OPPORTUNITY GAPS NEED A SYSTEMWIDE REDO FOR CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS

“Bridging gaps will get easier if we work together”

By Dr. Jessica Garcia, Rochester School Board Member

Dr. Jessica Garcia

Author’s Note

Having been asked to write an article for this series, I feel both honored and guarded. Guarded because BIPOC folx can often be left wondering if we’re being recognized or tokenized when asked to write or speak on issues about our communities. That means I’m hoping readers bring their open hearts and minds. Your BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) colleagues, educators, and students need you to read this perspective and all those that come after it in the series so our voices are not just elevated, but regarded as important, necessary, and worthy. Even if I only reach one person with my message, it will feel worth it. If all you took away from this is that BIPOC electees – no matter how successful they are in their own right – are made to struggle in places of power and privilege because that is the way systems are designed, this will have been a success.

My Story

I am a clinical psychologist by training and work full time at a forensic mental health hospital. The day I filed to run for local office was almost two months after COVID-19 put the United States on lockdown, a few days after my 34th birthday, and less than a week before the murder of George Floyd. Despite all the ways the world was changing at the time, since I had been out of school for a few years, like any other person who is a glutton for punishment, I felt the need to put all my extra time and energy toward a worthy cause: bringing my expertise to public education. While campaigning I was open about being a queer woman of color, a millennial, and a transplant to Minnesota. Many of those things made people uncomfortable, but there were plenty of others who were excited enough to believe in my message. I made it through election night with a big win on my very first campaign. That excitement was short-lived as it was rivaled by news from my doctor that I was being diagnosed with a medical disability in the form of an autoimmune disorder. The intersectionality of my existence kept growing and I decided to bury myself in unapologetically representing the voices of community members of color and especially of those with intersecting social identities which combine to create additional layers of complex discrimination and disadvantage against them. I was living it and I wanted others to feel they were represented by my voice on the school board. Now, it would be remiss of me to not also acknowledge my privileges. My primary privilege is that my appearance does not necessarily automatically announce my differences or minoritized identities. As a result, I am defaulted into the “majority” group by most. This is often described as me being White presenting, straight presenting, and able-bodied presenting. It affords me the ability to move more easily about the world and gain access to places not typically reserved for people like me. Also, despite growing up in a continued on page 8

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poor working-class family, I have been able to move solidly into the middle class with my education and salary. Again, I share this because no matter how successful I have become and how much privilege I hold, systems are not built to welcome or include people like me. So, we reach the true issue of the article: If someone like me can struggle so much in these systems, think about how difficult it must be for our BIPOC students, educators, staff, and school board directors who do not carry these privileges. It is not that they lack the abilities and talents to achieve, it is that they lack the opportunities.

The Issue(s) at Hand

The “achievement gap” as educators call it did not appear in recent history, but started at the inception of public education in our country. The gap is not just affecting our students, but all our community members. The gap is also not a diagnosis, but rather a festering symptom of a larger problem: unchecked discriminatory practices by institutions that were built to uphold an ideal of who is deserving an education (and access to power) in this country and who is not. I would also like to make clear I use the phrase “opportunity gap” because “achievement gap” suggests the deficit is entirely the fault of the child, rather than the reality of it stemming from a lack of opportunity offered to these groups of individuals by the institution. In other words, if students of color are not given the opportunity to be educated as effectively as their White counterparts, how can we expect them to achieve at the same level? As I touched on before, the opportunity gap is not something to only think about in terms of students of color. Other underserved and underrepresented student groups fall victim to this gap. Intersectional students often see wider gaps. Educators, staff, and school board directors experience the professional version of the opportunity gap at their levels, as well. To illustrate the point, let’s consider non-student examples of opportunity gaps. • A newly elected school board member whose primary language is Hmong. o If the school system is frustrated when the school board member does not communicate as quickly and efficiently in English as their cohort it assumes an achievement deficit. What if the school system did some analysis and realized it had created a culture designed around monolingualism with English as the expected dominant language? This would leave the system open to also acknowledge how their Hmong families might feel disconnected from the district if they treat their multilingual leaders in such a way that opportunities are restricted and cultural responsivity is not at the forefront of their equity practices. Taking

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that temperature and making needed adjustments would be recommended. • A dynamic and assertive Black educator looking to be promoted. o If the school system is uncomfortable with the educator for not being complacent like much of staff and feels they would not be a “good fit” for a leadership role, it assumes an achievement deficit. What if the school system did some analysis and realized it created a system which rewards homogeneity of thought and agreeableness? This could lead to the recognition of an opportunity not being presented because the educator breaks the mold of the expected school system comportment. Once this is realized, efforts can be made to shift to a culturally responsive environment which supports educators by providing them equitable access to leadership opportunities.

How Do We Fix It?

There is no quick fix for bridging hundreds of years’ worth of growing opportunity gaps, but cultural responsivity is a great place to start and continually grow. True dedication to cultural responsivity is a lifelong journey. Just as Yvette Jackson acknowledged in her foreword of Zaretta Hammond’s “Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain,” neuroscience research indicates “culture is the fundamental imperative for learning.” She also stated, “Cultural responsiveness is not a practice. It’s what informs our practice so we can make better teaching choices for listening, engaging, motivating, supporting, and expanding the intellectual capacity of all our students.” I would expand that to all our community, because our students of color do not stop being seen as underachieving when they leave the classroom, they continue to be seen and treated as such in other systems, as they grow up, and even when they return to education as an educator, staff, or school board director. I hope by using my own story to highlight the struggles BIPOC leaders face it gave you at least one perspective of how difficult it can be to just exist in certain spaces, let alone gain access to those spaces. So, if you read this full article to the end, thank you. If you have lived any part of what is written in this article, you’re amazing and please feel free to reach out and tell me your story. Bridging gaps will get easier if we work together and once those leading the charge start to look as diverse as our wider community, it will be a more equitable and inclusive place for us all.

Dr. Jessica Garcia is a Rochester School Board member and a clinical psychologist. To respond to the article, you can reach her at jegarcia1@rochesterschools.org.