There is a George Floyd in every city in America.
Our hearts break for George Floyd’s family, friends and community. Our hearts break for our country. Our hearts break for our students – who have inherited a system founded on racism and injustice.
The Winooski school community vehemently condemns the mental and physical violence directed at People of Color in the United States. As an organization, the Winooski Board of School Directors firmly believe that everyone should be afforded their inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The abhorrent killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and many, many others demonstrates that we are utterly failing to uphold our country’s founding principles in the Black community.
The condemnation is easy. What is much harder is knowing what to do now. We may not be able to solve the country’s problems, but we can take ownership of what happens in Winooski and its school district.
Our Board of Trustees vows to:
- Build trust with marginalized communities, truly listening to the voices that are often left unheard.
- Be vigilant and consistent in dealing with racism in any form.
- Require that all of our students and staff are treated fairly and equally.
- Examine our policies and practices to ensure that we are truly meeting our ends statement for all.
- Require measurable equity progress, as shown by data that is based not just on students’ academic achievements but also on connection to our community and school.
- Ensure everyone in our learning community has access to bias and equity training.
- Educate our students to be allies in ending discrimination.
- Empower our students of color to speak up for themselves and others.
- Hold ourselves to high standards of accountability to our community in meeting these equity goals.
We are the board of the most diverse school district in Vermont. WSD has the highest percentage of students who identify as Black within the second whitest state in the United States. We have a profound responsibility to our students and their families to do better.
We also recognize that many of our students are discovering racism since they moved to our country for safety. Tragically, our students are quickly learning that the U.S. does not, in fact, guarantee safety to people who look like them.
We might not be able to end institutional racism across America. But we can try to end racism in Winooski. Providing an equitable education to our students is the best tool we have to accomplish this goal. We will ask our students: What do you want from your future and how do we get you there? They will see their dreams and goals reflected in our policies, practices and course offerings.
The School Board of Winooski Schools is committed to providing this equitable education. We, the Winooski School Board of Trustees, call on the community of Winooski to stand with us in combating racism in all its forms to ensure each of our students are truly afforded their inalienable rights.
In solidarity,
- Michael Decarreau, WSD School Board President
- Margaret Bass, WSD School Board Member
- Tori Cleiland, WSD School Board Member
- Matthew MacNeil, School WSD Board Member
- Alex Yin, WSD School Board Member