Panelists push for more diversity in faculty, ethnic studies program
Nonprofit Corazón Healdsburg held its second virtual Conversaciónes Comunitaria (Community conversation) on June 23, facilitating a discussion on racial and academic divides in schools, with the goal of creating a safe space for folks to discuss how the community can encourage and support diversity, inclusivity and equality in local schools.
“We want a safe space to discuss important topics, how they affect our community. and actions we can do together,” said the event moderator, Angie Sanchez, the new program head for Corazón. “Our goal is to include everybody, to exchange information, experiences, express our opinions and to build a community, to have this space for us so we can work on equality issues.”
The discussion was livestreamed on Facebook and via Zoom, and included a slew of panelists: Healdsburg Area Teachers Association President Ever Flores; former Healdsburg High School student and entrepreneur Mustafa Tolosa; Healdsburg Unified School District (HUSD) Superintendent Chris Vanden Heuvel; Corazón Programs Manager Lizbeth Perez; recent Sonoma State graduate and resident Cristal Lopez; and the Legacy Project Marketing and Communications Director Karla Gomez-Pelayo.
Sanchez led the discussion by asking a series of questions about the divide in schools. The biggest takeaway of the hour-long discussion was that there’s still a clear division in district schools — from academics, to culture, and access to technology and online learning.
And while some progress has been made in creating a more equitable experience for all with the closure of the charter school and the creation of one elementary program, there is still a long road ahead to achieve equality.
Perez said that, as the mom of a Healdsburg student, there is worry among parents in regard to the racial divide and the disadvantages that it creates for students.
“I have children in the district and I can say that there is worry. There are some disadvantages for the Latinx community. We don’t have a lot of access to technology, so the parents of our students don’t really know how to work technology much and our children are often home alone trying to figure out how to get in touch with their teachers and their classes, so that’s a disadvantage. In addition, there are areas where you don’t have good internet, so the children have to take turns in order to share the internet, so that means lost time for some of them instead of being able to study,” Perez said.
Vanden Heuvel said while the HUSD was better prepared than some other districts for the transition to online learning, it’s still experiencing a shortage in mobile internet devices, which does create a disadvantage for those without internet access.
“We are short 40 to 45 devices and in addition to that, I know that if you live outside of the city or in the outside valleys, it’s difficult even if you have a mobile device,” Vanden Heuvel said. “When we are in school we also have some disadvantages, we notice that. Every time we get together with the school board, you can tell (from school data) that there is a difference in grades for Latin students and other students and it’s something that we’re trying to improve. We want to eradicate that, that lack of equality, but this is a difficult job and with the help of parents we’re going step by step.”
Flores echoed Vanden Heuvel’s thoughts and said even if it’s difficult to talk about it, there is a recognizable academic and technology divide between students of color and white students.
“I have noticed that there is an academic division in Healdsburg and unfortunately that’s something we really have to deal with and work on without being scared of it, we have to talk about it and say things how they are,” Flores said. “This technical divide is a reality and it’s gotten worse with the virus, and as Chris said, we were a little more prepared than other districts. We had knowledge that we didn’t have enough machines but we were hoping that we’d come back in two or three weeks, but that’s not what happened … We noticed students, especially Hispanic students, would not connect with their teachers to receive the weekly instruction that they were supposed to get.”
For this reason, the district and the teachers union agreed to do hold harmless grading at the end of the 2019-20 school year so students without technology or other at-home learning resources wouldn’t have their grades impacted.
At that point Sanchez asked Tolosa to share what his experience was like when he was a student at Healdsburg High School. He said even though there is one high school campus it often felt like there were two different schools.
“It was like two different schools really. The Latinos that had their school and their popular people and — I don’t want to say white people or blonde people, I’ll use the word ‘American’ — the Americans had their own little group and it was truly unusual for these worlds to cross,” Tolosa said.
He also told of his experience touring Healdsburg Elementary School (HES) and the charter school. At that time, Tolosa was considering which school to enroll his son in. Similar to his high school experience, he said the two campuses were like two different worlds.
“I took a tour of the school (HES), it was like two separate worlds. I was going to put him (my kid) in there. When I went to sign him up they said, ‘We’re going to send you on a tour of Healdsburg Charter School, do you want to have your kid in Healdsburg Charter School?’ They said, ‘You’re affluent.’ They thought I was Arab and that my wife was Asian, so they said, ‘Send your kid here’ and I said, ‘Hey, I want to see Healdsburg Elementary as well,’ they said, ‘No you don’t want to see that, you should send your kid to Healdsburg Charter School,’” Tolosa recalled.
During the tour, he once again requested to see HES and asked why they didn’t want him to see the school.
“They said, ‘Well because at HES there’s a more traditional education’ and I said that I went to school in Cloverdale and that it was quite traditional there,” he said, noting that when he did tour HES, he noticed that classes were predominately Latinx versus the charter school. “I said I’m not going to let my kid go to a school where they feel like they’re better than Mexicans. That’s why my child is in the private school.”
Sanchez asked what the district is doing to help support students, and to help all students feel like they’re part of the community, especially now that both schools are unified.
“Those things he (Tolosa) mentioned, shouldn’t happen and there’s a lot to be done. Academically, we have various programs especially in the summer, to support those children who are a little bit behind perhaps, especially in sciences and project-based learning, but there is more to be done still,” Vanden Heuvel said.
He said there were plans for summer educational programs, however, with COVID-19, the district decided not to hold the programs.
Lopez said that it’s important to recognize that racism in schools is systemic.
“It starts with the books that we read and the things that we study,” she said, noting that history is written from a Eurocentric point of view and that chapters of history text are often given to European history, while Indigenous, Black or Latinx history is only given a few pages or paragraphs.
Lopez, a 2015 Healdsburg High graduate, also shared her accounts of the separated feeling at school.
She said that “American” students would often show up to school with flags and confederate flags in their truck and drive around campus, but when Latinx students would do the same thing with a flag representing their heritage, they were told to take it down from their car.
“The divisions are still in there, I don’t think it has changed,” she said.
In terms of improving equality in schools, the panelists suggested having a more diverse faculty of teachers, as well as implementing an ethnic studies program at all grade levels.
Flores, who’s one of two Latinx teachers at the high school, said he’s been trying to push for an ethnic studies or cultural studies program since he started at the district 13 years ago.
“It’s always just been a conversation,” he said. “I’d like the school board to take the initiative for them to say yes, ethnic studies is a priority.”
Gomez-Pelayo said her younger brother experienced tensions in high school similar to what Lopez said about the flags.
“The conditions in Healdsburg gives me goosebumps,” she said. “The Legacy Project in Napa started because of these tensions in the community and the racism that’s always existed … The issues in Healdsburg and in Napa are very similar really.”
The Legacy Project is an ethnic studies and social justice leadership program committed to the “Healing, transformation and liberation on Napa Valley youth.”
Gomez-Pelayo, an ethnic studies and Chicano studies major, said that an ethnic studies program for Healdsburg students would be great.
“These studies have changed my life and I’ve seen how they’ve transformed people. They (students) feel more empowered, they feel stronger, they feel more confident and prepared for the world,” she said.
Vanden Heuvel said he has the full support from the school board to pursue the creation and implementation of a program, however, he said the process of creating a new course across multiple grade levels does take time.
“Now is the time for ethnic studies. We’ve worked very hard on equality, we’ve closed the charter school because of equity issues. As Ever said earlier, I’d like to see a required class, but more than anything, just to revise the curriculum that we have starting at kindergarten all the way to high school,” he said.
The next Community Conversation will take place on Wednesday, July 1. The new discussion topic will focus on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). DACA is an immigration policy that allows some undocumented individuals who have been brought to the country as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for a U.S. work permit.
To view the June 23 conversation in its entirety, visit Corazón’s Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/CorazonHealdsburg/.
