Modesto City Schools to review its work for black students

How effectively Modesto City Schools are serving black students, dealing with campus conflict and reaching out to families will take up much of the board meeting Tuesday evening.

Trustees also will vote on community budget priorities and the budget itself for the year ahead.

For two years, the district has worked to bring restorative practices into its highest-need schools, strategies that try to help students who get into trouble see the damage done and gain some empathy.

PeaceBuilders, a program at all Modesto City elementary schools, incorporates this through its righting-the-wrongs approach. More intensive options, requiring in-depth training, are in place in 14 schools, the report lists. Campuses like having the options available, but such programs need time to be effective, the summary says, adding that staff turnover at the target schools is the program’s greatest challenge.

A range of partnerships to help students and families find outside services, a crisis team, field trips and parent nights have been offered through the district’s community support office, led by Jorge Perez and Madie Herrera.

Those supports have included activities black students were part of, as well as helping pay for Black Student Union field trips. But a group asking for support specifically for black students will have its 10-point plan considered Tuesday.

Advocates for Justice, formed by twins Jacq and Jacque Wilson, Modesto natives who now practice law in the Bay Area, has packed school board meetings throughout the year with community members seeking better outcomes for the district’s black students.

Though only a small portion of the district’s makeup, 3 percent, black students make up a disproportionately large percentage of those suspended, expelled and dropping out. Though year-to-year numbers provided by the district show improvement, they also document wide and unwavering disparity.

In graduation rates, Modesto City Schools beats state and county averages. But while 90 percent of its white students graduated in 2015, only 78 percent of its black seniors picked up diplomas.

Expulsions have all but disappeared for the district overall, plummeting from 274 in 2009-10 to only five in 2015-16, none of which were black students. Suspension rates, however, remain stubbornly high for the group. While only about one in 20 Modesto City Schools students was suspended last year, one in six black students was kicked out of class.

The Wilsons have submitted a group mentoring and parent involvement proposal, referring to it as “a clarion call to action.” The Advocates for Justice group asks for funding to hire up to six staffers to provide specific services. However, it does not provide a cost, and appears to be offering to mentor 40 to 50 students out of the 890 black students in the district.

In some instances, the report notes, it would provide services the district would pay for but not control. The agenda report stops short of offering a recommendation to the board. But the tone is decidedly negative, said Jacq Wilson in a letter released in response Monday evening. “It is abundantly clear when reading between the lines of the report that Modesto City Schools is not enthusiastic about working with AFJ,” writes Wilson.

Point 1: Create an office or task force on success for black students. This, it appears, the district is doing on its own, creating one modeled after an Antioch School District task force in the 2016-17 budget.

The district notes it has in place a department with a staff of six to support students who get extra funding under the new state formula – low income, English learners and foster children. Black children form a small subgroup within each of those, but the office does not appear to have a single contact point for black families.

Points 2 and 5: More resources, training and educational field trips for black students. The district notes it has increased funding in support and field trips, including some specifically targeted to black students. It takes issue with field trips sought to Bay Area courthouses when Modesto has its own.

Point 3: Greater transparency and clarity in community budgeting priorities and state funding. The district notes it has held 27 input meetings, which include those held with internal groups and existing committees. One was held with Black Student Unions at Beyer and Enochs high schools.

The district’s most active BSU chapter, however, is at Davis High, which won “BSU of the Year” for California this year with adviser Renaldo Rucker, which leads to the next point.

Point 4: Fully staff and support BSUs at each junior high and high school. Beyond offering the usual stipend, it is not clear how the Advocates are asking the district to make these happen.

Points 6 and 9: Counselors or mentors for all students suspended two or more times, and a suspension-expulsion advocate to work with families. Board members at previous meetings have voiced support for counseling for students suspended even once, as well as support for families. In the agenda report the district notes it has contracted with Sierra Vista to recruit and train mentors. The Men’s Mentoring Group, all volunteers, works only with black students. But none of these appear to specifically target students in trouble. For families, the district notes it has parents meet with a bilingual department head.

Point 7: Require implicit bias training for teachers and students. Administrators and campus supervisors and yard duties have had this training, to help people realize prejudices they may not know they have. But teachers have not had it, and research points to teachers as pivotal in discipline decisions. The district notes it plans to bring in a speaker in the coming year to help fill that gap.

Point 8: Transparency and accountability regarding discipline data. The Wilsons propose working with the district’s data collection team rather than relying on sporadically reported information. The district notes it routinely publishes the prior year’s data on its Data Dashboard.

Point 10. Foster community collaboration. The district sees itself as having met this demand by providing parent nights and other outreach efforts, however the Advocates want to bring black community leaders and institutions into a more intensive plan.

This story was originally published May 30, 2016 at 5:25 PM with the headline "Modesto City Schools to review its work for black students."