Anti-Racism Task Force Recommendations

List of 6 items.

• Alumnae Experience

  Outcome statement:

  Utilize focus groups, surveys, social networking sessions, and mentorships to: foster transparency regarding the experiences among black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), non-typical alumnae and current students; translate findings to bring about positive change to our present student body’s experiences and Magnificat’s reputation; improve cultural competence and foster anti-racism among alumnae via education and social interaction.
  
  

  The overarching goals are to engage motivated alumnae in inclusive, equitable anti-racism work at Magnificat and to positively impact the experiences of current students, future students, and alumnae who seek to enhance their knowledge and anti-racism practices.
  
  

  Recommendations: 

  • Listen to BIPOC alumnae -- in focus groups and listening sessions to discover specific concerns
  • Create a list of BIPOC alumnae 
  • Open groups to alumnae to encourage variety of input 
  • Create a survey specific to BIPOC alumnae – results can be reviewed overtime
  • Based on needs as defined by the above activities, consider the following activities – create an alumnae group or Facebook group specially for BIPOC alums; provide mentoring opportunities with students; ensure representation on alumnae board; create a Social Justice Center in publications/online to highlight the challenges and opportunities for involvement; host a book club or semiannual school read led by BIPOC alumnae; and yearly seminars related to DEI for alumnae
  • Year I – focus groups with invited alumnae; establish working committee to oversee the work
  • Year 2 – complete plan to implement strategies as determined by the BIPOC group and administration. Distribute survey by the end of the year as baseline findings. 
  • Year 3 – At least 3 major changes should be implemented – such as alumnae board member representing the BIPOC alumnae; mentorship program; regular meetings of the working committee 
  • Year 4 – repeat survey of alumnae; evaluate percentage change in BIPOC alumnae participation in activities 
  • Year 5 – analyze successes/failures and make changes as needed

• Parent & Guardian Engagement

  Outcome Statement:
  Make parents and guardians of color feel welcome and increase white parents and guardians understanding/awareness of issues of diversity at Magnificat.
  
  

  Recommendations: 

  • Meet potential parents and guardians in their neighborhoods or at the schools their children attend to discuss Magnificat’s culture, academics, opportunities, etc. to establish pre-engagement relationships
  • Leadership should explore how to pre-engage with incoming parents and guardians during summer programs 
  • Host welcome events similar to Urban Community School’s potluck in the parking lot 
  • Assemble parent/guardian ambassadors to welcome parents and guardians at school events 
  • Have current parents and guardians send handwritten notes to new parents welcoming the to the Magnificat community and offering up themselves as a contact to help navigate the school community 
  • Reorganize the Mother’s and Father’s clubs into a single Parent and Guardian club 
  • Spring 2022 – start conversations with the current Mother’s and Father’s Club leadership to share thoughts and ideas regarding the integration of the current clubs into a single Parent/Guardian club, with the goal of implementing a newly formed club in the 2022-23 academic year
  • Add a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) chair and committee to the newly formed Parent/Guardian Club 
  • Leadership reach out to other local, Catholic schools to explore best practices for parent/guardian engagement that connect parents/guardians and students of all backgrounds with each other for unifying experiences
  • Leadership make education around DEI issues and privilege a priority in the Mothers/Fathers Club meetings and events going forward
  • Consult trusted sources (articles, studies, DEI professionals) so that leadership can show parents/guardians how a reorganized Mothers/Fathers Club with a DEI lens can be beneficial to the Magnificat Community – parents and guardians, students, alumni, staff, as well as the global society
  •  Leadership supports the Mother’s and Father’s Club Coordinator’s efforts and changes for the 2022-23 academic year (transition to a single parent/guardian club) by forming an advisory committee composed of alumni, marketing staff, and other identified members 
  • Leadership hosts listening sessions with parents and guardians through the various touchpoints that guardians and parents interact with the school, e.g., athletics, performing arts, service groups, etc., to establish a baseline of where the parents and guardians are regarding diversity
  • Leadership craft ways to use the Agape mural at Magnificat as an engagement conversation starter with parents and guardians regarding diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI)
  • Leadership create events for all school parents and guardians that focus on cultural diversity 

• Professional Development & Anti-Racist Training

  Outcome Statement:
  We will propose a plan for professional development aimed at increasing the extent to which Magnificat is a community committed to anti-racism including (but not limited to): common definitions; establishing and refining what diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) means for Magnificat and how it fits into individual and school-wide goals; knowing and understanding systems while also acknowledging interpersonal dynamics.
  
  

  Recommendations: 

  • Recommend anti-racism/DEI-focused professional development (PD) that fits into Magnificat’s short and mid-term PD plans and specifically supports the recently added (2020-2021 school year) curriculum guiding principle: “Supports cultural responsiveness and promotes and advances racial literacy.” 
  • Research credible institutions and/or organizations that can help support Magnificat with the creation and implementation of a transparent and disseminated scope and sequence for PD with strong experience in DEI and antiracism
  • Create, normalize, and socialize a list of common terms & definitions for what they mean in the context of Magnificat High School – such as diversity, equity, inclusion, vision for antiracism at Magnificat, bias, types of racism, etc. 
  • Prioritize DEI/anti-racism professional development that is specific to the Leadership Team at Magnificat as a starting point 
  • PD Tier I – PD for all – start with a set of content topics that are inclusive of all faculty and staff members at Magnificat, inclusive but not limited to self-awareness, unconscious bias, microaggressions and microaffirmations training; overview of antiracism (construction of race, history of racism in Northeast Ohio/Cleveland area and the US, conscious inclusion, and what it means to be an antiracist, etc.) 
  • PD Tier II – create differentiated pathways to opt into Communities of Practice (COP’s or PLC’s) around topics aligned with Tier I trainings that could allow for individuals to explore deeper discussions and learnings on selected topics; assist faculty & staff in trainings and support on creating individual or department level DEI/antiracism plans of action; create targeted PD for how & why to infuse culturally responsive teaching pedagogy and social emotional learning (SEL) practices in subject areas outside of the humanities (i.e. math, science, PE/health, etc.) 
  • Hire a curriculum instructional specialist/coach and/or aligned position (s) to serve as a coach for teachers and staff that specializes in this work & the greater SEL integration into all department curriculum within the school
  • Support the Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to reinforce ongoing training/learning for additional stakeholders (i.e. parents/families, community partners, and board members) 
  • Begin to develop a document for faculty around educational equity and culturally responsive instructional practices to be used as the basis of formative feedback for individual coaching sessions with CIS/instructional support person (s). Should be stressed as non-evaluative especially for initial implementation/socialization year (s). 
  • Continuously and actively reinforce PD with benefits that being an antiracist institution/organization will bring. Utilize data and anecdotal evidence to support growth and strength of messages as well as celebrate successes tied to this work 
  • Research potential collaboration opportunities for PD with other area Diocese of Cleveland High Schools to share resources, PD sessions, and other strategic approaches with ties to this work

• Racial Dialogue

  Outcome Statement:

  Students will be able to identify the various reasons for systemic racism, racial inequities, the imbalance of power structures, and implicit/explicit bias in America. In addition, students are better equipped to engage in important racial dialogues with the goal of greater allyship with and empathy for all people. 

  
  

  Recommendations: 

  • Create a course (or courses) – English, Social Studies, and Theology departments seem most appropriate – that specifically teaches the history of systemic racism, racial inequities, the imbalance of power structures and implicit/explicit bias in America.  Ideally, this course would be required for all students within the first two years of high school.  Piloting the course as an upper-level elective in order to refine the curriculum as much as possible is recommended but not necessary.
  • Create units in existing courses across the curriculum that address systemic racism, racial inequities, the imbalance of power structures and implicit/explicit bias in America.  
  • In conjunction with the proposed course(s) aimed to enhance each student’s racial literacy, interventions that provide jumping off points for racial dialogue will be facilitated by the Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and a team of educators/experts the director selects. Students in the new course and/or the newly established affinity groups would provide a logical starting point to engage in important racial dialogues with the goal of greater allyship with and empathy for all people. (Long-term goal: include other stakeholders in these racial dialogues.)
  • Racial dialogues led by DEI director might begin with newly formed affinity groups of African-American students; Asian students; Latina/Hispanic students; and Cultures and Traditions Clubs; and existing groups such as the Muslim Student Association, Civil Discourse Club; Cultures and Traditions Club; the Feminism Club; the Gender and Sexuality Alliance; and the Peace and Social Justice Club.  
  • Events that could provide a space for these important racial dialogues to occur may include but not be limited to the following: advisory during cultural heritage months; LGBTQ month; Equity Summit –expand to a weeklong event; 9th grade orientation; Compass Class curriculum for integration across four years; and  two-day retreat for racial and social justice 
  • Also included a list of non-fiction books, film, and documentaries – They are not  intended to be complete.  Some of these works or excerpts may already be utilized in the curriculum.  The committee also does not expect the use of any work or film without the facilitator or teacher fully engaging with the work prior to use with students or others engaged in facilitated racial dialogues.  The overwhelming majority of works on the list are by BIPOC authors or directors, and do in some way address systemic racism and its history.
  • Workbook
    The Racial Healing Handbook: Practical Activities to Help You Challenge Privilege, Confront Systemic Racism and Engage in Collective Healing, Anneliese A. Singh, PhD, LPC, 2019
  • Non-Fiction
    The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin, c. 1962
    The Price of the Ticket, by James Baldwin, c. 1987
    Conversations with James Baldwin, edited by Fred L. Standley and Louis H. Pratt, c. 1989
    Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, by Eddie S. Glaude Jr., c. 2020
    Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson, c. 2020
    The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein, c.   2017
    Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, c. 2015
    Toni Morrison: The Last Interview and Other Conversations, c. 2020
    The 1619 Project, created by Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times Magazine, c. 2021
    How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, by Clint Smith, c. 2021
    How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi, c. 2019
    Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, c. 2020
    The Souls of Black Folk, by W. E. B. Du Bois, c. 1903
    The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley, c. 1965
    Up from Slavery, by Booker T. Washington, c. 1901
    Bending Toward Justice:  The Voting Rights Act and the Transformation of American Democracy, by Gary May, c. 2013
    The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, by Jon Meacham, c. 2018
    How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America, by Heather Richardson, c. 2020
    Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, by David Blight, c. 2018
    The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson, c. 2010
    Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson, c. 2014
    Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880, by W. E. B. Du Bois, c. 1935
    Eyes on the Prize:  America’s Civil Rights Movement, c. 1987, documentary
  • Film & Documentary
    13th, documentary about mass incarceration in the U. S. by Ava Duvernay, c. 2016
    I Am Not Your Negro, documentary about James Baldwin by Raoul Peck, c.2017
    Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement, c. 1987, documentary
    Selma, film by Ava Duvernay, c. 2015
    The Hate U Give, book by Angela Thomas, c. 2016; film by George Tillman, Jr.,  2018
  • Podcast
    Nice White Parents, Chana Joffe-Walt, c. 2020, 5-part series examines how white parents say they want diversity in schools but then sabotage those efforts; available on Apple podcasts

• Recruitment & Retention

  Outcome Statement:
  Magnificat High School will develop programs, processes, and communication that will enable and support achieving increased recruitment and retention of BIPOC students, faculty, staff, and board members while continuing to foster an inclusive environment that welcomes all.
  
  

  Recommendations:
  

  • Overall, recommendations call for early identification programs and providing these programs throughout the school year; targeted communication and outreach to increase the school’s visibility in BIPOC communities; and assessment of current and future transportation needs and the development of  solutions for current/prospective students
  • Create a series of free Saturday camp events targeting girls from Catholic elementary schools and parishes that are underrepresented at Magnificat; target girls in grades 4-7 and their parents; partner with elementary schools to provide transportation for Saturday sessions; draw on Magnificat’s strengths for themes, such as Performing Arts, STEM, Visual Arts, Empowerment, Service or Sports. These sessions are aimed at building awareness, relationships, and connections with girls, parents and schools before high school decisions are made.
  • Enhance efforts to reach every Catholic Elementary School
  • Leverage Magnificat High School sports and Performing Arts by inviting elementary school teams or groups to attend performances, meets and games; partner with elementary schools to provide transportation
  • Proactively reach out to Catholic elementary schools that under-enroll at Magnificat to provide event tickets and offer “swag” to be used for incentives or fundraising events at the school
  • Use the materials/story behind the Agape Mural at Magnificat to emphasize the school’s efforts and focus on DEI and social justice issues. Highlight relationships/positive outcomes of the mural and its impact on the communities of Magnificat, St. Adalbert/OLBS and others through Northeast Ohio Catholic media (i.e. Northeast Ohio Catholic magazine). 
  • Prioritize developing a transportation program that will enable more girls to choose Magnificat. 
  • Develop a pipeline of BIPOC alumnae, parents, and community leaders as prospective members of the Board of Directors
  • Balance need for local members with BIPOC goals and consider decreasing board terms if this interferes with DEI goals
  • Expand the processes for sourcing and interviewing faculty and staff talent in order to attract a diverse pipeline of candidates
  • Develop pipeline to broaden diversity of Board of Directors

• School Policies & Procedures

  Outcome Statement:
  Provide framework and tools to proactively guide students, faculty, and staff attitudes and behaviors as they relate to Magnificat policies. Clearly define school policies through an equitable lens to create a DEI environment for every member or potential member of the Magnificat community. Create specific guidelines for a review board to follow, should instances of harassment or discrimination occur. 
  
  

  Recommendations:

  • In the Student Handbook, broaden and deepen expectations for student behavior that is fully aligned with Magnificat’s core values
  • Collect data about the types of incidents that occur, the frequency of those incidents and the outcomes; use data to show trends and improve disciplinary process; make data available to the public to show transparency and accountability
  • Make DEI and anti-racism the cultural norm for the entire Magnificat community
  • Define restorative justice policy and clearly outline when restorative justice practices are appropriate vs. punitive action
  • Train all staff on restorative justice practices
  • Educate all students on restorative justice practices and how they can be implemented into their personal life outside of school
  • Offer educational opportunities for parents/caregivers/guardians to learn about restorative justice practices and how they can be implemented into their personal lives
  • Explore creating a Review Board to help minimize bias in disciplinary decisions
  • Thoroughly examine employee handbook
  • Holistically reviewed the employee handbook in order to enforce and promote the DEI values/practices employees will glean from trainings
  • Have all staff attend trainings – possibilities include Third Space Action Lab- Racial Equity Institute Groundwater courses 
  • Compare Magnificat handbook with other local schools’ handbooks to determine best practices and produce new ideas
  • Research best practices for policies/procedures 
  • Communicate with DEI advisors at local schools
  • Form committee with DEI representatives from various schools to look at policies and procedures