Urgent Action Needed: Strengthen Ethnic Studies in Stockton Unified School District
The Issue
NOTICE: MONEY DONATED TO CHANGE.ORG DOES NOT GO TOWARD OUR CAMPAIGN
We ask that you please sign and share this petition to:
- Support the approval of the current job description to hire the Ethnic Studies Teacher Leader (Teacher On Special Assignment) and
- Include a message when you sign the petition so that if and when the job description is approved your message can be included in public comment at the the next SUSD board meeting on June 9th or June 23rd. (You can email a public comment directly to the SUSD Board: boardmeeting@stocktonusd.net)
In 2016 our school board unanimously approved a resolution allowing for the institutionalization of Ethnic Studies in Stockton Unified School District (SUSD). In 2019 our school board unanimously approved resolution 19-24 to strengthen our SUSD Ethnic Studies program, which included the creation of, “...a new position of Ethnic Studies Teacher-Leader to coordinate programmatic details of the SUSD Ethnic Studies Program, support teachers with its implementation, and advocate for its continued growth, with the goal of hiring this position by June 2020.” You can read the full resolution to strengthen Ethnic Studies in SUSD at: www.tinyurl.com/susd19-24
As of June 5th, though we have been working with the district since February to create and draft a job description for the Teacher Leader, and we have garnered over 7,000 signatures in support of the position, the job description still has yet to be approved by Human Resources and put up for a vote by the school board. More recently, we have been in communication with the district and will be meeting with both Interim Superintendent Biedermann and Interim Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, Nikolas Howard, next week to continue to apply pressure on the district to approve the job description. We would like to hold the school district and school board accountable in following through with resolution 19-24 to hire the Teacher Leader.
We know our state and school district is in financially difficult times as it moves forward trying to balance its 20-21 budget. However, our communities are having a more difficult time with the current racially disproportionate effects of COVID-19 and the generations of other structural and systemic inequities we have had to endure in this country. We believe it is vital for our educators to be able to gain the support and resources they need in order to bring these issues to light and provide space for our students to heal and create change in their own lives and communities. We also believe that though we have made many strides in the three years since the Ethnic Studies Program in SUSD began, we have quite a bit more work to do to strengthen curricular and programmatic details at the district level and to connect the greater Stockton community and local higher education institutions to our classrooms and district (both key components of an strong Ethnic Studies framework).
This can be done with the hiring of the Ethnic Studies Teacher Leader in SUSD.
As teachers and volunteers, we are actively reaching out to the community for their support. As of 6/12/2020, we are supported by:
- California State University Sacramento - Department of Ethnic Studies
- California State University Stanislaus - Department of Ethnic Studies
- Chicano/a Collective
- Chicano Research Center
- Delta College - Ethnic Studies
- Empowering Marginalized Asian Communities
- Ethnic Studies Fresno
- Ethnic Studies Los Angeles
- Ethnic Studies Now - Sacramento
- Ethnic Studies Oakland
- Ethnic Studies Los Angeles
- Ethnic Studies - San Diego
- Ethnic Studies San Francisco
- Ethnic Studies Union City
- Ethnic Studies Washington
- Fathers & Families of San Joaquin
- Gathering For Justice
- Khmer Space
- Little Manila Rising
- Mayor Michael Tubbs
- NAACP - Stockton Chapter
- Native American Indian Center
- Nopal
- San Joaquin Historical Museum
- Stockton Sikh Gurdwara
- Stockton Urban Revitalization Fellowship
- University of San Francisco's Teacher Education Program
- University of San Francisco's Urban Education & Social Justice Program
- University of The Pacific - Ethnic Studies Program
To be added to our growing list of supporters, email us at: stocktonethnicstudies@gmail.com.
Please help us strengthen our Ethnic Studies program by sharing this petition to all your Ethnic Studies networks: www.tinyurl.com/StocktonESPetition
More About Our Impact On Students
NOTICE: MONEY DONATED TO CHANGE.ORG DOES NOT GO TOWARD OUR CAMPAIGN
8,318
The Issue
NOTICE: MONEY DONATED TO CHANGE.ORG DOES NOT GO TOWARD OUR CAMPAIGN
We ask that you please sign and share this petition to:
- Support the approval of the current job description to hire the Ethnic Studies Teacher Leader (Teacher On Special Assignment) and
- Include a message when you sign the petition so that if and when the job description is approved your message can be included in public comment at the the next SUSD board meeting on June 9th or June 23rd. (You can email a public comment directly to the SUSD Board: boardmeeting@stocktonusd.net)
In 2016 our school board unanimously approved a resolution allowing for the institutionalization of Ethnic Studies in Stockton Unified School District (SUSD). In 2019 our school board unanimously approved resolution 19-24 to strengthen our SUSD Ethnic Studies program, which included the creation of, “...a new position of Ethnic Studies Teacher-Leader to coordinate programmatic details of the SUSD Ethnic Studies Program, support teachers with its implementation, and advocate for its continued growth, with the goal of hiring this position by June 2020.” You can read the full resolution to strengthen Ethnic Studies in SUSD at: www.tinyurl.com/susd19-24
As of June 5th, though we have been working with the district since February to create and draft a job description for the Teacher Leader, and we have garnered over 7,000 signatures in support of the position, the job description still has yet to be approved by Human Resources and put up for a vote by the school board. More recently, we have been in communication with the district and will be meeting with both Interim Superintendent Biedermann and Interim Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, Nikolas Howard, next week to continue to apply pressure on the district to approve the job description. We would like to hold the school district and school board accountable in following through with resolution 19-24 to hire the Teacher Leader.
We know our state and school district is in financially difficult times as it moves forward trying to balance its 20-21 budget. However, our communities are having a more difficult time with the current racially disproportionate effects of COVID-19 and the generations of other structural and systemic inequities we have had to endure in this country. We believe it is vital for our educators to be able to gain the support and resources they need in order to bring these issues to light and provide space for our students to heal and create change in their own lives and communities. We also believe that though we have made many strides in the three years since the Ethnic Studies Program in SUSD began, we have quite a bit more work to do to strengthen curricular and programmatic details at the district level and to connect the greater Stockton community and local higher education institutions to our classrooms and district (both key components of an strong Ethnic Studies framework).
This can be done with the hiring of the Ethnic Studies Teacher Leader in SUSD.
As teachers and volunteers, we are actively reaching out to the community for their support. As of 6/12/2020, we are supported by:
- California State University Sacramento - Department of Ethnic Studies
- California State University Stanislaus - Department of Ethnic Studies
- Chicano/a Collective
- Chicano Research Center
- Delta College - Ethnic Studies
- Empowering Marginalized Asian Communities
- Ethnic Studies Fresno
- Ethnic Studies Los Angeles
- Ethnic Studies Now - Sacramento
- Ethnic Studies Oakland
- Ethnic Studies Los Angeles
- Ethnic Studies - San Diego
- Ethnic Studies San Francisco
- Ethnic Studies Union City
- Ethnic Studies Washington
- Fathers & Families of San Joaquin
- Gathering For Justice
- Khmer Space
- Little Manila Rising
- Mayor Michael Tubbs
- NAACP - Stockton Chapter
- Native American Indian Center
- Nopal
- San Joaquin Historical Museum
- Stockton Sikh Gurdwara
- Stockton Urban Revitalization Fellowship
- University of San Francisco's Teacher Education Program
- University of San Francisco's Urban Education & Social Justice Program
- University of The Pacific - Ethnic Studies Program
To be added to our growing list of supporters, email us at: stocktonethnicstudies@gmail.com.
Please help us strengthen our Ethnic Studies program by sharing this petition to all your Ethnic Studies networks: www.tinyurl.com/StocktonESPetition
More About Our Impact On Students
NOTICE: MONEY DONATED TO CHANGE.ORG DOES NOT GO TOWARD OUR CAMPAIGN
The Decision Makers
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on May 30, 2020