Good work, Modesto City Schools, staying true to equity pledge with key hire

In April, the Modesto City Schools board adopted six equity goals, signaling a top-level desire to improve the district’s support for marginalized students, including those of color and their families. Recommendations from a task force ranged from implementing ethnic studies to training teachers how to confront unconscious bias.

The danger with making such grand gestures is when they end up being mere gestures.

As The Bee’s Emily Isaacman reported, the district recently brought on Fallon Ferris as its first equity and intervention specialist. Her job includes helping schools strive to reach the district’s equity goals.

This hire represents real progress.

Ferris grew up here. No one understands better what attending Modesto schools is like.

“My mother, Black with brown hair and brown eyes and my father, white with blond hair and blue eyes, birthed me, a hazel-eyed, caramel-complexion girl who never knew where she fit in,” Ferris wrote in a February column for this opinion page. No one has more empathy for unique challenges facing students of color.

Last year, having succeeded in college and in the business world, Ferris co-founded the Stanislaus County Youth Empowerment Program, a nonprofit connecting young people of color to academic and career opportunities. No one knows better how to help lift the rising generation.

In its search for elusive equity, Modesto City Schools deserves credit this time for going beyond lip service.

This story was originally published September 1, 2021 at 4:00 AM.