Meet Evelyn Reed, the HR Jawn

As my niece’s Learning Coordinator through her current virtual learning environment with the Philadelphia School District Charter School Community Academy of Philadelphia (CAP); on February 11, 2021, during Black History Month at that, I am trying to understand why I have to send emails like this to my niece’s Social Studies Teacher and his administration because he thought it was a good lesson on 2/11/2021 to ask children of the African Diaspora to pretend they were onboard a slave ship and what their name would be and how they would feel🤬😡🤬… My niece is in a third grade. She is a beautiful black child that is only 9 years old and so long as I have breathe in my body, she will NEVER be or even pretend to be a slave on any level for any person.

I sent this email to him and all his administration after seeing her assignment and letting him know she would not be participating. It took all my professional compusure I had in me.

Not surprisingly, not 1 of the administrators I sent the email to responded back to me or reached out to me regarding this matter. The teacher in question did respond defending his actions and wants to coordinate an indepth conversation to which I insisted his administration be apart of because as you can see from his email he is lost on where my true concerns lie and just how damaging and outraging this assignment is.

We are scheduled for this Wednesday 2/17 to meet via zoom with the teacher, the Dean of Student and the Principal of Elementary School. I’ll keep y’all posted as I don’t want this swept under the rug by any means😤.

Update following 2/17/21 meeting:

The principal, Maria Torres didn’t find anything wrong with the lesson as she approved the lesson to be taught and refused to take accountability in her miss to catch the issue with this assignment during our Zoom meeting. Ms. Torres tried to defend and gaslight me throughout the conversation; with making statements about a Diversity Committee they created, but this committee has no oversight, say, or power in lesson planning or curriculum development at this time or the time of this issue. Or when she referenced that her CAP teachers get lots of professional development training on diversity, but when asked what specific training was given on teaching Black/African American children or history, she stated they didn’t give specific training like that (make it make sense Maria). Then she tried to throw in the, “I am Hispanic as well” card and I let her know that as such she should completely understand why this assignment is wrong given she is also from the African Diaspora and should not have approved it. I explained to Ms. Torres that to move forward acceptance and accountability is necessary. Additionally I made the below requests to make me feel like this matter is moving towards resolution.

Principal Maria Torres spent much of the call trying to talk at me instead of talking to me. Even the teacher who started this complaint, Timothy Dickson, had to finally agree with me after fully explaoning my issues and lack of accountability. To which he admitted he was completely wrong in this situation and apologized genuinely, while Maria continued wanting to stand on her hill of denial.

I’ve escalated this matter to their executive Administration, the CEO and CAO at Community Academy of Philadelphia (CAP), to which both these executives were on my initial email, as well as the Board of Directors of CAP chairman. I also included the Board of Education president and vice president at at this time, since Maria herself needs training and development and doesn’t seem to see any issues with her actions that lead to this unfortunate turn of events.

List of Seven (7) Immediate Actions I am Requesting the CAP School to Take:

1. Mr. Dickson to immediately remove the assignment completely for all students from their grading.
2. Mr. Dickson and Ms.Torres immediately undergo culturally responsive training to ensure future lessons and curriculums seek to inform our children without inflicting further trauma.
3. Mr. Dickson to be immediately given an instructional coach to support him with his instructional development and planning for the remainder of the year.
4. The school to issue a statement to the parents/guardians of the children in the class (3rd Grade) apologizing for the thoughtless assignment and it should include exactly what the assignment was; why it was wrong and outline the plans on how CAP will train their teachers to do better.
5. A CAP administrator or school counselor (whichever is trained and available) to conduct a restorative practice class meeting with the children in the class and their parents/guardians to restore community and to verbally inform parents of the assignment and to address any adverse impact this has had on the kids without the presence of Mr. Dickson.
6. Implement culturally responsive teaching practices – Meaning make available and provide education and coaching development for teachers on cultural competence and lesson plan/curriculum management when dealing with social justice or ethnic-based conversations to inform students about the past without inflicting the past on them
7. Have the new Diversity Committee review and approve lessons/curriculums that discuss culturally sensitive matters to ensure they have various eyes from different backgrounds to provide a more holistic viewpoint and feedback to help mitigate issues like this one occurring in the future. 

Let me know your thoughts and suggestions.