The Governing Board of the Poway Unified School District resolves to reaffirm the Poway Unified School District’s commitment to fighting racism and correcting systemic inequity.
On June 25, 2020, Board President Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff led our community in this call to action:
"Spurred by racially charged incidents that deeply hurt our students, our community, and the whole nation, the Poway Unified Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution reaffirming our district’s commitment to fight racism and correct systemic inequity. We called upon our PUSD community members to be visible in our outrage and in our resolve to work for change. On behalf of Board members, I want to share how proud we are of our students, families, teachers, staff, administrators, and superintendent for how you’ve all risen to this challenge. Though some in our community are newly awakened to the issues, or at least their severity, we have come a long way in a short time due to your incredibly hard work and sense of moral imperative. This is just the beginning of a long road, but every journey starts with the first step. This is ours."
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In the California State Board Association's Fall 2021 newsletter, Dr. Darshana Patel described the Board's commitment for racial equity and inclusion:
One district’s journey toward racial equity and inclusion
"It was May 2020, the pandemic was still in its early stages here in the U.S., and we were all navigating distance learning and drive-thru celebrations. Candidly speaking, any equity and anti-bias work our district had initiated over the last couple years had taken a back seat to figuring out how to completely reinvent how we educate our students. As a board, we were meeting via Zoom, grappling with extremely difficult decisions and ever-changing public health guidance about when and how to reopen our campuses.
It was in the midst of this COVID-19-induced turmoil that George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis officers during an attempted arrest that ended tragically. As a nation, we collectively witnessed the news coverage of the arrest footage and subsequent protests, and struggled to process what was happening and explain it to our children. Schools are the cornerstones of our communities, and educators play an important role in influencing perceptions and processes. Our community needed Poway USD and its board of education to publicly take an unwavering stand against racism. I reached out to then-Board President Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and student board member Mariana Akins to collaborate on an Anti-Racism Resolution. In our resolution, we acknowledged that we were being called upon to be more visible in our resolve to work for change. Additionally, the heightened level of civic engagement from our students and communities created an opportunity for us to work even harder to address the racial, cultural and ethnic disparities in our schools.
At the same time, two anonymous students started an Instagram account called @BlackinPUSD, where hundreds of our students and alumni anonymously recounted their experiences with microaggressions and racism in our schools and classrooms. The breadth and depth of the experiences were eye-opening and heartbreaking...
Our board responded to this sense of urgency and pressing need by passing the Anti-Racism Resolution on June 23, 2020. This would serve as a launching point for our Racial Equity and Inclusion Plan, which is intended to carry out the goals set forth by the board in the resolution. Our district staff did not hesitate to address the community-wide call to action. Knowing our community, staff and students have high expectations of our district, we rose to the moment and took on both navigating through the pandemic and simultaneously building and implementing the Racial Equity and Inclusion Plan."
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Those steps were reaffirmed at the June 13, 2024 Board Meeting:
President Board Member Michelle O'Connor-Ratcliff shared a summary of PUSD's current equity work in her final board report for the academic school year and double downed passionately on how important racial equity and inclusion work is for PUSD.
"There has been no change to the board's commitment to that work, and the district's work has ramped up year after year..."
"Please don't doubt for a minute that our board and district commitment to improving the sense of belonging for all of our students, all of our staff, and all of our families, is real, and as always we welcome your partnership."
