Data Behind the Demands

#1. Release a public statement condemning the wrongful murder of George Floyd and all victims of police brutality. If LSU Athletics can put out a statement saying Black Lives Matter, why won’t you?

THE SUPPORTING DATA: 

1. Dorinda J. Carter Andrews is a professor and the chairperson of the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. Shaun R. Harper is a professor at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education, executive director of the USC Race and Equity Center, and the president of the American Educational Research Association. They wrote guidelines for school administrators that detail best practices when releasing statements in the aftermath of murders and other instances of racial violence.
   
   Their suggestions include the following:
   
   Use words that explicitly name racial violence. Do not soften the intensity of systemic racism with broad language about diversity, equity, and inclusion. If the statement does not include words such as “racism,” “racist,” “white supremacy,” or “anti-Blackness,” it is insufficient and therefore should be revised (Andrews et. al.).
   
   SOURCE: 
   
   Carter Andrews, Dorinda J., and Shaun R. Harper. “6 Considerations for School Leaders Making a Statement About George Floyd.” Education Week, 2 June 2020,  www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/06/02/6-considerations-school-leaders-statement-george-floyd-.html. 
   

2. Educators and schools all across the country are taking action and speaking out in specific, concrete ways supporting Black lives and acknowledging ways they can become actively anti-racist:
   
   Teachers unions, school board associations, parents groups, associations of school system leaders, education-focused civil rights organizations, education researchers have all issued statements. The exact message varied, but many condemned police violence, stated that black lives matter, and promised to ground their own work in anti-racism. Some called for action while acknowledging the limits of words alone. “Saying ‘Black Lives Matter’ simply is not enough,” wrote Shaun Harper, the president of the American Educational Research Association. “As a community of researchers, we must unite to take bold, evidence-based action that exposes and ultimately ends the catastrophic police killings of unarmed Black people (Barnum and Belsha). 
   
   SOURCE:
   Barnum, Matt and Kalyn Belsha. “Protests, donations, lesson plans: How the education world is responding to George Floyd’s killing.” Chalkbeat, 2 June 2020, www.chalkbeat.org/2020/6/2/21278591/education-schools-george-floyd-racism.

#2. Commit to effectively condemning EVERY racist act that happens in the classroom and on school property. White supremacy and racism, whether overt or covert, should not be tolerated at any level. 

THE SUPPORTING DATA: 

1. Racist discrimination negatively impacts the health of Black students, both physically and mentally. 
   
   SOURCE: 
   “Physiological & Psychological Impact of Racism and Discrimination for African-Americans.” American Psychological Association, 2013, www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicity-health/racism-stress.
   

2. The “racial consciousness” of teachers influences their approach in the classroom. Teachers’ assumptions, worldviews, and biases affect their teaching and therefore must be critically examined. 
   
   SOURCE:
   Haynes, Chayla. “Dismantling the White Supremacy Embedded in Our Classrooms: White Faculty in Pursuit of More Equitable Educational Outcomes for Racially Minoritized Students.” International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, vol. 29, no. 1, 2017, files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1135971.pdf.
   

3. David Gillborn’s empirical analysis of education policy in England argues that “although race inequity may not be a planned and deliberate goal of education policy neither is it accidental.” His work draws heavily on US critical theory and his conclusions are worth examining. 
   
   SOURCE:
   Gillborn, David. “Education Policy as an act of white supremacy: whiteness, critical race theory and education reform.” Journal of Education Policy, 20 Feb. 2007, doi.org/10.1080/02680930500132346. 

#3. Revise the school’s statement of philosophy—and the student handbook—to include principles of diversity, anti-racism, and equality.

THE SUPPORTING DATA:

1. Developing an anti-racist system of education involves restructuring many of our school’s basic assumptions and approaches to schooling. We must examine the hierarchies and value systems operating within schools before we can implement an effectively anti-racist curriculum. Gill Crozier writes:
   
   “[A]nti-racist education is [...] (or should be) an all-encompassing approach to teaching and learning, in that it is a challenge to white dominant culture, and the ensuing interpretation of reality; it is a challenge to the racist structures in society and in school, as part of that. It is, therefore, a challenge to the mediocrity of schooling that black students frequently experience. It is also a challenge to curriculum content” (Crozier).
   
   SOURCE:
   Crozier, Gill. "Teachers’ Power, Anti-racist Education and the Need for Pupil Involvement.” International Studies in Sociology of Education, vol. 4, no. 2, 1994, pp. 213-28, doi.org/10.1080/0962021940040205. 
   

2. Social and emotional learning (SEL) practitioner-scholar Dena Simmons is an expert in antiracist education. She cites the SPLC finding that there were a staggering “3,265 incidents of hate or bias in schools throughout the nation in the fall of 2018 alone” and outlines her professional suggestions for educators in combating antiracism (Simmons). Her suggestions include talking with students about race, teaching representative history, addressing racist incidents when they occur, and acknowledging the ideology of white supremacy. She quotes Ibram X. Kendi, who wrote: "The opposite of racist isn't 'not racist.' It is 'anti-racist.'” Our nation’s schools and educators--she argues--must strive for anti-racism.
   
   SOURCE:
   Simmons, Dena. “How to be an Antiracist Educator.” ACSD Education Update, vol. 61, no. 10, 2019, www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/oct19/vol61/num10/How-to-Be-an-Antiracist-Educator.aspx. 
   

3. “Role of Academia in Combatting Structural Racism in the United States.” Association for Prevention Teaching and Research, www.aptrweb.org/page/antiracism.
   

4. Schwartz, Katrina. “How Ibram X. Kendi’s Definition of Antiracism Applies to Schools.” KQED, 18 Dec. 2019,  www.kqed.org/mindshift/54999/how-ibram-x-kendis-definition-of-antiracism-applies-to-schools.

#4. Add articles, books, documentaries, and podcasts by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Color) authors centered on anti-racism and racial justice to the curricula of all social science and English classes at every grade level, in summer reading lists and academic year syllabi. These texts should be used to facilitate in-class conversations and lessons about race, privilege, allyship, and justice—and not just during Black history month.These conversations should focus on topics including but not limited to: the complex nature of the Atlantic Slave Trade, redlining, Jim Crow, the Tulsa Race Massacre, literacy and doll tests, Black land theft, gentrification, the wealth gap, racism in the U.S. healthcare system, mass incarceration of Black people, implicit racial biases in education, and the barring of Black students from US higher educational institutions in the twentieth, nineteenth, and earlier centuries. During and after instruction, it should be clear to students that these issues are ongoing and that they did not simply end with the passing of the 13th Amendment or integration. We have sent the school board a list of suggested texts which we will also post below as a starting point. After careful study of the critical literature, students and educators should leave the classroom understanding that systemic racism exists and is an ongoing struggle.

THE SUPPORTING DATA: 

1. Teaching from a “colorblind” lens is harmful from an educational standpoint. 
   
   Jung-ah Choi writes in Educational Foundations: “Liberal discourses tend to disguise racial inequality by employing the rhetoric of equal opportunity and fair treatment. Critical educators, particularly Critical Race pedagogues, critique colorblind ideology as tantamount to racism because it serves to maintain racial inequality. King (1991), for example, refers to colorblindness as “dysconscious racism” since colorblind ideology sustains and justifies the culture of power (see also, Delpit, 1988)” (2008). 
   
   Choi--a scholar who specializes in racism and education--continues: 
   
   Delpit urges educators to examine the “silenced dialogue” that exists within the school setting and to be aware of the historical, social, and political conditions in which school institutions favor a certain group of people. For example, the dominant discourse of professionalism is embedded with White ideology. Under normative discourse, “treating all students equally” is deemed professional and fair, and advocating for any particular group is construed as unprofessional or practicing favoritism (Brandon, 2003; Tarca, 2005). However, Critical Race pedagogues, like Ladson-Billings (1994), question this norm, arguing that treating all students in the same way and neglecting racial disparities ends up marginalizing racial minorities who have only limited access to resources. As the opening vignette shows, Ladson-Billings’ position was met with resistance in many teacher education classes. The teacher educators that I interviewed all confirmed that their students were uncomfortable with the concept of seeing color or making judgments based on race and that they questioned the validity of such approaches (Choi 58).
   
   SOURCE:
   Choi, Jung-ah. “Unlearning Colorblind Ideologies in Education Class.”  Educational Foundations, files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ857639.pdf.
   

2. Citing a comprehensive study conducted by Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance, The Atlantic recently reported that when slavery is taught in American schools, it is widely "mistaught, mischaracterized, sanitized, and sentimentalized—leaving students poorly educated, and contemporary issues of race and racism misunderstood" (Anderson).
   
   The study found that in the majority of U.S. classrooms:

Slavery is taught without context, prioritizing “feel good” stories over harsh realities; slavery is taught as an exclusively southern institution, masking the complicity of northern institutions and citizens in America’s slave-based economy; slavery is rarely connected to white supremacy—the ideology that justified its perpetuation; and slavery is seldom connected to the present, drawing the arc from enslavement to Jim Crow, the civil-rights movement, and the persistence of structural racism (Anderson).

SOURCE:
Anderson, Melinda D. “What Kids Are Really Learning About Slavery.” The Atlantic, 1 Feb. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/02/what-kids-are-really-learning-about-slavery/552098/.

SEE ALSO: “Teaching the Hard History of American Slavery.” Southern Poverty Law Center, www.splcenter.org/teaching-hard-history-american-slavery.

#5. Eliminate discriminatory and racist hair guidelines from the Student Handbook (which currently forbids male students to wear Afros “over three inches” and “braids, twists, or other exaggerated styles” associated with Black hairstyles. Braids are not a distraction and do not prevent student learning. 

THE SUPPORTING DATA: 

1. Areva Martin writes,
   
   Research shows that policing young black girls — and their hair— can have detrimental consequences and reinforce negative stereotypes. As Dorinda J. Carter, an assistant dean of equity outreach initiatives at Michigan State University, said to NPR, “What does a headdress have to do with learning and success?
   
   SOURCE: 
   Martin, Areva. “The Hatred of Black Hair Goes Beyond Ignorance.” TIME, 23 Aug. 2017, time.com/4909898/black-hair-discrimination-ignorance/. 
   

2. Ellen K. Boegel writes:
   
   Children (and adults) suffer when they are ostracized for their natural hair or are denied the ability to wear hairstyles favored within their social groups. School policies that make it more likely for non-white children to be disciplined or sent home for violations contribute to educational disparities.
   
   SOURCE: 
   Boegel, Ellen K. “Can Catholic school hair grooming standards be discriminatory?” America, 16 Jan. 2020, www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/01/16/can-catholic-school-hair-grooming-standards-be-discriminatory.
   
   SEE ALSO: Belsha, Kalyn. “States and cities are banning hair discrimination. Here’s how that’s affecting schools.” Chalkbeat, 16 Jan. 2020, www.chalkbeat.org/2020/1/16/21121830/states-and-cities-are-banning-hair-discrimination-here-s-how-that-s-affecting-schools.
   

3. Janelle Griffith at NBC reports:

The New York City Commission on Human Rights recognized a problem of discrimination based on hair or hairstyle with new guidance this week that classifies such restrictions in workplaces, schools and public places as racial discrimination. The guidelines point specifically to the rights of people to maintain their “natural hair, treated or untreated hairstyles such as locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, fades, Afros, and/or the right to keep hair in an uncut or untrimmed state.

SOURCE:
Griffith, Janelle. “When hair breaks rules: Some black children are getting in trouble for natural hairstyles.” www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/when-hair-breaks-rules-some-black-children-are-getting-trouble-n973346.

#6. Offer wellness (i.e. mental health) resources for students of color addressing anti-racism—both digital and in-person through experienced guidance counselors.

THE SUPPORTING DATA: 

1. According to the Department of Education, WA (citing research from Racism. No Way):
   
   “Racism in schools hurts both individuals and the learning and working environment. It generates tensions that distort cultural understanding and narrow the educational experiences of all students.
   
   It affects:
   • Educational outcomes
   • Individual happiness and self confidence
   • School climate
   • Cultural identity
   • School-community relations
   • Student behaviours
   Source: Racism. No way.
   
   Racist attitudes may be manifested in incidents that are often reported as name-calling, teasing, exclusion, verbal abuse or bullying. Teachers and other school staff may also experience racism in the form of harassment, abuse or the promotion of racist stereotypes by students and colleagues.
   
   If there are policies and procedures at the systemic level that support these behaviours and allow them to continue unchallenged, they can contribute to systemic racism and, often inadvertently, foster a teaching and learning environment that sustains racist attitudes.
   
   Discriminatory policies and practices that can exist in schools:
   • ignoring or not responding to incidents or complaints of racism
   • not informing students, parents and staff of their rights in relation to racism
   • having parent and community organisations that are not representative of the
   diversity of the school community
   • not providing access to interpreters or translations for parents
   • discouraging the involvement of parents and community members from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds in school activities or decision-making processes
   • not allowing students to speak their first languages at school
   • compelling students to take part in activities that conflict with their cultural or
   religious beliefs
   • forcibly anglicising students' names
   • applying more severe discipline measures for students from some cultural and linguistic backgrounds than others
   • condoning racist behaviour or practices or allowing them to go unchallenged
   
   SOURCE:
   “The Effects of Racism in Schools.” Department of Education WA, 2010, det.wa.edu.au/detcms/cms-service/download/asset?asset_id=10971201. 
   

2. The following points are courtesy of research by David J. Johns, Executive Director, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans (WHIEEAA):
   
   “The stress of racial discrimination may partly explain the gaps in academic performance between Black/Latino youth and their White counterparts [...]”
   
   “Promoting positive ethnic and racial identity reduces feelings of separation or exclusion and improves students' ability to focus in the classroom.”
   
   “Teachers can help students develop positive feelings about their ethnic and racial identity by exposing them to diverse role models, and creating a safe space for them to celebrate their differences.”
   
   “The ultimate solution to this problem is reducing student exposure to racial discrimination and improving race relations in the U.S.”
   
   SOURCE: 
   Johns, David J. “Disrupting Implicit Racial Bias and Other Forms of Discrimination to Improve Access, Achievement, and Wellness for Students of Color.” U.S. Department of Education, sites.ed.gov/whieeaa/files/2016/10/Disrupting-Implicit-Bias-FINAL.pdf.
   

3. SEE ALSO: Calabrese, Raymond L., and Evelyn Underwood. “The Effects of School-Generated Racism on Students of Color.” The High School Journal, vol. 77, no. 4, 1994, pp. 267–273, www.jstor.org/stable/40364749.
   

#7. Require all current and future teachers to receive in-depth cultural sensitivity training (such as Continuing Education Credits on Equity and Inclusion) annually that directly addresses the challenges faced by BIPOC students and guides towards solutions at the community level. 

THE SUPPORTING DATA:

1. This demand is also supported by the work of David J. Johns (cited in previous demand).

2. Amelia Harper writes:
   
   A recent study [showed that black girls are often the subject of implicit or unconscious bias and are perceived as less innocent and needing less care, which leads to harsher punishment and less opportunities for leadership roles, mentoring and other support.
   
   SOURCE: 
   Harper, Amelia. “Should districts require implicit bias training for educators?” Education Dive, 28 May 2019, www.educationdive.com/news/should-districts-require-implicit-bias-training-for-educators/555524/.
   

3. According to research by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at OSU, implicit bias affects how school administrators discipline students and quite possibly how they make hiring decisions.
   
   SOURCE:  
   Staats, Cheryl. “Implicit Racial Bias and School Discipline Disparities.” Ohio State University, 2014, kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/implicit-bias-training/resources/ki-ib-argument-piece03.pdf.

4. Citing research by researchers Nelson and Lind (“The School to Prison Pipeline, Explained”), Ijeoma Oluo writes:

Many teachers are unprepared to deal with the challenges that black and brown children are more likely to face--children who are more likely to be arriving at school already disadvantaged due to the poverty and insecurity facing many families of color. The vast majority of teachers are white females, and many are unfamiliar with and not trained to work with the different ways in which black and brown children--especially black and brown boys--can interact with each other and with adults. This lack of teacher communication skills, understanding, and resources in working with black and brown children may help explain why black children are more likely to be suspended for provable reasons, like drugs or violence (127).

SOURCE: Oluo, Ijeoma. So You Want to Talk About Race. 2018.

#8. Undertake a third-party, holistic review of the SLC curriculum, admissions, hiring process, and student body administration to search for areas of potential improvement in the fields of equity, inclusion, and diversity. For example, Fr. Joshua Johnson or Gloria Purvis offer Catholic-based versions of such services. 

THE SUPPORTING DATA: 

1. “How Schools Can Improve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Practices.” YouTube, uploaded by National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), 27 Nov. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpnr-jV23fo.
   

2. The following resource offers a series of questions intended “to help your school thread its diversity and inclusion work throughout the school community” (Goodman).
   
   SOURCE:
   Goodman, Michael A. “Equity & Justice Work: It’s Not Just for Directors of Diversity and Inclusion.” National Association of Independent Schools, 25 June 2018, www.nais.org/learn/independent-ideas/june-2018/equity-justice-work-it-s-not-just-for-directors-of-diversity-and-inclusion/. 
   

3. SEE ALSO: Kelley, Kevin J. “How are Burlington’s Magnet Schools Doing in Five Years In?” Seven Days, 5 June 2013,  www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/how-are-burlingtons-magnet-schools-doing-five-years-in/Content?oid=2243704.
   

#9. Create an online form for students to report incidents of discrimination—at the hands of either students or faculty or parents—anonymously, ensuring that students will not be retaliated against for making a report. There should be a thorough, transparent review process for responding to and addressing these complaints. 

THE SUPPORTING DATA: 

1. According to the ACT Center for Equity in Learning, students of color are less likely than their white classmates to feel like they can reach out to a counselor or teacher for support when they are experiencing mental health issues (De La Rosa).
   
   SOURCE:
   De La Rosa, Shawna. “Report: Less than half of black students feel adequate mental health support from teachers, counselors.” Education Dive, 11 March 2020, www.educationdive.com/news/survey-students-of-color-rural-students-less-likely-to-have-mental-health/573788/.
   

2. According to research:
   
   The everyday experience with racism that many children and youth of color face in their schooling is an environmental stressor that can lead to depression, anxiety, rage, and other mental distress (Masko 62). 
   
   SOURCE:
   Masko, Amy. “Are Schools Hostile Learning Environments for Students of Color?” Language Arts Journal of Michigan, vol. 30, no. 1, 2014, doi.org/10.9707/2168-149X.2045.
   

3. Researchers Raymond L. Calabrese and Evelyn Underwood write:
   
   Children of color come to school predisposed to defend themselves against the threats of those who should be looking after their best interests [...] Addressing issues of racism is often stymied by school administrators and teachers unwilling to admit its existence [...] Children of color, to succeed, have to cross pre-existing cultural barriers (Pollard, 1989). (Calabrese & Underwood 268). 
   
   SOURCE:
   Calabrese, Raymond L., and Evelyn Underwood. “The Effects of School-Generated Racism on Students of Color.” The High School Journal, vol. 77, no. 4, 1994, pp. 267–273, www.jstor.org/stable/40364749.

#10. Remove police school resource officers from school grounds and events.

THE SUPPORTING DATA: 

1. According to researchers at Bowling Green State University:
   
   It is unclear [...] to what extent SROs are trained to be effective mentors, counselors, educators, or intervention specialists in schools. The work of Thurau, Buckley, Gann, and Wald (2013) indicates that entry-level police academy and in-service training that police officers typically receive is not sufficient for working with juveniles in the community and is certainly not sufficient for working with juveniles in an educational environment” (Stinson & Watkins). 
   
   Furthermore, “in the case of SROs, questions remain as to whether police officers are prepared to effectively work in a school setting because of possible role ambiguity, insufficient training, and the differing institutional norms and priorities of schools versus police agencies (e.g., Langberg, Fedders, & Kukorowski, 2011).
   
   SOURCE: 
   Stinson, Sr., Philip Matthew and Adam M. Watkins. “The Nature of Crime by School Resource Officers: Implications for SRO Programs.” SAGE, 11 Feb. 2014, doi.org/10.1177/21582440145218211.
   

2. As Michael Burke writes for EdWeek:
   
   Opponents of school police point to research showing that the presence of police in schools can lead to negative outcomes for black and Latino students, who are arrested and disciplined at higher rates than their peers. For those students, interactions with school police are often their introduction to the criminal justice system and the beginning of what has been dubbed the “school-to-prison pipeline,” the national trend of students being funneled from public schools to incarceration.
   
   SOURCE: 
   Burke, Michael. “Should police officers be in schools? California education leaders rethink school safety.” Edsource, 11 June 2020, edsource.org/2020/should-police-officers-be-in-schools-california-education-leaders-rethink-school-safety/633460.
   

3. According to Southern Poverty Law Center, students in schools with SROS are five times as likely to be arrested than students in schools without SROs. And these arrests often happen for minor infractions. (SPLC). 

4. NPR reports that:
   
   Federal data analyzed by the American Civil Liberties Union shows millions of students, especially students of color, attend schools that have police officers, but no nurse or school psychologist.
   
   And: 
   
   A 2018 Washington Post analysis of nearly 200 incidents of gun violence on campus found only two times where a school resource officer successfully intervened in a shooting.
   
   SOURCE: 
   Kamenetz, Anya. “Why There's A Push To Get Police Out Of Schools.” NPR, 23 June 2020, www.npr.org/2020/06/23/881608999/why-theres-a-push-to-get-police-out-of-schools.
   

#11. Announce a commitment to holding assemblies at least twice a school year that feature guest speakers of color who will address issues of racism and bias.

THE SUPPORTING DATA: 

SEE REFERENCES FOR DEMANDS #3, #4, & #7. BUT ALSO: 

1. As Lauren Barack writes for Education Dive, “To help promote more diversity in presentation in school, educators can consider options, such as being mindful of the people they invite as guest speakers.”
   
   SOURCE: 
   Barack, Lauren. “Diverse role models shape the futures students envision.” Education Dive, 29 May 2019, www.educationdive.com/news/diverse-role-models-mold-the-futures-students-envision/555597/.

#12. Create and release a 5-year plan detailing what steps you will take to ensure that the racial makeup of SLC students—and faculty members and the board of directors—more closely reflects the racial makeup of Lake Charles by 2025 (47% White, 47% African American, 0.4% Native American, 1.7% Asian, 0.47% from other races, 2.1% from two or more races). Currently, St. Louis is 81.9%* white—and this is not acceptable. A school cannot be committed to diversity and inclusion if its faculty is overwhelmingly white, and BIPOC students cannot feel at home in a school where they do not see themselves represented in its leaders. 

SEE REFERENCES FOR DEMANDS #3, #4, & #7, #11. BUT ALSO:

THE SUPPORTING DATA:

1. Diverse schools benefit all students--not just minority students. John McDonald writes:
   
   In 2017, along with colleague Jaana Juvonen, a UCLA professor of psychology, and Kara Kogachi, a UCLA graduate student in education, Graham published research showing a wide range of personal and social benefits for students of all races and ethnicities from attending ethnically diverse schools. 
   
   SOURCE: 
   McDonald, John. “Ethnic Diversity in Schools Benefits Everyone.” UCLA, 22 June 2018, sudikoff.gseis.ucla.edu/ethnic-diversity-in-schools-benefits-everyone/.
   

2. The above findings have been replicated in multiple studies. Another important report also demonstrates how “the benefits of school diversity run in all directions” (Wells). Diversity in schools, it turns out, makes students smarter. Researchers discovered that:
   
   [S]tudents’ exposure to other students who are different from themselves and the novel ideas and challenges that such exposure brings leads to improved cognitive skills, including critical thinking and problem solving (Wells).
   
   Attending diverse schools also prepares students for the real world and makes them more competitive to potential employers:
   
   Students can learn better how to navigate adulthood in an increasingly diverse society—a skill that employers value—if they attend diverse schools (Wells). 
   
   SOURCE: 
   Wells, Amy Stuart, Lauren Fox, and Diana Cordova-Cobo. “How Racially Diverse Schools and Classrooms Can Benefit All Students.” The Century Foundation, 9 Feb. 2016, www.tcf.org/content/report/how-racially-diverse-schools-and-classrooms-can-benefit-all-students/.
   

3. SEE ALSO: Reardon, Sean F., John T. Yun, and Gary Orfield. “Private School Racial Enrollments and Segregation.” UCLA, 22 June 2006, escholarship.org/uc/item/0zb011kt.
   

4. The following research discusses how private schools are still contributing to racial segregation in schools in the South. 
   
   SOURCE: 
   Clotfelter, Charles T. “Private Schools, Segregation, and the Southern States.” Peabody Journal of Education, vol. 79, no. 2, 2004, www.jstor.org/stable/1493324.
   

5. Black students are disadvantaged in nearly every way in our current school system, and these problems exist nationwide. Black students are more likely to be held back a grade, despite the mounting research indicating that holding students back doesn’t help socially or academically. Disparities in how students of different races are disciplined “begin in preschool and continue through every level of schooling” (Cook). Black students “are suspended and expelled at three times the rate of white students” (Cook). These are just a few of the inequalities Black students experience in the educational system. All of these factors put Black students at a disadvantage in school, and schools must address these issues in order to help serve their Black students and provide equal learning opportunities. Schools must recognize that these inequalities persist and must make plans to address them--or else they will continue to exist within our schools. 
   
   SOURCE: 
   Cook, Lindsey. “U.S. Education: Still Separate and Unequal.” U.S. News World Report, 28 Jan. 2015, www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/01/28/us-education-still-separate-and-unequal.
   

6. Research shows that students benefit when they have teachers who share their race or gender.
   
   SOURCE:
   Miller, Claire Cain. “Does Teacher Diversity Matter in Student Learning?” The New York Times, 10 Sept. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/upshot/teacher-diversity-effect-students-learning.html. 

13. Give students free speech protections. Although private schools are not required by law to provide First Amendment protections to students, it is our belief that the only way to teach students to fight for social justice and change is to allow them to express their political beliefs and encourage them to fight for what is right. During her time at St. Louis, Kristen Broussard (class of 2009) and her classmates were penalized by peacefully protesting while at school. Kristen and her friends were wearing black undershirts to peacefully protest the treatment of the Jena 6 and were threatened with punishments--despite the fact that their actions were in no way disruptive to student learning and bravely drew attention to injustice. This was not an isolated issue but one of many such experiences sanctioned by school policy. We are therefore asking SLC to implement a formal policy granting students their first amendment rights while at school, because we do not believe students ought to be punished for expressing their beliefs or standing up for what is right.

THE SUPPORTING DATA: 

1. According to John Garvey, the president of The Catholic University of America: 
   
   If a university doesn’t allow free inquiry, it won’t be able to teach students well or make progress in knowledge [...] You can’t have a university without freedom of speech (Desmond). 
   
   We believe this same principle applies to all schools. Encouraging students to share their beliefs is the best way to encourage them to become free thinkers.
   
   SOURCE: 
   Desmond, Joan Frawley, “How Catholic University Campuses Handle Free Speech in an Age of Intolerance.” National Catholic Register, 30 Oct. 2017, www.ncregister.com/daily-news/how-catholic-university-campuses-handle-free-speech-in-an-age-of-intoleranc.
   

2. M.T. Dávila, a professor at Andover-Newton Theological Seminary, also agrees that it is troubling that Catholic leaders are disallowing protests within Catholic settings. According to her, “Protests that some may see as disrespectful may be necessary in order to lift up human dignity.”
   
   SOURCE: 
   O’Loughlin, Michael J. “How should free speech work in Catholic settings?” America, 22 Sept. 2016, www.americamagazine.org/content/dispatches/when-free-speech-and-catholic-doctrine-collide.

#14. Create more opportunities for low-income students to attend St. Louis. The scholarship opportunities offered are insufficient. And we believe that students from all socioeconomic backgrounds should have access to this school and to Catholic education. The median income in Lake Charles is $40,910 and the SLC subsidized tuition rate is currently at $6,900. Even the subsidized tuition is unaffordable for most Lake Charles families—and we believe this needs to change. And right now, many of the scholarship applications can only be accessed by making phone calls or sending multiple emails. Our demand is threefold:

• Create more transparency regarding all tuition and scholarship information by ensuring it is all readily available on the school website. Include numbers of scholarship applicants. 

• Eliminate processing fees from financial aid application forms, as well as the Pastor signature requirement for subsidized tuition rates. 

• Revisit and lower the subsidized tuition rates, which are still unaffordable for many local families 

THE SUPPORTING DATA: 

1. Citing a recent study in Education Next, Greg Dolan (Director of Policy and Outreach at Catholic Education Partners) reports:
   
   Murnane and Reardon state that “private [elementary] schools, like public schools, are increasingly segregated by income,” with students from middle-income families half as likely to attend private school now compared to half a century ago. That downward trend comes as private schooling as [a] whole serves a smaller fraction of American schoolchildren – down from 15 percent in 1958 to less than 9 percent as of 2015.
   
   Dolan adds:
   
   A Catholic school system that is not structured to be accessible to all “runs the risk of giving counter-witness,” according to The Catholic School. And in a country where, as Murnane and Reardon report, “non-Catholic religious elementary schools serve more low-income students than Catholic elementary schools do,” our Catholic schools are missing the mark.
   
   SOURCE:
   Dolan, Greg. “Why Can’t the Middle Class Afford Catholic School Anymore?” Education Next, 15 Aug. 2018, www.educationnext.org/why-cant-middle-class-afford-catholic-school-anymore/.
   

2. Louisiana still has unacceptably high rates of poverty and income inequality throughout the state--and the percentage of residents in Lake Charles living in poverty is still significantly above the national poverty line. These problems disproportionately affect African Americans in our state.
   
   According to the Louisiana Budget Project:
   
   The percentage of African-Americans living in “deep poverty” in Louisiana – or below 50 percent of the federal poverty line – increased 1.5 percentage points in 2017 while conditions in the rest of the country improved.
   
   SOURCE:
   “Poverty and income inequality continue to plague Louisiana.” Louisiana Budget Project, 13 September 2018, www.labudget.org/2018/09/release-poverty-and-income-inequality-continue-to-plague-louisiana/.
   

3. The 2018 Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) report showed an increase in poverty in the state of Louisiana--including the Lake Area. The growth in the Lake Area is contributing to this increase, according to experts. The report showed a seven percent increase in the number of Louisiana families living in poverty. 
   
   SOURCE:
   Burdsall, Luke. “New report indicates poverty increase throughout Louisiana.” KPLC, 8 Jan. 2019, www.kplctv.com/2019/01/09/new-report-indicates-poverty-increase-throughout-louisiana/.
   

4. The racial wealth gap is a real and serious problem in America, and must be taken into consideration:
   
   Average wealth for white families is seven times higher than average wealth for black families. Worse still, median white wealth (wealth for the family in the exact middle of the overall distribution—wealthier than half of all families and less-wealthy than half) is twelve times higher than median black wealth. More than one in four black households have zero or negative net worth, compared to less than one in ten white families without wealth, which explains the large differences in the racial wealth gap at the mean and median. These raw differences persist, and are growing, even after taking age, household structure, education level, income, or occupation into account (Jones).
   
   SOURCE:
   Jones, Janelle. “The racial wealth gap: How African-Americans have been shortchanged out of the materials to build wealth.” Economic Policy Institute, 13 Feb. 2017, www.epi.org/blog/the-racial-wealth-gap-how-african-americans-have-been-shortchanged-out-of-the-materials-to-build-wealth/.
   

5. According to recent research:
   The truth is that segregation today is, in many cases, worse now than when the Brown v. Board of Education case was decided. A 2017 analysis by the UCLA Civil Rights Project found that 75 percent of black students attend majority minority schools, while 38 percent go to schools that are less than 10 percent white. The numbers are even more striking for Latinx students, 80 percent of whom attend majority minority schools (Berlatsky). 
   
   SOURCE:
   Berlatsky, Noah. “White parents are enabling school segregation — if it doesn't hurt their own kids.” NBC News, 11 March 2019, www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/white-parents-are-enabling-school-segregation-if-it-doesn-t-ncna978446. 

# # # 

RESEARCHED & WRITTEN (JUNE 2020) BY Elizabeth Clausen (‘09) & Danny Garrett (‘07)

CONTACT US: stlouisalumniforchange@gmail.com

*Demographic information for SLCHS obtained via SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Louisiana Department of Education.