Dear Carroll ISD & Southlake community members,

Recent events have recast a spotlight on the scale of systemic racism in the United States. These wrongful events include the Amy Cooper incident, the shootings of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, and the murders of George Floyd, Tony McDade, and Oluwatoyin Salau. We must recognize the history of racially fueled murders of Black Americans, including Eric Garner, Laquan McDonald, Sandra Bland, Brayla Stone, Philando Castile, Dominique "Rem'mie" Fells, Antronie Scott, Oscar Grant, Merci Mack, Tamir Rice, Elijah McClain, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and countless others.

At a first glance, these events may seem disconnected from Carroll ISD, but of the aforementioned injustices, Merci Mack, a Black trans woman, was murdered in Dallas, Texas on June 30th––our own backyard. Texas leads the nation in murder rates of transgender individuals, of which Black transgender folks comprise the disproportionate majority. Consequently, while this letter predominantly addresses issues of racism pervasive throughout Carroll ISD, it is critical to understand how race intersects with other forms of oppression and marginalization, including homophobia, transphobia, sexism, classism, ableism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and religious discrimination. These things must be actively and systemically eradicated from Southlake Carroll’s culture. With sixty-five percent of CISD students and ninety percent of CISD educators being white, we ask that you listen to your students of color leading this charge and consider our community demands for equitable change and accountability.

Systemic racism affects all people of color and disproportionately harms and ends Black lives. It is clear now, more than ever, that all communities must come together to begin dismantling racism. We, as members of the Southlake Carroll community, echo the nationwide call for direct action to condemn police brutality, fight systemic racism, and uplift Black Americans.

Southlake Carroll Independent School District (CISD) has failed its students, particularly its students of color, who are incessantly subject to racist speech and behavior from fellow classmates, teachers, staff, coaches, and school leaders. Incidents are widely ignored or under disciplined by faculty and administration in the name of apoliticism or appeasement of parents. Southlake Carroll has never adequately discussed race and racism with students, and as a result, most students are underprepared to recognize and stand up to racism in their everyday lives. However, as educators, you owe all your students -- regardless of race, gender, class, ability, sexuality, or religion -- a more holistic and critical understanding of race, racism, and bigotry of all forms through changes in curriculum, policies, and expectations of all students and staff. In doing so, these students must be equipped with the skills to identify and confront racism in all its forms, micro and macro, upon graduation from Carroll Senior High School.

Carroll ISD perpetuates a culture of racism and bigotry in many spheres, both academic and non-academic. In the classroom, many former Southlake Carroll students of color recall invalidating and white-dominated conversations in history classes over genocide, slavery, reverance of the Confederacy, racism, segregation, and civil rights. Beyond this inaccurate portrayal of history, students were/are seldom exposed to critical conversations of race. Outside the academic realm, Southlake and Carroll ISD have a history of racism in its community and student body, seen through both the experiences of people of color (as seen in testimonies featured by @SouthlakeARC) and larger newsworthy incidents.

In 2017, a plaque at Southlake Town Square dedicated to former NFL player Frank Edgar Cornish IV was defaced with the threat of “KKK will get you, Black people.” In the words of Robin Cornish, former Carroll ISD mother and widow of Frank Cornish, racism is a “dirty secret” in Southlake, and all five of her children experienced anti-Black racism throughout their Southlake Carroll education.

In October 2018, a video of nine Carroll students chanting racial slurs went viral. A subsequent video of other white students doing the same emerged less than four months later. Much in line with Carroll’s history of lackluster repercussions for blatantly anti-Black racism, students received next to no substantive punishment for their public expressions of racism. At least two athletes, notably depicted chanting the N-word in the video from 2018, were not even removed from their teams. There was no public disclosure of repercussions for all of the remaining students involved, suggesting an overall lack of accountability from CISD. Aside from brief suspension as consequence for these racist incidents and student-wide voluntary “cultural assemblies,” no meaningful, substantive action was taken by Carroll administration and leadership to comprehensively review and change the culture of racism and bigotry in our schools. The repetition of the incident by different students within months suggests that not only did students broadly fail to learn from the first offense, but also felt they would get away with future racist incidents.

On January 12th, 2020, Carroll High School was extensively vandalized with racial slurs on the day the newly founded District Diversity Council was set to meet. Most recently, we saw the Southlake Carroll School Board release a denunciation of a peaceful protest planned by its students. This protest, organized in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, was labeled as an event that warranted “significant safety concerns.” Their justification of these concerns stemmed from the idea that the flyer for the protest was being shared extensively on social media, with the premise that people from surrounding communities, “other than just [our] children,” would be in attendance. To suggest this is to more broadly suggest that people from surrounding communities (Grapevine, Colleyville, Dallas, etc.), all of which have larger communities of color, would come and incite violence. The board also stated that “many of the students probably do not know or understand much about the organizations they are lending their voice and/or support to.” This was deeply offensive to students of color in the Southlake community who both proudly support the Black Lives Matter movement and whose lives are impacted daily by the oppression the movement is working to dismantle. The invalidation and fear-mongering apparent in the School Board’s message, numerous racist incidents involving Carroll student body members, and countless testimonies from current and former Carroll students all show dire change needs to be implemented at all levels in CISD.

These public incidents alone do not even begin to scratch the surface of how deeply entrenched racism is in Carroll ISD and Southlake at large. Through our collection of hundreds of CISD student testimonies, SARC’s mission has served to unearth the day-to-day experiences of racism and bigotry that have been normalized as part of the Carroll tradition. We hope to transform the tradition that CISD protects to one of equity, inclusion and justice.

The culture of Southlake and Carroll ISD are perpetuating deeply held racist attitudes and beliefs. The district’s denial of this and its adamance in maintaining the sanctity of its reputation must not outweigh the trauma experienced by marginalized students on the receiving end of these racist attacks. We must acknowledge the current and historical racism in Southlake and Carroll ISD and allow it to inspire us to transform into an anti-racist community and school district. We must acknowledge and remember these traumatic and racist experiences and actively work to ensure that future generations of Southlake Carroll students never endure these conditions again.

Students, parents, faculty, or staff may submit additional experiences of racism or bigotry here.

The Carroll Independent School District mission statement reads: “Building on a Dragon tradition of excellence, the Carroll Independent School District will foster a safe, caring, and creative learning environment that inspires students to realize their full potential as they positively impact the world around them.” Carroll ISD is not living up to its own mission statement, as many students of color do not have a safe and caring learning environment. By ignoring critical conversations of race, Carroll is complacent in graduating actively racist students who consequently negatively impact the world. Allowing acts of racism to continue while ignoring constructive and critical conversations of race within Carroll hinders the personal development of students of color, allows for the development of ignorant and unempathetic citizens, and fosters an unsafe academic setting. Thus, inaction, silence, or inadequate response demonstrate you are not committed to your students or the CISD mission statement.

We are asking you, as the leaders of CISD, to implement the change your students have always required and deserve. It is your responsibility as educators of students who will become active members of society to set an expectation of intolerance to racism and discrimination of any form. It is your responsibility as educators to teach students how to support their classmates of color inside and outside of school walls. It is your responsibility to make students of color feel safe, seen, heard, respected, and valued. We acknowledge the political pressure you face to maintain the status quo. However, remaining apolitical is inherently a political stance, and it shows your students of color that their teachers and leaders are unwilling to stand up for them. You have the capacity to be on the just and equitable side of history––the side of historical civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, W.E.B Du Bois, Nelson Mandela, Audre Lorde, Ruby Bridges, and so many more who you tout and applaud for their historical bravery. Now, it is your turn to be brave. Racism is not merely a political issue; it is a human rights issue. We hope you acknowledge the need for reform at all levels in this country, the opportunity you have to make lasting institutional progress in Southlake a part of your legacy, and the power you hold to empower those who have gone unheard for too long.

We recognize and celebrate that you have begun to address the bigotry endemic in Southlake through the development of the “Cultural Competence Action Plan (CCAP).” We endorse and support the passage of the CCAP by the Carroll ISD Board of Trustees. However, while we find this passage obligatory, we demand its improvement to ensure it does not continue to fall short of the most necessary changes. With the word “racism” only explicitly mentioned once in the entirety of the CCAP, this plan does not adequately respond to the decades of injustice endemic to Carroll ISD and Southlake at large. We urge you to consider the specific feedback we have to the CCAP, outlined extensively in our demands. In particular, we emphasize that we do not simply need a plan promoting “cultural competence” or “multiculturalism” in school, but rather a foundationally anti-racist approach that directly and proactively addresses race, racism, and all forms of marginalization and oppression. We need a comprehensive education that incorporates a critical pedagogy approach (including critical race theory), an accurate portrayal of history with a critical lens on racism past and present, and dynamic discussions on inherent privilege and effective allyship to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). Concurrently, CISD school policies and codes of conduct for students and teachers must be holistically reconstructed to reflect an anti-racist framework.

Innumerable Carroll students, parents, and community members recognize how endemic racism and discrimination remain to this town. With the creation and subsequent virality of our coalition’s platform to aggregate student testimonies, we hope this minute fraction of stories may inform readers of the severity of injustice in Southlake. These testimonies demonstrate the critical role of our schools in perpetuating injustice and, conversely, in effecting long-overdue change. It is not merely Carroll students responsible for perpetuating a culture of intolerance, but also the actions, discrimination, and willful negligence on the part of CISD faculty and staff members. These testimonies demonstrate the culture of bigotry––not excellence––that Southlake Carroll has fostered. Transformative and decisive leadership from CISD administration and staff is necessary and urgent. We must actualize an environment where all Dragons can thrive. Equity and justice are goals that require constant evaluation and dynamic discussion. Therefore, in order to begin this progress, we demand the following of Carroll Independent School District:

Affirmation that Black lives matter does not suggest support of a political organization, nor does it indicate any political leanings as a district. If this most basic demand is not fulfilled, Carroll ISD is explicitly communicating that it does not support its Black students. We recognize that this statement should include more than these three words as Black lives are valued, cherished, celebrated, and critical to our success as a society, but we are asking the Carroll ISD Board of Trustees for the bare minimum affirmation that “Black lives matter.” According to the Texas Education Code, it is not illegal to publicize the phrase “Black lives matter.” The code bans school districts and teachers from publicly supporting political parties or candidates as a voice of the district (Texas Education Code, Title 2, Subtitle C, Chapter 11, Subchapter A, Sec. 11. 169). However, this does not apply to making statements in support of marginalized communities. We demand the immediate release of a public statement from the superintendent, School Board of Trustees, principals, and vice principals of each school denouncing systemic racism and police brutality and acknowledging CISD’s working relationship and $1.6 million contract with the Southlake Police Department. The statement must categorically voice support for Black students, including affirmation that Black lives matter.

a. Carroll ISD has yet to release a statement officially condemning police brutality or affirming that “Black lives matter.” Michelle Moore, the Carroll ISD School Board President, was cursorily quoted at the end of an email on June 2nd, 2020: “To our African American students, in particular … we see you, we support you.” While we acknowledge Moore’s personal recognition of Black students, the remaining members of the Carroll ISD Board of Trustees and Superintendent have remained silent and have yet to issue a united statement unequivocally affirming their support for their Black students. Furthermore, Moore’s support was preceded by a racially coded message demonstrating resistance, discouragement, and tacit denunciation of efforts from Black students to fight racial injustice. It is indefensible that the School Board is policing student activism and dismissing their students’ methods as not the “right” way to make change, all while willfully ignoring their complicity in perpetuating racism at CISD. Despite the School Board’s statements highlighting old diversity initiatives in order to deflect from taking full responsibility, past actions have not adequately, comprehensively, and directly addressed the issue of individual and systemic racism in Southlake. Carroll students of color deserve acknowledgment and support beyond an afterthought at the end of an invalidating email.

There is a widespread issue of such imagery being paraded on campus by faculty, staff, and students. The imagery enumerated above must be prohibited from school property (including on campuses, parking lots, stadiums, and student/faculty vehicles), during school events, and extracurricular activities. Students of color should feel safe around their peers and should not be subjected to hateful, racist imagery that commemorates white supremacy, slavery, and the historical marginalization of BIPOC.

In the 2019-2020 Student Handbook, “bullying and/or harassment, including actions motivated by race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or age” is categorized as a Level I offense, a “minor act of misconduct,” on par with “chewing gum in an undesignated area” or being late to class. Level II offenses, more “severe” acts of misconduct, include actions such as “abusing the use of a hall pass” and “inappropriate use of food.” Numerous testimonies submitted to @SouthlakeARC reflect that instances of discrimination at CISD occur frequently and with a severe lack of accountability or outright willful negligence. It is unjustifiable that dress code violations are more routinely punished than racism. We demand the following alterations be made to the school code of conduct:

a. All behavior that discriminates on the basis of ability, color, religion, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, race, or sexual orientation, with the addition of class, ethnicity, and citizenship status must be classified as at least a Level III offense - not explicitly limited to “using slurs” - and must result in substantive consequences (including suspension, detention, and/or expulsion) with formal requirement of a well-researched apology. Repeated incidents of discrimination must be classified as at least a Level IV offense (mandatory Disciplinary Alternative Education Program placement).

b. The disciplinary consequences must be codified far more concretely than the existing “Consequences for Levels, I, II, and III,” which allow faculty to respond with excessive leniency and subjectivity. The punishment range includes things as inconsequential as “cooling off time” and “verbal reprimand”, which critically fail to redress or mediate the harm caused by racism, intolerance and bigotry. At minimum, these offenses must result in a counselor/student conference, parent notification, temporary suspension from non-academic (including athletic and extracurricular) activities, detention, and the submission of a formalized written apology. This should be the mandatory minimum response to racism in intermediate, middle, and high school (grades 5-12). Increased punitive action can be considered on a case-by-case basis. Elementary (grades K-4) school instances may be adapted to informatively educate young students of how and why their actions were racist or discriminatory or hurtful, how they can adequately apologize, and how they can act more appropriately going forward.

i. The apology must enumerate the impact of the perpetrator’s action, the historical context of the oppressive behavior, how they plan to conscientiously atone for the harm they have committed, and how they will prevent this behavior from recurring in the future. This apology should be communicated to the victim of the discrimination (in adherence with FERPA policy) given student consent (when applicable). Options for the evaluation of this apology include a Student Conduct Standards Board, composed of a compensated and diverse team of objective and impartial Southlake Carroll faculty, who shall approve the apology and hold the code-violating parties accountable for their misconduct. Southlake Carroll faculty who perpetuate racism or discrimination of any form must be immediately removed from the Student Conduct Standards Board.

ii. Failure to complete an approved, reflective, written apology should warrant additional consequence, including, but not limited to, notification of the student’s future educational institution and/or employer.

iii. If any of the aforementioned demands pose legal restraints, it is the responsibility of the district to provide alternative, effective, and equivalent repercussions to enforce the Student Code of Conduct.

c. CISD must implement and enforce a holistic zero-tolerance policy regarding parental pleas, monetary incentives, and threats of litigation to subvert these disciplinary actions. This must be explicitly included in the student handbook and enforced across the entire district. No student can be exempt from the above consequences following an incident of discrimination.

a. Provide a secure reporting system by which students and faculty can submit instances of racism, harassment, or bigotry. CISD must identify all forms of bigotry––including racism, racial discrimination, racial violence, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, ableism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-semitism, and religious discrimination––for what they are, rather than concealing these aggressions behind neutral terms, such as “bullying.”

i. While resources like the Dragon Tip Line exist, follow-up responses and conduct consequences are consistently inadequate. These resources must be drastically improved, and all submissions must be evaluated thoroughly by an administrator, prompting investigation, extensive follow-up, and immediate connection to any relevant resources (i.e. school counselors, mental health providers, legal reporting options, or crisis support). We implore CISD to seek alternative platforms or improve existing systems that allow students to report instances of racism, harassment, or bigotry. Further, ensure these platforms are legitimate, trustworthy, and accessible to students at all times.

ii. Currently, the CCAP (Strategy 3.1.2) endeavors to “create a process for campus administrators to include incident notes to document microaggressions and discriminatory behaviors in the discipline offense history for students in the Skyward Management System,” a proposal which is insufficient because it lacks the ability for students to track the faculty and staff involved in reviewing the complaint.

iii. Reported instances of bigotry must be more consistently recorded, tracked, and brought to the attention of centralized administration. Students must have access to the status of their complaint through the reporting system and must be able to see which member(s) of administration have reviewed it and how they responded to the complaint. Repeat conduct offenders must be easily tracked by administrators in order to better carry out Demand 3a, which states, “Repeated incidents of discrimination must be classified as at least a Level IV offense (mandatory Disciplinary Alternative Education Program placement).” Parents should also be able to look up the administrator who reviewed any code of conduct violations on demand. This information must not be deleted throughout the student’s tenure at CISD.

iv. Any reported instances of racism, harassment, or bigotry must be met with concrete consequences (see Demand 3). This reporting method must never be turned off or discontinued.

b. Require teachers (including substitute teachers) to be mandatory reporters in instances of racism, discrimination, or harassment (similar to mandatory reporters under Title IX and Title VII law). Allow the reporting system outlined in Demand 4a to accept reports of teachers who fail to mandatorily report instances of racism, discrimination, or harassment. Enforce strict consequences for teachers who do not report these instances. This should look like: an initial review of their employment following a first failure to comply with mandatory reporting. If this is repeated a second time, the teacher should be terminated from CISD. The employee and student handbook should reflect these consequences to ensure all members of CISD are properly informed of the appropriate repercussions.

c. Ensure the equitable and reasonable use of the formalized reporting system. As detailed in Demand 5, Carroll ISD has an overwhelmingly white and heterosexual teacher demographic. This reporting system must be implemented such that implicit bias in the faculty and policies is not weaponized against BIPOC and LGBTQIAP+ students.

i. If disproportionate and unreasonable punishment of these marginalized students is found at the monthly School Board executive session reviews, the data should be evaluated to determine if there are certain faculty members that are repeatedly targeting this student demographic. Faculty members found to have this bias should be mandated to undergo implicit bias and anti-racism training. This should be repeated if found again. If faculty members are found to have disproportionately and unreasonably used this reporting system against BIPOC and LGBTQIAP+ students a third time, they should be terminated.

ii. This monthly review should also evaluate the policies under which students are found to be in violation. If BIPOC and LGBTQIAP+ students are disproportionately targeted by certain policies, these policies are inequitable. In response, inequitable policies under which BIPOC and LGBTQIAP+ students are disproportionately targeted must be critically re-evaluated and repealed or reformed as necessary.

iii. This data should be publicly released on an annual basis with demographic information, removing personally identifying information.

d. Eliminate any conduct policies which erase any student’s code of conduct violations for instances of racism, discrimination, or harassment. These code of conduct violations should not be erased after a short period of time (i.e. 1 year) and should be available to future educational institutions and/or employers. This policy must be publicized widely upon implementation to discourage such behavior in the student population.

e. Institute a non-retaliation policy for student reports of racism, harassment, or bigotry. We recognize that a similar policy currently exists, but we demand this policy be expanded to encompass both complaints submitted through this new reporting system and also to cover reports of faculty and staff perpetrators.

At a glance, diverse representation among teachers and leaders at Carroll ISD remains abysmally low. According to 2019 data, the current demographic breakdown of CISD’s teaching staff is as follows: 90% White (482 out of 539 educators), 5.6% Hispanic/Latinx (30 educators), 1.9% two or more races (10 educators), 1.7% African American (9 educators), and 0.7% Asian (4 educators). For comparison, the Texas statewide averages for teacher demographics include: 53.45% White, 28.45% Hispanic/Latinx, 12.63% African American, 2.94% Asian, 2.01% two or more races, and 0.47% American Indian. The Carroll ISD student demographic breakdown is as follows: 64.8% White, 17.9% Asian, 9.9% Hispanic, 5.1% Two or More Races, 2% African American, and 0.2% Native American. The faculty demographic should be, at minimum, representative of the BIPOC student demographic. Currently, Carroll ISD’s staff statistics are indefensible, attesting to the failure of this district to represent the demographic of the student body that it serves.

a. According to the CISD’s 2019 Culture Survey:

i. 59.1% of student respondents reported never having a Black teacher (excluding coaches) throughout the entirety of their CISD education and 90.3% reported never having more than one.

ii. Fewer than half of parental respondents indicated that Carroll ISD “equitably represents students and families of diverse backgrounds,” and fewer than half indicated that “all students have the opportunities to learn about their own cultural/racial background.”

iii. Many questions of this culture survey attempted to gauge student perception of acceptance in their school environment. There was a correlation between students who found Carroll’s school environment hostile, unsafe, or unwelcoming and the proportion of students of color at Carroll, specifically Black and Latinx students.

1. While the majority of student respondents indicated pleasant experiences and feelings at school, the smaller percentage who indicated discomfort were likely BIPOC. It was irresponsible and misleading for these survey results to not include demographic breakdowns per question and response category.

iv. There were significant discrepancies between student and faculty perceptions of Carroll ISD’s culture - significantly more teachers than students believed that CISD has a welcoming environment, which could be attributed to the disparity between white faculty and students (85% of CISD employees who responded were white while less than 65% of students are white).

v. The very few openly LGBTQIAP+ staff at CISD are consistently harassed and disrespected; some have even been forced to conceal the gender of their partner due to homophobic views. These homophobic sentiments cultivate a hostile environment that marginalizes LGBTQIAP+ students and staff, correlating to increased mental and physical health stress for queer students. Carroll ISD must make efforts to represent every student, including LGBTQIAP+ students, to ensure all students have role models with whom they can identify and/or recognize as supportive allies. This is especially significant for students seeking support from staff, such as counselors. Clubs for LGBTQIAP+ students, such as the Gay Straight Alliance, must have adequate supportive faculty. No faculty should oppose or police these clubs or their members, and such instances should result in educational intervention. If repeated three times, the faculty in question must be fired.

School laptops are considered school property and are actively monitored by Carroll administration. Monitoring student activity should include responses to racism. These instances must be reported by CISD administration through the new reporting system described in Demand 4a.

Southlake has an overwhelmingly white population but is increasingly diversifying. However, Black students still experience racism most strongly. Black students need safe spaces, and these spaces must be individually and systemically supported by faculty, staff, and administration. The faculty sponsor of these organizations should be well-versed in systemic racism and must understand how to adequately be anti-racist. This should not be a burden placed on the few Black teachers at Southlake by the administration. Black-led student organizations must be provided the same amount of support and resources that other student organizations receive in order to ensure their ability to thrive.

Through the implicit bias examination, school board members, faculty, and staff must recognize their own implicit biases as well as strengthen their awareness of its meaning, especially in terms of subconscious and coded prejudice against certain groups. They must actively work toward countering these implicit biases. Ongoing training must highlight how teachers can do so in order to ensure they do not discriminate against BIPOC, LGBTQIAP+, and other marginalized or minority students.

Anti-racist education is more imperative than ever. Ensure that anti-racist conversations are ongoing and incorporate interdisciplinary perspectives. Do not place a disproportionate burden on the few faculty of color, especially Black faculty, to explain experiences of racism and how to be anti-racist. Faculty that are brought into additional leadership roles must be adequately compensated for their extraordinary labor. White faculty must actively work to practice anti-racism and recognize that this effort requires ongoing learning. These mandatory forums must be taken seriously and not as a mere obligation.

a. It is critical these forums are facilitated by professional educators who specialize in racial inequities in education. The intersectionality of all systems of oppression must be highlighted, and all employees must actively participate and engage in this learning process. Ideally, a full-time position could be dedicated exclusively to overseeing this process, such as the Director of Equity and Inclusion, in conjunction with the ongoing work of the District Diversity Council. Student input should be considered in the appointment of this role. These discussions should be publicized and integrated in school board agendas.

All teachers must be well-versed in anti-racism, able to adequately teach this framework, and work to dismantle individual and systemic racism through curriculum. Ascertain teachers read bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress and meet to discuss how to improve the curriculum while employing hooks’ pedagogical principles. The CISD Board of Trustees must follow suit by reading the piece and ensuring they actively dismantle systems of bigotry and implement anti-racist policies. Finally, we encourage CISD’s District Diversity Council to read this text and integrate hooks’ approach into the curriculum reform outlined in the Cultural Competence Action Plan (CCAP). Currently, as indicated in the current draft of the CCAP, the only mention of curricula reform is to implement a “diversity and inclusion curriculum” (Action 3) derived from an “equity audit” (Strategy 1.3.1). This curriculum does not comprehensively compare to or replace an anti-racist curriculum.

a. Suggested teaching materials for teaching upon racial justice are linked here.

b. Require all STEM teachers to watch this video of Neil deGrasse Tyson speaking about his experience as a Black student with aspirations in the STEM field.

While there have been optional semesterly speaking events and “voluntary lunch-time cultural assemblies” to address diversity since the video in 2018, these events cannot be voluntary and should occur far more frequently than once a semester. Students must be taught about systemic racism, classism, privilege, their role in upholding such structures, and how to appropriately be an ally for BIPOC and LGBTQIAP+. Explicitly include discussions of how reverse racism is a trope that serves to antagonize and derail discussions of racism. These discussions must be ongoing and must include a variety of intersectional topics including but not limited to:

a. Discuss and condemn the use of racial slurs by non-Black students.

i. This discussion includes contextualizing the racially charged history of the N-word.

b. Discuss microaggressions.

i. What are they?

ii. Examples of Microaggressions

iii. For BIPOC and LGBTQIAP+ students, how to talk them out; when to walk away

iv. Their impacts in school settings (including mental health and academic achievement)

c. Discuss the Model Minority Myth.

d. Discuss class privilege.

e. And more. There are so many intersectional forms of oppression, and each must be actively countered by CISD administration.

Consider foregoing the current Advanced Biotechnology course, which currently bears little relevance to healthcare careers, in favor of a course that effectively discusses and examines the social determinants of health, health disparities, introductory bioethics, medical humanism, medical humanities, classism, and systemic racism in medicine through a sociological and public health lens. With many medical schools integrating anti-racist curricula, CMA should reflect this mission promptly. Many anti-racist books on medicine are available, and a guide to beginning such curriculum can be found here.

According to the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, there is an achievement gap of 2.3 grade levels between poor and non-poor students within Carroll ISD, demonstrating a notable disparity in academic achievement due to income. In addition, there is an achievement gap of 0.79 grade levels between white and Black students and an achievement gap of 0.57 grade levels between white and Latinx students. Support for students of low socioeconomic status, as well as Black and Latinx students, must not only be provided, but also continually evaluated and strengthened until the income and racial achievement gaps are entirely eradicated. This effort cannot end with the elimination of these gaps but rather must be sustained perpetually in order to fully support marginalized students through their multifaceted challenges.

a. Designate and retain a full-time administrator to address the income and racial achievement gaps. Because of the overwhelming representation of upper-middle class and upper-class households in CISD, students from middle and low-income backgrounds are consistently overlooked and unsupported. A dedicated staff member must oversee the implementation of such support programs.

b. Reform the existing attendance policies, including the final exam exemption, in order to accommodate low-income students who may experience a broad range of circumstances that can impede attendance. Upholding attendance policies that differentially impact students with different intersections of privilege and oppression is a form of racism and classism. Students from lower-income households, among which BIPOC are overrepresented, or students with disabilities may need to miss more school in order to care for family members, work a job(s), or otherwise provide needed support. They may also miss more school due to increased challenges with transportation, health, food insecurity, etc.

i. Additionally, students should not be treated with disrespect by any teachers, faculty, or staff on the basis of their (non)attendance. Ridiculing students for their (non)attendance or the potential reasons behind it is unacceptable, and all students deserve to be given the benefit of the doubt regarding absences, especially when there is no concrete reason to believe their absences are anything other than legitimate and justified. Students should be able to report such instances under the new reporting system outlined in Demand 4a, and the teachers, faculty, or staff responsible for the reported instances should be held accountable. Repeated offenses must lead to the termination of the employee in question.

Holistically incorporate a critical pedagogy approach, as described within bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress. This requires a comprehensive review of the existing curriculum. It has been well documented that TEKS standards present a conservatively “politicized distortion of history” derived from “a triumph of ideology over facts.” While textbooks, state-mandated curricula, and College Board curricula may not be in Carroll ISD’s power to change, the district can supplement or reframe the way these requirements are presented to students to be properly anti-racist. An “equity audit” has been proposed under the CCAP; the revised curriculum must include but not be limited to the following:

a. Ensure colonizers are not portrayed as heroes. Within the classroom, colonizers must be accurately portrayed as oppressors, often European, who subjugated, stole from, and systematically killed entire civilizations. Christopher Columbus is included amongst the long list of colonizers and, as such, Columbus Day should not be celebrated. Instead, CISD should celebrate the day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and ensure students are aware of the specific, atrocious history involving Christopher Columbus arriving to the Americas to murder and pillage indigenous peoples and civilizations. In addition, it must be included that these indigenous peoples were not a homogenous group but rather diverse, individual communities whose history in the Americas predates the presence of Europeans by centuries. Furthermore, discussions of how America’s colonial history persists today must be introduced.

b. Ensure Confederate leaders are not revered. Remove sympathetic and pro-Confederacy views from classrooms. Stress how the Confederate states’ desire to perpetuate the institution of slavery was the most direct cause of the Civil War. The Civil War has been direly mis-taught across CISD according to the Lost Cause of the Confederacy (states’ rights) narrative, which grossly erases the horrors of slavery and attempts to justify those horrors away. Teach the Texas Declaration of Causes for Secession.

i. Educate students on the role of the Daughters of Confederacy, a Southern women’s neo-Confederate association established in 1894, which remains active today. Acknowledge their contributions in censoring Southern history textbooks (including Texas’) that did not align with segregationist, white supremacist views, their current advocacy for the edification and protection of monuments of Confederate generals nationwide, operation as the women’s auxiliary of the KKK, and their effective distortion of history to depict a positive, heroic view of the Confederate South.

c. Students must not be policed for speaking native languages, besides English, while on school grounds. Faculty must not be permitted to police students for speaking their native, non-English tongues. Faculty policing of speaking in native languages must be met with severe consequences. The first two instances of this censorship must be met with an educational intervention regarding the harm to students such behavior causes. Repetition of this violation three times must result in termination. Administration and faculty should also be responsible for procuring a translator on school grounds should a parent need translation in parent-teacher conferences or similar events. It is improper and unprofessional to expect students to translate for their teachers, parents, guidance counselors, etc.

d. Improve representation of BIPOC (especially Black, Indigenous, and Latinx) and LGBTQIAP+ students in Gifted and Talented programs and academic programs like Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Academy and Carroll Medical Academy (CMA). Too often, Black and Latinx students are prevented from joining Gifted and Talented programs. Southlake Carroll ISD is no different. Locking students into different tracks such as these pre-determines student success at a young age. Such “tracking” contributes to severe racial and socioeconomic disparities in academic achievement that are unacceptable.

e. Commemorate Black History Month and Juneteenth as well as the Day of Silence and Pride month. While we devote entire years of primary education to Texas History alone, CISD history courses consistently neglect to comprehensively educate students upon critical events, figures, revolutionaries, and subjects of Black history. It is critical that holidays and celebrations honor and reflect upon the sociocultural and political importance of Black milestones, such as Juneteenth, and how the state of Texas explicitly played a role in delaying the abolition of slavery.

f. Additional changes are absolutely mandatory and include but are not limited to the following (These demands were adopted from Katy ISD’s petition for curricula changes):

i. Study the impact that slavery and Jim Crow laws have had and continue to have on a national, state, and local scale, as documented by many regional heritage societies. Discuss the legacies of Sundown towns and their traumatic impact on black communities.

ii. Study intersectionality in both the Civil Rights and women’s rights movements through figures such as W.E.B. Dubois and Ida B. Wells. Analyze how race, gender, and class were interconnected in the Civil Rights Movement.

iii. Discuss the role of Black women activists who played an integral role in striving toward a more educated and equal society in several areas, such as by promoting democracy, women’s rights, and prison reform.

iv. Discuss the opposition toward the Civil Rights Movement and how it was politicized. Recognize the role conservatives in Congress played in preserving segregation and opposing the movement.

v. Recognize and explain how the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter movement were affected by the Black Power Movement.

vi. Describe how the Black Panther organization affected the Black Power Movement. Explore their history, their efforts in local communities, the FBI’s proven role in suppressing their influence, and the media’s efforts in portraying the Black power movement as violent and undemocratic

vii. Analyze the Black Power movement, Malcolm X’s influence on its foundation, and some of its important leaders such as Stokley Carmichael, Fred Hampton, Angela Davis, Huey Newton, and Assata Shakur.

viii. Discuss the causes and effects of historical events such as the Tulsa Massacre, the Tuskegee Syphilis Trials, and the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

ix. Analyze how gerrymandering and redlining have negatively affected minority access to voting, housing, and social services. Discuss their implication on present-day segregation and gentrification.

x. Discuss the origins of colorism, especially highlighting how it is a result of racist rhetoric that glorifies whiteness and how it is present in societies across the world. Analyze the prevalence of colorism today.

xi. Study and analyze the relationships between mass incarceration, the prison-industrial system, and arrest rates of minorities in America.

Beyond “diversity and inclusion training for students ‘as an enrollment to graduation’ process” delineated in the Cultural Competence Action Plan, students need required and ongoing education of racial injustices and an intersectional approach to anti-racism. Much like we have Fine Arts and Health requirements, students should also fulfill an anti-racist course requirement in order to graduate. For instance, the Texas Education Agency just approved an Ethnic Studies course (successfully developed by the Houston Independent School District) to be available for use in Texas public schools this year. CISD should similarly develop its own course that properly and holistically adopts an intersectional, anti-racist approach.

As seen in Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition’s published testimonies, many CISD students, particularly BIPOC and LGBTQIAP+ students, struggle with mental health. Racism is a clearly correlated factor of mental health struggles, implicated by the stress of intergenerational trauma and every day marginalization. Youth of color, particularly Black youth, disproportionately experience adverse childhood experiences and mental health challenges. According to the Trevor Project, 40% of LGBTQIAP+ youth and more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. In addition, 46% of youth reported they wanted mental health care but were unable to receive it. CISD must ensure the accessibility of this much needed care.

a. In order to hire a full-time licensed therapist, we implore CISD to divest the money from Southlake School Resource Officers (SROs) and re-invest these funds in student mental health through hiring a full-time psychologist or licensed professional therapist, counselor, or social worker at each school in CISD. During the fiscal year 2020, $1.6 million was allocated to Carroll ISD’s School Resource Officer Program. In contrast, the average base salary for a school psychologist is $63,123. By diverting the funding from the SRO program to hiring one school psychologist, therapist, or counselor per school in CISD, the fiscal year budget for CISD would likely still result in a decrease in total spending. The remaining funds could be invested in more wellness initiatives to ensure the health of students and prevent the need for police officers.

b. Supplement current academic counselors with the hiring of full-time licensed therapists. Carroll students consistently cite struggles with mental health and lack of access to mental health resources as a top concern. However, CISD does not have permanent, qualified mental health staff. CISD’s current guidance counseling staff is primarily equipped to handle academic counseling but not to provide mental health services or counseling. This could be remediated through the employment of psychologists and/or licensed professional therapists, counselors, or social workers at each CISD school along with programs directly emphasizing and prioritizing mental health needs. Southlake PD will still have a presence in the community and be available on demand.

c. Gradually work to dissolve the CISD contract with Southlake PD SROs within 4 years. Studies show that police officers disproportionately discipline BIPOC students as evidenced by the racially marred school-to-prison pipeline. These studies also show that institutional discrimination cannot be amended through reform. While students tend to have a positive relationship with SROs, the extraordinarily low rates of crime in Southlake show that there is no demonstrated need for police housed within each school.

i. There is no evidence to show that expanding law enforcement by adding SROs actually results in safer schools. "In fact, the data really shows otherwise — that this is largely a failed approach in devoting a significant amount of resources but not getting the outcome in school safety that we are all looking for."

ii. SROs are currently performing services that extend far beyond their roles as police officers. According to the City of Southlake Police Department website, “SROs work in partnership with the Carroll Independent School District to provide students with important messages about bullying, cyber-bullying, alcohol and drug abuse, internet and chat room safety, bicycle helmet safety and much more. They also serve as a positive role model to students through coaching and mentoring to help them make good choices and learn about the consequences of negative behavior.” None of these initiatives need to or should be led by police officers; instead, they would be much more appropriately led by trained and licensed mental health professionals like psychologists, educators, and/or licensed therapists, counselors, or social workers.

d. While working to phase out SROs, CISD must disarm these officers. No officers on school premises should possess lethal weapons. Reevaluate the existing contract with the Southlake Police Department and reinvest these funds into initiatives that benefit students, in particular mental health initiatives, personnel, and resources.

a. We hope you can acknowledge the role SARC has played in fulfilling and supplementing your research. This coalition has spent countless hours compiling and publicizing student stories which can attest to the pervasive issue of racism (and discrimination of all kinds) in CISD, and how the school district itself has served an indubitable role in perpetuating this harm. In these demands, we have outlined explicit and concrete plans to mitigate this problem, which has persisted for far too long.

b. Recognize the limitations of this “Cultural Competence” approach. We fear the approach of this plan to substitute “cultural competency” for anti-racism. Race is not synonymous to “culture”. Racial groups are not monolithic by nature, and to assume so is an inherently problematic generalization. It is necessary we seek both behavioral and psychological change in endeavors to combat racism and discrimination explicitly. Expanding cultural understanding by no means puts an end to racial biases, and thus fails to be anti-racist. We implore that you focus on reprimanding and addressing racism and discrimination of any kind rather than assigning individual responsibility through “diversity trainings” and “cultural” exposure. “Cultural competency” will not end race-based stereotyping and discrimination, only the full and irrevocable dismantling of institutional, interactional and systemic racism will. This approach falls short of changing a racialized culture centrally imbued by normalized micro-aggressions and systematic discrimination; it critically fails to acknowledge that racism is cultural. Some readings to begin understanding the difference between a cultural competence/multiculturalism based approach and a veritably anti-racist approach can be found here: Multicultural Education and Critical Pedagogy Approaches, Towards a Critical Race Theory of Education (Download PDF to view), The Appeal and Problem of a Cultural Competence Approach to Reducing Racial Disparities, and The problem with cultural competency (see this blog post for a more digestible understanding of this distinction).

c. Although $35,000 is being allocated towards bringing in diversity and inclusion speakers within schools, it can only be effective if these assemblies are MANDATORY for students to attend. If attendance cannot be required, this money would be better utilized if allocated towards items discussed in Demands 4 & 5. Presenting these assemblies and speakers as optional indicates that the district feels learning about, educating yourself on, and acting upon anti-racism and anti-discrimination is optional. This cannot be the message sent to students as they must recognize and understand that this is of the utmost priority for the district and actions are being taken accordingly. Additionally, these speakers, along with other educational resources ought to be implemented in all Carroll ISD schools (Pre-K through 12).

d. Strategy 1.1.2 states that students should be rewarded and recognized for demonstrating excellence in diversity and inclusion. Diversity should not be a ploy for incentives. Carroll ISD needs to shift the narrative surrounding diversity into making it the standard rather than a good deed. Instead, the money and effort going into these incentives should be redistributed to creating an anti-racist climate and culture.

e. Overall, there needs to be a recognition of the difference between tokenism and transparency, especially in the DDC proposed #WeAreDragons campaign.

i. Amplify BIPOC student voices in the #WeAreDragons campaign rather than solely using their pictures to misrepresent the diversity in the district. This means BIPOC students should not simply be displayed through pictures and videos, but they should be able to describe their honest experiences at CISD and discuss how ongoing systemic changes will address the current culture of bigotry.

f. The CCAP includes ongoing diversity training for staff and teachers (See Demand 5). However, in order to systematically and sustainably deconstruct the racist environment that ruminates within Carroll ISD and Southlake as a whole, every individual must be held accountable; thus, every Carroll employee that is directly or indirectly involved with students along with student leaders––including but not limited to the graduating class board, student council board, National Honor Society officer board, teachers, substitute-teachers, administration, board members, and SROs (until the removal of this role as outlined in Demand 16)––must participate in diversity and implicit bias training.

i. The district must release the diversity training plans to the public in order to achieve true transparency in actions being taken to create a more equitable district.

g. Strategy 5.2.1 (“Create a systemic process for consistently tracking and reporting microaggressions and incidents of discrimination.”) needs to be effectively implemented. Tracking and reporting already exists yet is largely neglected without any follow-up (See Demand 4). Simply expanding the existing Tip Line to include a branch on Diversity and Inclusion is not enough if tips are not seriously regarded. As outlined in the CCAP, this data collection would include tracking microaggressions in addition to instances of discrimination with which we urge you to follow through.

i. Release aggregated, anonymized data of microaggressions and discrimination (with the breakdown by each category) to the public, so the community is able to view and track the trend of microaggressions and discrimination over the years. Determine if the district is effectively dismantling the systemic racism and forms of bigotry currently widespread at CISD.

h. The CCAP and all written school policies need to be able to engage with and address discrimination using direct language such as “Racism,” “Homophobia,” “Ableism,” etc. rather than using blanket terminology such as “Bullying.” In the United States legal system, hate crimes, defined as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity” by the FBI, have more stringent punishments than crimes that do not have such bias against specific identity groups. The CCAP, in a similar manner, must have more stringent punishments for identity-based bullying. The word “racism” appears once, on page one, of this entire plan. Anti-bullying and harassment policies need to enumerate and specifically include protections for marginalized students, such as BIPOC and LGBTQIAP+ students. Racism and discrimination must be treated as a separate issue from general bullying, and the policies should reflect this distinction. In a study published in 2005 by the “Journal of Vocational Behavior,” it was observed that in workplace environments, employees who are of diverse backgrounds experience not only “racial bullying” but also “general bullying” at significantly higher levels than their white counterparts. This study suggests that categorizing forms of racism and discrimination under the “general bullying category” is insufficient as there is a clear distinction in the forms of harassment. Additionally, by merging the two categories you ignore the multi-layer complexities of the history behind racism and discrimination by reducing it to mere person-to-person power dynamics, when there in fact exists a much deeply rooted societal power struggle that goes beyond those involved in the incident. To ignore that factor is to ignore the pain and suffering of an entire group that goes far beyond the walls of any organization and cannot be removed by removing the single perpetrator. For these reasons we demand you change the language of our current bullying policies to separate racism and discrimination from general styles of bullying.

i. Strategy 1.1.2 Action Step 7: Resources and support for the LGBTQIAP+ community need to expand beyond a student focus group. Clubs that support LGBTQIAP+ communities, like the Gay Straight Alliance, must receive respectful recognition, adequate funding and maintain supportive faculty sponsors. Additionally, along with anti-racist curriculum, students must broadly be taught how to be an ally and how to confront homophobia and transphobia.

j. We support Strategy 2.1.2 Action Step 1, which states, “Create opportunities for CISD stakeholders to learn more about the various religions identified by CISD families in the Culture Survey,” and we encourage scholarly and critical discussions of religion amongst community members. Additionally, Carroll ISD must provide equitable support of various religious clubs, equal celebration of religious holidays, and present no religious biases. We expect those who are teaching students about religions to be educated by community members who are a part of those religions and encourage use of local religious leaders in the teachings and representation of religions on campus and in curriculum.

i. We demand that coaches, faculty, or staff should encourage a moment of silence rather than a prayer circle before school events so that students of minority religions are not coerced into participating in a prayer with which they are uncomfortable. Coaches and supervisors must explicitly state prior to any prayer circle at school events or on school property that no student is required to participate and that any student may offer a personal prayer from their own religion. As a public school, it is illegal and unconstitutional to promote religious belief or endorse any explicit organized religion. Coaches and supervisors must also actively support these words, and students who disrespect these codes must receive punitive action under religious discrimination through the reporting system outlined in Demand 4a. Coaches and supervisors must be mandatory reporters for these instances as outlined in Demand 4b.

We implore you to translate our demands into action. You must begin the arduous task of transforming every aspect of Carroll ISD into an inclusive, anti-racist environment that accepts and celebrates all of its residents and their diversity. While the issues of bigotry in CISD are the responsibility of the administration, these issues have gone ignored and inadequately addressed for too long. Therefore, we, students and alumni, have taken the initiative to comprehensively present these demands to urge CISD along the path to equity and justice. Far too many generations of students have passed through our classrooms only to feel disenfranchised and disrespected. The time to take action is now. Any excuses and delays suggest that you are not committed to your BIPOC, LGBTQIAP+, and otherwise marginalized students. We challenge you, the CISD Board, to listen to your affected students and to work with us to implement the needed changes. The Southlake Carroll Independent School District is known statewide for its outstanding academics and highly competitive sports programs. It is time we become the leaders in a new sphere: equity and justice. We claim excellence as Carroll Dragons, and as your students, we ask that you celebrate excellence in all of your students, particularly your BIPOC and otherwise marginalized students. Southlake Carroll can be a leader in implementing anti-racist changes in school, and we ask that you assume this role, starting with the changes outlined in our demands. We look forward to your public response regarding each of our demands, and we readily await working together to make Carroll ISD a truly great district.