Pandemics, the CDD, Speaking in Your Own Voice, and Conspiracy Theories

Greetings fellow internet denizens! You probably noticed that I haven’t posted in quite some time. In fact, you may have noticed that I promised some more posts on the CDD, posts which never materialized. Well, what happened was two-fold: I got bogged down in research, and then a pandemic hit. I’m in education, so I’ve spent the past several weeks in a frenzy, like most people in education I know.

But I’ve emerged for a few moments, Pre-Pesach, to share a few things about how I see the CDD debate going. I ask you to please read this post, and (humbly) I ask you to share it. I don’t have all the answers here, but I believe there are some issues with the district’s plan to gather feedback – especially feedback from speakers of other languages – that merit scrutiny. There are also some conspiracy theories swirling around that I want to address. So I ask you to make it through this post with me.

The Final Plan

The central issue is whether or not to delay the vote on the final CDD plan. I’m not going to expend much time on the plan itself: it is much the same as the last time I wrote. The 5 plans were always 5 variations on a theme, and that theme is what has been presented to the board:

– A shift to K-5 and 6-8. There will be two K-8 options: Jefferson and Sullivan.

– Centralized magnets, with changes in what types of magnets are offered

– An Academic Plan that hasn’t gotten nearly enough scrutiny, including a flawed approach to Literacy (check out my old post on that).

– High school students enrolled in a 9-12 program in 20-21 will get to stay with that program for their whole HS career; students entering HS after that will abide by new boundary changes.

– 3 CTE sites: North, Edison, and Roosevelt (with a possible Education offering at Henry).

Speaking in One’s Own Voice

The details aren’t what’s important right now: that’s what there is. There are plenty of people who are not happy with the plan. But the central issue right now is: should it pass, or not? And should the vote to (not) pass it happen on May 12th, as is currently planned, or should it be delayed?

Note: the April 7th statement, linked to above, says the vote date is May 12th. Several outlets have reported that the date is April 28th, and indeed this used to be true, but it has changed.

How will people comment on the CDD if meetings are held virtually? According to this statement, those who wish to comment will call in to a voicemail line (instructions are available in several languages when you dial) and leave their comment. The comment will then be played during the board meeting. The board will play the first three hours of comments it receives. There is a two minute time limit.

Here is an equity issue: if your comment is left in another language, it will be translated into English and then played at the meeting (I found this out by calling in to the line and listening to the directions). Here’s my problem with that: at regular board meetings, comments in other languages are heard in real time, and then translated into English. This allows speakers of other languages to uplift their own voices (often with translators of their choice). It allows them to show anger, grief, support, happiness, frustration. It’s a linguistic issue of pragmatics: utterances aren’t just the words they contain. They are volume, intonation, pauses, emotions conveyed in many ways. (Trust me, I should know. I’m autistic. I know these parts of language are important because they are what trip me up when communicating with others).

Having comments given in multiple languages also allows those listening who speak other languages to connect with the speaker on a linguistic (and often personal) level. This is an issue of representation, of windows and mirrors.

Much will be lost if comments are only given in English, and not in the voices of the original commenters. This also gives an inequitable advantage to native English speakers and those who can comment in English: they will have the power to communicate in their own voices. Literally.

Seeing With One’s Own Eyes

There’s another issue: access to the meeting itself. Though most families have phones to leave voicemails with (which is probably why the voicemail system was created), many will be unable to watch the meeting. Even though it is possible to stream the meeting with a phone, many families I work with are operating with limited data plans (and data plans are all some have, without internet access at home). Have you ever tried to stream live video on a limited data plan? What about after having your phone in use by your children for hours, since this is the only way they can do their school work (if your district hasn’t yet delivered you a computer, or won’t be able to at all)?

To Delay, or Not to Delay?

There were many calls to delay the vote before now. Many families and stakeholders felt surprised by the proposals, though they had been in the works for quite some time. (To be fair about that: I may be one of two people in the state who enjoys reading school board meeting minutes. Also: board meetings are long, hard to get to, and go very late, which is tricky if you have multiple jobs/children). Generally speaking, if you had asked me before now if the CDD vote should be delayed, I would have said “no.” That’s because I felt – and feel – that the systemic problems at MPS need to be addressed speedily. Children and families are exiting at an alarming rate. Change needs to happen now.

However, that was BCM: Before Coronavirus in Minnesota. Now, the pandemic is here, and it has brought with it instability and distance learning. The needs of our students haven’t changed. Neither has the need for the CDD. I still believe that many of its provisions (minus the truly terrible reading parts of its Academic Plan) are important and should be enacted, and speedily.

So if the issues are the same, and the need is there, why delay? Comments will probably not sway the board members from their original positions on the CDD. Comments have not drastically reshaped the District’s approach to its CDD options. (To be fair, community engagement has resulted in some concessions: changes to the high-school timeline and maintaining two K-8 options attest to that. But the general form of the plan remains the same).

The clock is also ticking. Budget decisions must be made by June 30th. Even though most CDD plans wouldn’t go into effect until the 2021-2022 school year, the District does need time to plan for all that change. So shouldn’t the vote just move ahead?

Akiva’s Take

What do I think? In an ideal world, I wouldn’t want the CDD passed as-is. Mainly, I would want significant, research-based changes to the Academic Plan. In an ideal world, I would delay the vote until this could be done, and until speakers of other languages could be heard (literally). Failing that (and with budget decisions coming up, a delay might not be possible), I would ask the district to revise its comment policy for speakers of other languages. Yes, this would mean 4 minutes for each non-English comment instead of 2 for English speakers (to allow for translation). However, I truly believe that this is an equity issue.

Giving everyone the same amount of time to talk, regardless of language, is equality.

Insisting that speakers of other languages be heard in their own voices, as well as in English – even if this means that their comments take up more time – is equity.

A Note on Conspiracy Theories

A quick note about conspiracy theories. A Google Doc has been floating around that accuses local group “Advancing Equity Coalition” of being a conspiracy run by local foundations in the interest of “privatizing” schools and passing the CDD. As “proof” of these allegations, the Google Doc provides a list of Advancing Equity Coalition members and community organizations, many of which have received funding from the Graves Foundation and/or other foundations. Among the organizations listed are Literacy Minnesota (erroneously listed as the Minnesota Literacy Council), HACER, and The Northside Achievement Zone.

I will now say some personal things, relevant to my life. Literacy Minnesota has provided ESL tutoring, for free, for some of the families I work with, many of whom are undocumented. NAZ works with charter schools, yes, but it also works with the wonderful Nellie Stone Johnson. HACER, Isuroon, and other organizations on that list have helped families I know. These organizations, and the people in them, are working for our communities every day.

Yes, some of them work with charter schools, or private schools. But many people in our communities – including many EL families and families of color – attend charter schools. Of course, not all families of color have the same experiences. Although I have to say, I haven’t yet met one family that was drawn back to MPS by being shamed about where they send their kids. I’ve never seen someone convinced by being told they and the community organizations that support them – which often represent communities demographically much better than the MPS teaching force, I might add – are unwitting pawns in a big-money conspiracy.

Are there organizations in that Google Doc there I have no experience with? Sure. Are there organizations on there I don’t love? Sure. (Never been a big Students for Education Reform person myself, though their point person in MN seems well informed). Do I believe for one minute that they are out to get MPS? No, I don’t. Are there people out there who want to see MPS fail? I’d believe it. Are they all organized together in a huge conspiracy funded by secret, dark money? No, they are not.

How am I so sure? Well, I’m an observant Jew. We’re at the center of many of the world’s conspiracies, including ones related to controlling things via money. I’m also autistic, and there are a lot of conspiracy theories out there about autism/vaccines/shadow governments. They aren’t real, fellow internet denizens.

For a conspiracy theory like this to be real, it would require a huge amount of secret coordination between a truly ridiculous number of groups. People simply do not work that way; they don’t agree, they’re not organized. Second, it would require a large number of people working at these organizations – not the foundations, the organizations, where people are decidedly NOT super duper well paid – to be acting in bad faith, pretending to care about the communities they serve and are a part of while simultaneously undermining them. People are not evil like that, especially not in community-based organizations. This is not a Wall Street finance outfit. These are local Minnesota organizations trying to help our community.

Of course, at the end of the day I won’t convince some of the people who love that Google Doc. They might say I’m part of the Advancing Equity Coalition (I’m not), that I get funding from a foundation (I don’t), that I want to see MPS fail (most definitely not), or that the conspiracy is real anyway (it isn’t). Sure, in an ideal world, there’d be perfect equity. We wouldn’t need community orgs to reach out and help. Everyone would have what they need. We wouldn’t have to use foundation money because everything would be fully funded by our excellent system.

But right now, we’re here. And we’re not helped by purity tests. So take it from the autistic Jew: conspiracy theories divide communities. We’ve got enough problems right now.

<Edit after publication: I have had some people ask me why I used the words “conspiracy theory” in this post. I used “conspiracy” because this is how the Advancing Equity Coalition was referred to in the anonymous Google Doc I linked to above. The title is: “It’s not a conspiracy, it’s a coalition.” Now I may not be very good at subtext, but it seems to me that this title advances a theory that the Advancing Equity Coalition is a conspiracy. Hence, my use of the term.>