Racism, sexism, ableism, and other forms of hatred are causing intense pain and suffering in our world now, across the globe and right here in the Conejo Valley.

Keep in touch, hello@gill4cvusd.com

Some ask, what should CVUSD do about it? This is an important question to ask because it is in the shared spaces of our public schools that we foster empathy and critical thinking skills: empathy to truly see, appreciate, and honor others; critical thinking to ask why things are the way they are and to imagine and create a better world.

Our school district embodies a paradox. On the one hand, our district is full of tremendously skilled, caring professionals giving their all each day. On the other hand, our district is part of a system—public education—that was originally created for the few, not the many. Despite efforts over time to make public education ever more inclusive and fair, vestiges of exclusion still exist.

These exclusionary elements exist, and we are obligated to see them and to dismantle them.

Traditions often bind us together in community. But sometimes doing things the way they were done before makes us unwitting perpetuators of exclusionary practices.

When an English teacher distributes a syllabus containing exclusively white male authors to a class of multi-cultured, multi-lingual, multi-gendered students, what is the impact? What message is sent about whose stories matter, about who gets to tell stories at all?

We have to grapple with the paradox. We have to look at impact, not just intent.

We have to examine the data:

Quantitative data: Disproportionate numbers of our Black and brown students, our students with disabilities, our multilingual students receiving Ds and Fs

Qualitative data: Student reports of hate speech and/or harassment on our campuses

We have to sit with this data and feel uncomfortable.

We have to engage our empathy to sit in the pain and suffering that systemic exclusion causes.

And we have to get busy with our critical thinking skills to identify why this is happening and to create a better way forward.

The first job of the School Board is to set direction for the district. For CVUSD, that means we work, in collaboration with our Superintendent, with district leadership, and with the entire school community, to pursue equity and excellence.

We can’t have excellence without equity. We can’t have a system where some thrive and others merely survive. All means all.

Changing systems is work that requires deliberate focus over time. There is no magical overnight cure. But it is good work. Every bit of hard-earned progress makes our collective experience better.

We seek to do this work because we urgently need to stop the harm, end the trauma. Hatred inflicts terrible wounds. We must make it stop.

But there’s so much more to work for. We deserve a better, richer, safer, freer community—and it is very much in our power to create that community. When the richness of voices, cultures, and experiences in our community are recognized, affirmed, and honored; when we eliminate the justice gap; when resources are shared equitably, then all of us will be safer, more whole, and more free.

We can all help, and we will all benefit.

If you have experienced or witnessed racism, harassment, intimidation, or other acts of hatred within our school community, please report it here: https://conejousd.org/.../Annual-Notifications-Complaint.... You may make a confidential report.

Please speak up, stand up, work for, and insist on the community we all deserve.

We can all help, and we all benefit.

-Lauren