CSGA Anti-Racism Policy Written and Supported by Students

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ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) – School leaders in Albemarle County are championing the districts’ anti-racist policies and programs, saying it is a student-led effort.

This comes as a result of confusion among parents and guardians over what is taught in a program called Courageous Conversations, piloted at Henley Middle School.

Graham Paige, the county school board chairman, said he heard both sides of the parents’ argument at board meetings.

Some say they were trying to divide the students, who were trying to promote racial hatred, and then others, in fact, really the majority I think, really say that they support the program and that they can see the importance of the program in our schools, he explained.

Julie Govan, a relative of Henley, said she has heard from parents worrying that students are too young to learn about certain topics related to race and identity. Even though she says she understands, she supports the program.

Children don’t wait to be told when to have conversations. This meant that they were essentially forced to choose between two things: children having these conversations without the support of informed adults who received training or children having conversations without the support of informed adults, Govan said. If I have to choose both, I will always prefer the knowledgeable teacher who leads the conversation or manages the conversation or navigates to avoid harming a student when a conversation goes awry and the kids decide they want to use it.

Paige has said in previous meetings that several parents have claimed the program teaches Critical Breed Theory, or CRT. In a letter, the board said it was wrong.

The district, however, has a program called Culturally Appropriate Education, also known as CRT, for teachers, which goes hand in hand with the district’s anti-racism policy.

We were trying to make sure that all of our students recognized the importance of all other racial groups and the contributions of all racial groups, Paige said.

The anti-racism policy it coincides with was written by students in 2018 and was officially adopted in 2019. The district was one of the first in the Commonwealth to do so.

Now the policy is both shaped and supported by students, including Mary Govan, a rising junior at Albemarle High.

As an Asian American, I can’t escape these topics and I need my teachers and peers to know how to have these conversations with me when I’m around, and to feel safe, Govan said. at a board meeting on June 10.

Govan is a member of the county’s Student Equity Advisory Team (SEAT).

It gives everyone a chance to express who they are and what they have to offer, Govan said.

Karen Waters-Wicks, who helps facilitate SEAT, said it was entirely student-led, dating back to the early days of anti-racism politics.

They believed, as the authors of this policy, that students continue to have a voice in this work, Waters-Wicks said.

Paige said the district has no plans to reverse its anti-racism policy. He said it works to help close the achievement gaps between different groups of students and to make students feel more comfortable in school.

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