaches we see in many industries, this rule requires NFL teams to at least interview a diverse group of candidates for certain positions. The goal is to ensure teams are taking steps to diversify leadership roles in a league where 70 percent of the players are Black or African American and almost all head coaches, front office personnel, and owners are White.
This suit has me thinking a lot about one of Integrated School’s landmark programs, the Two-Tour Pledge. This pledge, which asks parents to step foot in at least two global-majority schools, has been powerful for Integrated Schools. It has brought many, including my chapter co-lead, to this organization and has encouraged countless caregivers and families to consider, and even choose different schools for their children. It’s based on many of the same principles as the NFL’s Rooney Rule, namely that exposure matters. For those of us who’ve spent most of our lives in predominantly White spaces, or who are inclined to use our mostly White networks to identify a school, the physical act of entering a global-majority school, particularly one unfamiliar (or undesirable) to our network, is a first concrete step in making a different choice. But is exposure alone enough? Does “interviewing” different coaches or schools create change?
Last year, Integrated Schools decided it wasn’t. Though getting to know a global-majority school through a tour or some other approach is valuable, it’s not sufficient to our commitment to integrate schools. Our movement toward anti-racist school integration isn’t just about making a different choice, although that is an essential step, it’s about interrupting the disturbing trend of White and otherwise privileged families concentrating resources in a small number of schools. It’s also about showing up in a way that honors the existing families and rich cultures that already exist at the schools we choose. And it’s about decoupling our concept of a “good school” from characteristics solely aligned with White dominant culture.
That is why if you visit the pledge today, you will notice it looks a bit different. It emphasizes the importance of committing to the ongoing process of self-reflection and learning to “know better and do better.” In addition to stepping into global-majority schools, it encourages us to learn why the inequities in the education system exist, it sheds light on the importance of building authentic relationships, and it acknowledges that making a decision that is different from what your peers are doing is hard. This act requires self-reflection and growth, and it can be easier to do when you have a network of individuals who are united by the same values and commitments. That is why Integrated Schools, and its programming and network of chapters, exists. We are here to work together to change the way we view schools so that they better serve all kids.
When I graduated from high school, there were three Black coaches in the NFL – more than there are today, and our schools were also more integrated than they are today. This, despite more than two decades of efforts in both places to promote equity. There is no quick fix or single playbook for addressing challenges that have been ingrained in our systems for generations. We must listen and hear the lived experiences of others and get to know them in authentic ways. We cannot simply expose ourselves to differences; we have to recognize the value of differences honestly.
Thank you to those who came here to take the pledge and have stuck around to do the deep work and continue to learn with us. If you are just now thinking about school choice, we hope you will join us to learn, grow, and use our actions to realize change.
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