Open Letter to Knox County Schools Regarding Book Banning

Dear Ms. Searles:

I was shocked and saddened to see that Knox County Schools has published its list of 48 books that will be banned from school libraries in Knox County.  As a former librarian in the system (1982-1996), I believe this preemptive action by KCS represents a capitulation to the politically-backward and oppressive ideologues who must be rigorously opposed if the Right to Read, the Library Bill of Rights, and the freedom to think and intellectually and ethically grow are to be preserved in our public schools, which are our most vital laboratories of democracy.  

According to news stories, KCS librarians actively participated in this unethical capitulation and professional malfeasance by identifying books that they believe violate a nebulous and untested state statute that does not require the identification and expurgation of books by librarians. 

The American Library Association, the Association of School Librarians, and the Office of Intellectual Freedom all provide guidance for how to deal with censorious demands by astroturf groups like Moms for Liberty, who in fact represent the interests of anti-democratic influencers whose mission includes the destruction of democratic values in our communities and our country.

Librarians have an unambiguous professional responsibility and a moral duty to offer inclusive, quality collections and to refuse to engage in the expurgation of books. Librarians are obligated to protect the children and parents they serve and to resist efforts to violate the rights of their students (https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations):

Access to Library Resources and Services Regardless of Sex, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, or Sexual Orientation: The American Library Association stringently and unequivocally maintains that libraries and librarians have an obligation to resist efforts that systematically exclude materials dealing with any subject matter, including sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Amended 2020

Access to Resources and Services in the School Library: The school library plays a unique role in promoting intellectual freedom. It serves as a point of voluntary access to information and ideas and as a learning laboratory for students as they acquire critical thinking and problem-solving skills needed in a pluralistic society. Although the educational level and program of the school necessarily shapes the resources and services of a school library, the principles of the Library Bill of Rights apply equally to all libraries, including school libraries. Amended 2014

. . . . Expurgation of Library Materials: Expurgating library materials is a violation of the Library Bill of Rights. Expurgation as defined by this interpretation includes any deletion, excision, alteration, editing, or obliteration of any part(s) of books or other library resources by the library, its agent, or its parent institution (if any). Amended 2014

 See Library Bill of Rights below:

LIBRARY BILL OF RIGHTS 

The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.

I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.

II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.

IV. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.

V. A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.

VI. Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.

VII. All people, regardless of origin, age, background, or views, possess a right to privacy and confidentiality in their library use. Libraries should advocate for, educate about, and protect people’s privacy, safeguarding all library use data, including personally identifiable information.

Adopted June 19, 1939, by the ALA Council; amended October 14, 1944; June 18, 1948; February 2, 1961; June 27, 1967; January 23, 1980; January 29, 2019.

Inclusion of “age” reaffirmed January 23, 1996. 

Although the Articles of the Library Bill of Rights are unambiguous statements of basic principles that should govern the service of all libraries, questions do arise concerning application of these principles to specific library practices. See the documents designated by the Intellectual Freedom Committee as Interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights.

Source: https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill

I believe that the Age-Appropriate Materials Act of 2022 and the subsequent passage of Public Chapter 782 do not, in fact, require the most recent actions taken by Knox County Schools.  Rather, the identification of the 48 titles in KCS libraries represents a dangerous form of “submission in advance,” whereby legitimate institutions preemptively take self-censoring actions that serve to encourage the ignorant audacity of book banners to demand more and more titles be removed from library shelves.

There are many Tennessee citizens who are very upset by this latest bow to authoritarian demands. KCS should be aware that lawsuits are not the sole prerogative of angry fascists.

Sincerely,
James Horn, PhD

ec: Dr. Jon Rysewyk, Superintendent

 

 

TN Lawmaker Calls Out "Bait-and-Switch" Voucher Scheme by Andy Spears

Nashville's Hemmer is having one of Bill Lee's latest scam

Read on Substack

Maddow: Trump's shameless abuse of pardons, nepotism disqualifies him fr...

If you are one of the Dems or a media outlet such as the NYTimes still clucking over Biden’s pardon of his son, Hunter, please take a few minutes to understand what this is about.

What He Said . . .

 

🔥 🗣️STURGILL SIMPSON: “This toxic patriarchal energy is an age coming to an end… that energy is clawing for its survival bc it knows it’s dying. We’re heading to something beautiful, we just have to go through some dark shit first. So love everybody.” (H/T @wutangforchildren.bsky.social )

[image or embed]

— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) November 24, 2024 at 5:08 PM

Linda McMahan’s Sexual Abuse Allegations

Sagan Flashback

Carl Sagan nailed it back in 1995.

[image or embed]

— NightDiver13 (@nightdiver13.bsky.social) November 18, 2024 at 9:46 AM

One Thing You Can Do Right Now to Save the Republic

The Election Story in One Visual

When George Clooney, Michael Moore, and the New York Times decided last summer that Biden was too old to be President, it never occurred to them, apparently, that U.S. voters might prove themselves less ageist than they are racist and/or sexist, whether explicitly or implicitly. A major oversight, we now know.  

Spend a few minutes studying the visual aid below (click it to enlarge).  Let its message sink in. 

Does this chart suggest a reason that the Trump fascists want the nation's youth narrowly programmed in K-16 Christian nationalist schools, rather than in schools that encourage cultural and economic mixing and that allow for diversity of thought and expression? 

Could it be that schools DO matter?

Election of the Living Dead

I hope you don’t waste your time like I did this morning reading the liberal media's analysis/commentary on what was unleashed last evening on our country—and the world. From my reading, it is clear that the media sympathetic to the Blue team are quickly forming up the circular firing squad and taking aim, even while ignoring the necrophilic zombie hoard that is battering down the nation's institutional doors. 

Here's an example from a Reuters piece that poses as straight news story:

. . . Harris’ campaign ultimately failed to overcome deep-seated voter concerns about inflation and immigration – twin issues that opinion polls showed favored Trump. Her loss underscores a profound shift in American politics over the past decade as blue-collar voters have turned increasingly Republican – a trend Trump appears to have accelerated. 

Harris also struggled to counter another Trump-era trend: a torrent of misinformation unprecedented in modern U.S. elections. An avalanche of misrepresentations and falsehoods about her record was spread by the former president and amplified on right-wing websites and media, including conspiracy theories on issues ranging from migrant crime to voter fraud.

So even before all the votes are counted, the media establishment is racing to tell us that last nite's terrifying electoral result can be blamed on the female candidate for not countering or overcoming the various excuses that America's prevailing white "christian" caste of misogynist, racist men (and women) have disingenuously trotted out for pollsters over the past months to conceal the real reasons they voted to re-elect a racist, misogynist felon whose multiple sexual assaults, criminal convictions and indictments, egregious lies, unadorned stupidity, and narcissistic bullying was much less important to them than, say, the price of eggs.

And while we're blaming Kamala Harris for Americans' shameless capitulation to their darkest natures, let's blame her, too, for not single-handedly countering the Billionaire Boys' Club propaganda machine (foreign and domestic) that spread the magnificent lies spewed endlessly by Trump and his sycophants. 

Surely, Musk's X, Zuckerberg's Facebook/Instagram, or Murdoch's Fox "News" share no responsibility for "countering" what Kamala Harris should have countered alone.

__________________________

Fortunately, for me, I found something in my Inbox this morning that's a little more soothing.  It is written by a woman (Rebecca Solnit) and posted by a good man (Anand Giridharadas) that provides some much needed salve for my grieving soul. I hope it does yours, too.

You, Too, Can Cancel Your WaPo Subscription

This morning I was still shaking with a little bit of rage (even after 4 days) for the Washington Post's failure to endorse Kamala Harris in the most important presidential election ever.  When the nice Philippino woman who takes Bezos's cancellation calls (over 200,000 as of October 28) asked me why, I told her that when one billionaire made a decision that overruled the entire professional journalistic staff of WaPo, it was finally clear that the credibility of paper had reached Absolute Zero.  

Who could ever read anything in the Post, whether news, commentary, or cartoon, without wondering if Bezos's fascist hand had not first initialed it?

Letter to My Grandsons About the Election

Dear Grandsons,

We have just a few days until the presidential election, and this might be the most important in almost 250 years of American history. Here's why I say that—and please follow the links that I include to the various sources for what I say here.

We have two major candidates with two very different views of our country's past, present, and future, as well as very different positions on the issues.  One tells us how screwed up we are as a country, and how weak we are, and how our country is broken, dysfunctional.  He says our country is a "crime-ridden mess," even though crime continues to drop in most American cities. In 2023, violent crime was at a 50-year low.  

Trump's been telling us for 10 years to fear immigrants as criminals, murderers, and rapists, even though the facts tell us that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than American citizens.  To make them scary, different and, therefore, less equal than the rest of us, he falsely claims that immigrants are eating our dogs and cats and even the geese in the park.  

He says that our economy is in shambles and on the brink of collapse, even though the stock markets continue to set records almost every day, and even though unemployment is the lowest in over 50 years, workers' wages are up, and American business is booming.  Yes, prices are still too high, but inflation is way down compared to where it's been.

By the way, twenty-three Nobel-winning economists agree that Harris's economic plan will be much better for Americans than Trump's.  

Trump even tells us that our system of government is rotten (it isn't), that our elections are rigged (they're not), and that anyone who opposes him politically is a dangerous "radical left lunatic" who should be subject to military control. That would include your grandfather and your mother, as well.

The truth is our constitutional system of government and our elections are the envy of the world, even though many world leaders fear that another Trump presidency could ruin all that and bring disaster to stability in Europe.

In order to trigger the most basic fear among men, whether the fear is acknowledged or not, he tells a stupendous lie about boys who go to school in the morning and come home as girls in the afternoon after their sex change operation in, where, the school nurse's office?

“Can you imagine you’re a parent and your son leaves the house and you say, ‘Jimmy, I love you so much, go have a good day in school,’ and your son comes back with a brutal operation? Can you even imagine this? What the hell is wrong with our country?” Trump said Saturday [September 7] at a campaign rally in Wisconsin, a vital swing state. 

So what will fix all of the vast imaginary mess and all the American weaknesses that infest Donald Trump's imagination? What will it take?  

Well, according to Trump, you certainly would not choose the other candidate who is, after all, a woman and, therefore, weak.  Hey, she doesn't even have penis. Trump constantly insults Kamala Harris as “dumb, weak, and crazy.” He calls her a “radical left lunatic," and we know how Trump believes these people are to be controlled. 

And because of her commitment to obeying the law, even the law regarding treatment of transgender federal prisoners, a law that Trump obeyed, too, when he was President, the Trump campaign has spent tens of million$ on ads during football games in an attempt to trigger every man’s seedlings of castration anxiety and to convince men, young and old, alike, that Kamala Harris is a looming threat to their manhood. Watch out, boys, she's out to cut it off!!!

They think you're that stupid.

In case anyone missed his point, he praises Arnold Palmer during public rallies, no less, as "all-man" because of the alleged size of his penis. Get it? For Trump, penis size defines masculinity, and any threat to it is a threat to your identity.  So listen up, dudes, run to your polling place, cast your vote for Trump, and save your penis before it's too late.

For Trump men, you must certainly, then, choose a strong man who will honor and protect your manhood above all, and the manhood of your children if you have them, a man one who wants very much to be, not only a strong man, but also a “strongman.” 

Now the dictionary defines “strongman” as "a political leader who controls by force; dictator.” Another dictionary defines a strongman as "a politician or leader who uses violence or threats."

For some who lack a sense of security, there may be comfort in being on the side of the “strongman,” as long as the strongman stays in power, of course.  Because the “strongman," or dictator, uses the force of the police and the military to carry out his agenda and stay in power, the dictator’s followers can know they will be protected from arrest as long as they follow the dictates of the dictator. See North Korea or Russia, for instance, where murderous dictators, Kim and Putin, stage elections where they or their hand-picked  candidates receive from 90 to 99 percent of the vote, and where hundreds of thousands march like robots and salute the "dear Leader.”

This week Donald Trump’s former Chief of Staff and four-star general, John Kelly, shared with the world that Trump clearly fits the definition of a “fascist.”  A fascist supports an "autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition.”

Dozens of other former officials appointed by Trump have come forward, too, to say that Trump is unfit to serve. I hope you read some of what they have to say.

Your decision, guys, to register to vote in this election makes me smile, for your actions tell me that you care about participating in the greatest democratic experiment in the history of the world. Because you are voting, you and millions of other young and older people, alike, will determine what life in our country will be like for years to come.  

Your voice is your vote. I hope that when you go vote in just a few days from now that you will choose to make sure that your voice will continue to be heard in the next presidential election.  Otherwise, it might not. 

 

"Trump is a Danger to the Republic" - Mental Health Professionals Are So...

Today's Message and All the Way to the Election

 

Stevie Nicks - The Lighthouse (Official Music Video)

Trump's Bullying Continues to Control The Washington Post

America's only former president and wanna-be dictator has been berating and threatening the media for years, and even today, just days before the most important election in American history, his bullying continues, and it continues to pay off for him.  

I offer Exhibit 1 from today's Washington Post online edition.  Here's the lead story, page 1:

Now let me ask you, regardless of your political persuasion: Is there any news to this story, the single one that WaPo's Editorial Board decided is the most important in the entire world, not just the U.S., but the entire globe? Hasn't the aged and senile speed freak and former President been attacking the media for correcting his endless Niagara of lies for the past decade at least?? 

Of course he has. And that is exactly why he gets front page, above the fold, and with a presidential-looking photo as well.  Just goes to show: the squeaky psychopathic bully gets the grease.

In contrast, where is WaPo's big story about Kamala Harris today? Well, you have to scroll down, past other news stories, beyond the opinion pieces, past the banner ads, past "More Top Reads," past "Better Living," and finally this, a story that actually is about a proposed policy by the leading presidential candidate:

Would Harris get better placement for a real story if she berated the media, threatened the First Amendment, belittled and besmirched reporters, and made a mockery of common sense and the truth?  No doubt she would, if the recent history of the New York Times and the Washington Post can serve as a guide.

 

WaPo and New York Times Duck and Cover to Protect Their Cowardly Asses

Chris Hayes asked last evening, Why must we read this news in a British newspaper? 

Well, Chris, it's because American newspapers self-censor, thus hedging their bets in case the authoritarian gangster clown, Trump, wins the election and tries to shut them down.  Cowardice, plain and simple.

Mark Milley, the US Army general who Donald Trump appointed as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, now says the current Republican presidential nominee is a “fascist to the core” and says no person has ever posed more of a danger to the United States than the man who served as the 45th President of the United States. . .

KIPP Orchestra Teacher Sentenced to 30 Years for Sex Abuse of KIPPsters

 

     Convicted sex abuser Jesus Concepcion                    David Levin KIPP Co-Founder and enabler

The Bronx KIPP Academy's first star orchestra teacher was not Jesus Concepcion (pictured above), but the highly-respected teacher, Charlie Randall, who was hired by David Levin a couple of years after New York's first KIPP school opened in 1995. Randall is the focus of an extended interview with a former KIPP student from that period, and she is just one of the child victims that Randall groomed and sexually abused during his 8-year tenure at the Bronx KIPP Academy. You can read that lengthy in-depth interview here.

Randall, who grew up poor in Florida, was able to do a couple of things for Levin that made him indispensable, regardless of how many times Charlie came to school drunk or how many sexually-charged comments and inappropriate public acts he initiated with the students under his tutelage.  

First and foremost, Charlie would create a positive publicity and marketing machine for Levin's KIPP, one that could get the attention of the corporate media and begin to shake loose the large contributions from New York's philanthrocapitalists and their corporate foundations. Secondly, Charlie knew the South Bronx (having worked as a teacher there since 1972) in ways that Levin, a white privileged nebbish with a Yale degree and no education training and little experience, ever would. 

And so when Randall suggested a protege who was one of his own former violin students, Jesus Concepcion, as an assistant in 1999, of course Levin went along.  So Randall would serve as Concepcion's musical mentor, but he also provided a model for how to successfully molest young school girls.  Concepcion observed Randall's grooming techniques that included providing gifts, food, money, rides home and to school. He observed Randall's openly salacious talk at school about students and their mothers in the presence of Levin and other teachers. He observed Randall drinking from the bottle of Johnny Walker Black that Randall kept in the orchestra room.  He observed Randall offering girls alcohol, and he was tipped off by Randall as to which girls might be the most vulnerable.

When Randall's behavior finally became too much even for David Levin, who was actively hawking KIPP's musical wares during interviews and media appearance, Jesus Concepcion was ready to assume Randall's position as orchestra director, as well the KIPP Academy's child sexual predator. 

In Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner City Schools and the New Paternalism, published by the conservative Fordham Institute in 2008, author David Whitman promotes the cultish behavioral neutering that takes place in No Excuses schools like KIPP. Whitman describes Levin's authoritarian school orchestra leader, Jesus Concepcion, as a "dapper conductor and benevolent baton-wielding despot on the podium" (p. 152). He devotes more than ten pages to Concepcion's "KIPPnotizing techniques." In this brief excerpt, Levin provides the spin:

In the last half-dozen years, the orchestra has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Apollo Theater. During four summer tours, it has given concerts in 18 cities around the country and performed with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and Al Green, the famed rhythm and blues and gospel singer. Playing at Carnegie Hall is a heady experience for sixth, seventh, and eighth graders from the South Bronx, many of whom had never ventured into Manhattan. But for Concepcion and Dave Levin, the founder of KIPP Academy, the orchestra’s appearances in legendary concert halls are less important than the learning that takes place in a lowly rehearsal room in the South Bronx. 'Jesus is an incredible teacher — the kids come first for him,' says Levin. 'He worries first about building the character skills and academic skills and only then about the orchestra.' The orchestra, Levin adds, is 'such a visual example of what we are trying to teach in every aspect of the school. It demonstrates a type of greatness that is possible when students are willing to work together and sacrifice' (pp. 154-155).

The payoff for Levin was great.  The publicity generated by the KIPP school orchestra got the attention of the Gates Foundation and Donald Fisher, whose $15 million gift in 2000, followed by another $20 million over the next four years, allowed co-founders Levin and Feinberg to take KIPP's total compliance cultural sterilization model nationwide.

Levin allowed Randall (who died in late 2023) and Concepcion unfettered access into the lives of KIPP children. Both Randall and Concepcion grew up poor, and both knew the South Bronx.  Randall had taught there since 1972, and Concepcion grew up just blocks away from where he became KIPP's second star school orchestra leader. As Whitman describes in his paean to the KIPP Model, 

. . . Concepcion soon fell in love with the students at KIPP Academy, despite their lack of musical sophistication. In many respects, their stories were his story. He knew what it meant to grow up poor. He made sure to keep a small stash of toiletries in his office to protect orchestra members from feeling embarrassed for going without. He knew what it was like to walk home to the projects alone at night — and after rehearsals started giving several students rides home when a parent or grandmother could not pick them up. He knew, too, that some single parents had chaotic households or demanding work schedules that led their children to be late for school — and so he started driving students to school in the mornings, too (p. 165). 

And now we know that Concepcion was also driving KIPP children to New Jersey motels, where he engaged in sexual acts, both "oral and vaginal." And that Concepcion engaged in these sexual acts with at least four middle school children in KIPP's own "music room and in the back room of School-1’s [KIPP's] auditorium," as well as "in his car, at motels, and at his residences."

Former KIPP students have been bringing civil suits alleging sexual misconduct against the Bronx KIPP Academy and its complicit employees since 2015. With Concepcion now sentenced to 30 years for sex crimes committed after KIPP gained autonomy by being granted charter school status in 1998, KIPP can no longer hide behind the New York City Board of Education, pretending to have no culpability in these horrors. 

Perhaps now Levin, the KIPP Foundation, and the complicit employees who failed to report what they knew or suspected about sex crimes at KIPP, will be held to account for their failure to protect KIPP students and to do what the law required.  Perhaps now the victims will receive some compensation for crimes that can never be fully compensated.  Perhaps now KIPP and its negligent employees will come to understand the real meaning of NO EXCUSES.

At this juncture, the most significant difference between KIPP co-founders Mike Feinberg and David Levin is that the KIPP Foundation fired Mike Feinberg for his sexual misconduct, while David Levin still collects over $495,000 every year for sitting atop the KIPP pyramid with the title “Co-Founder.” Of course, Mike Feinberg was, himself, the alleged assailant, while David Levin inexplicably sat on his, er, hands and did nothing while the Bronx KIPP Academy's child sexual predators had their way with school children ages 9-13. 

Then, again, Levin’s feigned blindness to the sexual atrocities committed against his students is not “inexplicable” at all.  You see, Levin was desperate to get visibility and publicity for his new KIPP Bronx middle school.  That was required in order open the money spigot from philanthropists and corporate foundations. What would be more impressive to the New York Times Editorial Board or the pornographically-wealthy nouveaux riche vanguard of self-serving do-gooders (venture philanthropists) over on Wall Street than a group of well-trained black and brown children of the poor and oppressed from The Bronx, no less, demonstrating their ability to play white classical music. 

                From interview with Brian Lamb, CSPAN 2004

J. D. Vance Fails Coach Walz's One Question Oral Exam

Following the failed insurrection on January 6, 2021, the majority of the Americans who had believed or spouted Trump and Giuliani lies about Trump winning the election eventually allowed the truth to seep into their consciousness. For some diehards, the Big Lie remains central to their political identities.  When I encounter these people, I move off in the other direction, preferring not to spend my time with anyone living in the anti-democratic alternate universe occupied by liars, losers, and authoritarian louts. 

In short, anyone refusing to acknowledge by this late date that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election and that Joe Biden was duly elected in the free and democratic way that the Constitution sets forth, well, those anyones should be avoided just as their views on the matter should be shunned and/or ridiculed.

Near the end of last night's debate, J. D. Vance proved that, despite all his slick sophistry, cardboard charm, and well-lubed rhetoric, he remains a devout dead-ender who does not deserve the slightest consideration for the Constitutional office to which he aspires.  Vance let the world know that he would surely fail the test of anyone aspiring to be Vice-President: if he had the opportunity to do the bidding of Boss Trump, he would refuse to certify the votes of the Electoral College, thus blocking the peaceful transfer of power that undergirds our democratic republic. The entire transcript can be found here, but here near the end of the debate is the core part of that exchange last evening:

TW:  . . . . This [January 6 insurrection] was a threat to our democracy in a way that we had not seen. And it manifested itself because of Donald Trump's inability to say, he is still saying he didn't lose the election. I would just ask that. Did he lose the 2020 election?

JDV: Tim, I'm focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?

TW: That is a damning--that is a damning non-answer.

Governor Walz concluded the debate with this, which, in his commonsense cut-to-the-chase way, sums up the choice on November 5:

America, I think you've got a really clear choice on this election of who's going to honor . . . democracy and who's going to honor Donald Trump.

 

Free Course Syllabus for Graduate Level Ed Leadership Program

I am offering this syllabus to anyone who wants to use it in its entirety or in part. All that I ask is acknowledgement of its origin. --James Horn

Course #______ Antiracist School Leadership

Department Name: Educational Leadership

Program: Educational Leadership

Course Title: Antiracist School Leadership

Syllabus: James Horn, PhD

Course Dates and Time:

Class is designed for 6 class meetings. It was taught as a weekend intensive in-person course. It was last taught in 2023.

Six Meeting dates TBD, each 9 AM-4 PM

Description:

The course will provide school leaders opportunities to understand how schools can be a powerful force for equity and equality in American society. Through readings, presentations, and critical discussions, students will identify effective strategies for identifying and countering institutional racism and for creating and sustaining antiracist schools and communities. This course will engage school leaders and prospective leaders in strategies and tactics for creating and maintaining school policies and practices consistent with democratic principles of equity and equality. Central to the course will an examination of specific frameworks, principles, strategies, and tactics that may be used to design effective antiracist school programs and environments. 

3 Graduate Credit Hours

Course Content and Design:

This class will operate principally as a readings-based critical discussion, even though lecture may be offered to provide connections and contexts among the ideas, events, and concepts that form the focal points of the course. Because assigned readings will provide the focal point for our discussions, it is essential that students read with a spirit of inquiry, mindful awareness, and collegial sharing.

Course Requirements:

Students are required to:

•  Attend all classes

•  Engage in all assigned readings, activities, posting, and assignments

•  Exhibit professionalism and civility at all times.

Required Readings:

Aguilar, E. (2020). Coaching for equity: Conversations that change practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (Paper $23.80)

Benson, T., Fiarman, S. & Singleton, G. (2020). Unconscious bias in schools: A developmental approach to exploring race and racism (Revised edition). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. (Paper $30.40)

Lewis, A., & Diamond. J. (2015). Despite the best intentions: How racial inequality thrives in good schools. New York: Oxford University Press.

Recommended Readings Not Required:

Brooks, J. & Theoharis, G. (2019). Whiteucation: Privilege, power, and prejudice. New York: Routledge.

Bryant, T., & Arrington, E. (2022). The antiracism handbook: Practical tools to shift your mindset and uproot racism in your life and community. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.

DiAngelo, R. (2018). White fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism. Boston: Beacon Press.

Fritzgerald, A. (2020). Antiracism and universal design for learning. Wakefield, MA: Cast, Inc.

Kendi, I. (2019). How to be an antiracist. New York: One World.

Love, B. (2020). We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom. Boston: Beacon Press. (Paper $12.69)

Other readings and videos will be assigned as the course proceeds to supplement these basic texts.

Outcomes of the Course:

1. 1) Students will analyze, understand, and reflect upon the role of schools in a free society to advance antiracist programs and practices that strengthen democratic governance, equality, and equity;

2. 2) Students will understand how societal power relations are reflected in schools in ways that advance and inhibit equity, equality, and social justice;

3. 3) Students will understand that commitments to organizational structures, curriculums, and assessment practices have deep ethical implications for the ongoing development of healthy, informed, citizens who are capable of making life choices that work for them and for the good of society;

4. 4) Students will understand where their own values fit within a range of political and moral constituencies and special interests;

5. 5) Students will understand that academic achievement gaps are focused on in ways that conceal education debts to oppressed groups that have gone unpaid for generations;

6. 6) Students will explore current awareness strategies for achieving best practices for antiracist ideas and actions within the school community;

7. 7) Students will interpret, explain, and critique specific educational policies and practices that impede or encourage healthy antiracist practices in schools and the communities they reflect;

8. 8) Students will reflect carefully and critically on their own assumptions, educational background, cultural history (vis-à-vis race, ethnicity, language, SES, etc.), that affect our values, ideas, and actions to structural and institutional racism;

9. 9) Students will understand that the organization and curriculum of schools reflect widely varying levels of commitment to democratic principles and conceptions of equality.

Procedure

This class will operate principally as a readings-based critical discussion, even though a number of lectures will be offered to provide connections and contexts among the ideas, events, and concepts that form the focal points of the course. Because assigned readings will provide the focal point for our discussions, it is essential that you read with a spirit of inquiry and mindful awareness.

Assessment 1:  Discussion questions from the readings— 6 @ 50 points (300 points)

Your contribution to the class is essential.  In large part, your contribution will depend upon your timely and reflective engagement with the assigned written and visual texts.  In order to help the reflective process, I am as asking you to write one (or more) insightful question(s) for each of the assigned readings for our six class meetings. These questions should focus on important insights, claims, ideas, themes, concepts, or theories that are central to the readings and that are worth discussing among the group.

Your questions should indicate that you have thought about potential responses to your questions and that you are prepared to weigh in on responses from your classmates and the professor. Discussion questions should require students to think critically and analytically and to provide explanatory or interpretive responses that indicate a close reading of the written and/or visual texts. Your questions, too, should lead us toward fulfilling the goals and expectations for the course.

Please send me a copy of your questions prior to class as a Word doc, rtf file, LibreOffice file, etc. (No Google docs, please). Remember—write at least one good discussion question from each of the assigned reading/viewing for the day.

Assignment 2: Class Participation (200 points)

Evaluation guidelines for Class Participation

A = 200 points

1. Attends all class sessions

2. Consistently contributes to class discussion and group activities

3. Exhibits a constructive, civil, and positive attitude

4. Always ready for class as evidenced by assignments completed.

Assignment 3: Analysis of Racist and Antiracist policies and practices (250 points)

We will spend much of the semester unpacking two of Professor Ibram Kendi’s definitions that are central to this course:

Racist: One who is supporting a racist policy through their actions or inactions or expressing a racist idea.

Antiracist: One who is supporting an antiracist policy or practice through their actions or expressing an antiracist idea.

Furthermore, a racist supports policies and practices, by action or inaction, that maintain or increase racial inequity, while an antiracist supports policies and practices that reduce racial inequity.

This assignment asks students to use all that you have learned during the semester to identify a system-wide policy or practice, a school policy or practice, or classroom policy or practice that discriminates against or disenfranchises a certain group or groups of students based on race or ethnicity. Remember: racism may be intended or unintended, conscious or unconscious. The effects on students are the same, however, regardless of the intent.

You are asked to use our readings and discussions and your own insights to analyze the policies or practices in ways that address these questions:

• Specifically, what are the effects on students that make the policy or practice racist?

• Whose power was exercised to put the policy into place?

• How do those charged with administering the policy or practice deal with criticisms and attempts to change it?

• What would be the most effective way to neutralize the racist effects of the policy or practice?

• Who wins and who loses by the continued implementation of the policy or practice?

This assignment will be discussed further each time the class meets.

Assignment 4: Final Exam (250 points)

The three books we have read this semester, along with the videos and our discussions of them, offer entry points to many important concepts, insights, theories, strategies, and tools for becoming and continuing to be effective antiracist school leaders. As you reflect on where you started this semester and where you are today with regards to knowledge, skills, cultural competence, will, and emotional intelligence, how would you assess your progress in these and other relevant learning areas during the term? How have the materials and discussions (be as specific as you can) that we have engaged in contributed to your personal and professional growth toward understanding race and racism? What do you see as your primary opportunities and challenges to becoming the equity-focused educational leader that you want to be? (1,500 words minimum)

Grading Scale for Course (1000 points):

930-1000 A

900-929 A-

870-899 B+

800-869 B

Below 800 NC

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to maintain integrity in all academic work. They will not attempt to get grades by any means other than honest academic effort. All work must be completed by individual students except for group projects. It is not permissible to hand in the same work for different courses.

Plagiarism is the use of another’s work, thoughts, or language without giving credit. Cambridge College students will not summarize, copy, or use the work of another person or source without proper acknowledgement. Plagiarism is dishonest and a serious academic offense.

What Is Plagiarism at Indiana University? You will find a short quiz with immediate feedback, as well as other resources.

Part II – Class Agenda

Session 1

Topic: Course overview and beginning the immersion

Required Readings:

Benson & Fiarman (2020), pp. 1-29 (Introduction and Chapter 1)

Aguilar (2020), pp. 1-48 (Introduction and Chapter 1)

Lewis & Diamond (2015), pp. xiii-17 (Prologue and Chapter 1)

Activities and Assignments:

As you become familiar with the readings for the course, examine the Contents pages, prefatory comments, indexes, references, etc. Please bring to class at least one discussion question derived from each of the assigned reading. These questions may be related to how your own experiences relate to the ideas, concepts, and positions taken by the authors.

Videos viewed during class:

A Look at Race Relations through a Child's Eyes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPVNJgfDwpw

Kids speak their minds about race

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OKgUdQF-Fg

RACE – THE POWER OF AN ILLUSION: How the Racial Wealth Gap Was Created

https://vimeo.com/133506632

Other resources:

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack:

https://nationalseedproject.org/images/documents/Knapsack_plus_Notes-Peggy_McIntosh.pdf

Worksheets and Other Resources for Coaches—Aguilar

https://brightmorning.wpengine.com/coaching-tools/

Session 2

Required Readings:

Benson & Fiarman (2020), pp. 31-72 (Chapters 2-3)

Aguilar (2020), pp. 49-76 (Chapter 2) .

Lewis & Diamond (2015), pp. 17-44 (Chapter 2)

Required Viewing Prior to Class

If you are not a member of Vimeo, go to this site and sign up. It’s free.

Once you have joined Vimeo, please pay $4.99 for access to this 3-part documentary: Race: The Power of an Illusion. Once you have done so, watch Part 1 prior to class on June 25.

Activities In-Class:

Disparate Treatment of New Jersey Teens at Mall

https://abcnews.go.com/US/police-response-mall-fight-prompts-outrage-investigation-treatment/story?id=82927516

Session 3

Required Readings:

Benson & Fiarman (2020), pp. 73-117 (Chapters 4-6)

Aguilar, pp. 73-100 (Chapter 3)

A deadly Ideology: How the “Great Replacement Theory” went mainstream

In class:

Jay Smooth: how to tell someone they sound racist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc

Jay Smooth TedX:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbdxeFcQtaU

Berkeley Diversity Dashboard:

https://diversity.berkeley.edu/reports-data/diversity-data-dashboard

Pedro Noguera—the color of discipline:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHykVTKqahM

What’s your race got to do with it? Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-Q9Ue3slCY

What’s Your Race Got to Do With It (Vimeo)

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/whatsracegottodowithit

What’s your race got to do with it? Social Disparities and Student Success (printable facilitator’s guide)

http://www.whatsrace.org/images/WhatsRaceGuide.pdf

Ron Ferguson tripod surveys:

https://tripoded.com/about-us-2/

Examples:

https://tripoded.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Tripod-Survey-Instrument.pdf

Aguilar tracking tool example:

https://brightmorning.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Teacher-to-Student-Tracking-Tool-Example-1.pdf

Session 4

Required Readings/Viewing:

A Class Divided. PBS Frontline.

Benson & Fiarman (2020), ; 117-175 (Chapters 7-10)

Aguilar (2020), pp. 101-174 ( Chapters 4-6)

Viewing (in class):

Race: The Power of an Illusion, Part 2

Links:

Coaching lenses by Aguilar:

http://www.brightmorningteam.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Coaching-Lenses.pdf

Session 5

Required Readings:

Aguilar (2020), (Chapters 4-6, 9-12)

Session 6

Required Readings/Viewing:

Lewis & Diamond (2015), pp. 45-180 (Chapters 4-6)

I Am Not Your Negro (James Baldwin documentary)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PaAbmRJ9bQ

In class viewing:

Explained: Racial Wealth Gap

SAT Scores and Family Income

Stamped for Kids

Waiting for Superman: An Assessment from a Social Justice Perspective

At Success Academy School, a Stumble in Math and a Teacher’s Anger on Video

Success Academy's War Against Children

The Moynihan Report Resurrected

Student presentations for Assignment 3.