OUR IMPACT

Carroll ISD Response

On July 15th, 2020, a week after the SARC Instagram account went live, the Carroll ISD leadership team published a written response to us on their website. In their response, posted before our demands had been released, they claim the District Diversity Council's Cultural Competency Action Plan will "will go a long way in addressing some of the very concerns the students raise in their social media posts."

We recognize and celebrate that they 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 CISD 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.

Media Features

August 4th, 2020: NBC5: Southlake Carroll ISD Decides More Study is Needed on Long-Awaited Diversity Plan