July 27, 2019
Commentary ~ Opinion
Like many, we opened our emails and social media yesterday at 5pm to the unfortunate news that Lee’s Summit lost a capable and passionate leader in Dr. Dennis Carpenter.
Dr. Carpenter was hired by the Lee’s Summit Board of Education to lead the work of equity including school boundary realignments. Yet, it is this very work that led to defiance and discouragement all along of the way. We are deeply saddened that the Lee’s Summit Board of Education chose to pander to adversaries of equity instead of standing up for the achievement and well-being of all students. Where shall we go from here, commitment or complacency?
We, the 200+ families of Suburban Balance, choose a commitment to equity.
We choose a commitment to hold the leaders of Lee’s Summit, including each member of the Board of Education, interim Superintendent Dr. Emily Miller, and the Superintendents leadership team accountable and responsible for providing access and opportunity to eliminate the disproportionate student outcomes and increase systemic equitable policies practices as outlined in the LSR-7 Equity Plan.
We choose a commitment to hold the leaders of Lee’s Summit, including each member of the Board of Education, interim Superintendent Dr. Emily Miller, and the Superintendents leadership team accountable and responsible for implementing a comprehensive professional development support model that enhances governance, district, and building administrators instructional leadership in the area of equitable and cultural practices beginning with fully participating in training as outlined with Educational Equity Consultants.
We choose a commitment to hold the leaders of Lee’s Summit, including each member of the Board of Education, interim Superintendent Dr. Emily Miller, and the Superintendents leadership team accountable and responsible for increasing curricular materials that reflect diversity and increasing student exposure to culturally relevant teaching and learning.
We choose a commitment to hold the leaders of Lee’s Summit, including each member of the Board of Education, interim Superintendent Dr. Emily Miller, and the Superintendents leadership team accountable and responsible for implementing district-wide equity decision making protocols to narrow achievement gaps, monitor academic progress of targeted student groups. Improve systems of support that increase student success and engagement.
We choose a commitment to hold the leaders of Lee’s Summit, including each member of the Board of Education, interim Superintendent Dr. Emily Miller, and the Superintendents leadership team accountable and responsible for increasing parent/community engagement, community and family learning, and community partnerships.
We choose a commitment to hold the leaders of Lee’s Summit, including each member of the Board of Education, interim Superintendent Dr. Emily Miller, and the Superintendents leadership team accountable and responsible for developing and monitoring a system to recruit, retain and promote a diverse workforce within the District including increasing staff diversity representative of the student population.
We hope that the Board of Education and leadership of LSR-7 as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if it does not come to the aid of justice for all kids, we have no despair about the future. We have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Lee’s Summit, even if our motives are intentionally misconstrued. We believe we will reach the goal of equity in Lee’s Summit because our children deserve it. “Before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson scratched across the pages of history the majestic word of the Declaration of Independence, we were here. For more than two centuries our foreparents labored here without wages; they made cotton king; and they built the homes of their masters in the midst of brutal injustice and shameful humiliation — and yet out of a bottomless vitality our people continue to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail.”- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We commit to be advocates for equity and active participants in the work because the sacred heritage of our people and the eternal will of God are represented in our resounding demands. As echoed by the inspiration of Dr. Carpenter, “We will not stop pushing this rock.”
Suburban Balance
LaShawn Walker, Founder & President
Suburban Balance Equity Team
Representing more than 200 families of color in Lee’s Summit and across the Kansas City Region
