Coalition for Antiracism at Rosa Parks

Vision Statement

Currently, the experiences and educational outcomes of students of color and white students at Rosa Parks are inequitable. The experiences of many students of color are impacted by systemic racism at our school. Therefore, as a community, our goal is to eliminate negative racialized educational and social experiences. When each member of our community is treated equitably, we create an environment where all students, families and staff can thrive and be joyful.

Who We Are
We are a group of caregivers, faculty, and staff. We span grade levels and Rosa Parks stakeholder groups such as School Site Council (SSC), African Descent Advisory Council (ADAC), BUSD Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI), Parent Teacher Association (PTA).

We need you! 

Want to get involved? Email antiracism@rosaparkelementary.org to learn more about how you can join us in carrying forward this work.

Our Process

Spring 2020

A group of us started wondering, what if the important work of racial affinity groups had a collective space for community, sharing, and uplifting? How could this work happen in a shared community?

Spring 2021

A steering committee came together of caregivers and staff from around Rosa Parks to start exploring how racism is experienced and observed at Rosa Parks. Emphasis was and continues to be placed on racial diversity and lived experience on this steering committee.

Fall 2021

With funding from administration and the PTA, the steering committee began working with Ms. Pamela Harrison-Small, a longtime BUSD diversity, equity, and social equity strategist to co-create a Desired Racial Equity Outcome Plan to guide the work of the school for the next 3-5 years and beyond.

Spring 2022

The committee co-created the first draft of the Desired Racial Equity Outcome Plan. The Vision Statement can be seen at the top of this webpage. We outlined our priorities for Year 1 as the following:

Year 1 (2022-23)

Building community, collecting stories, creating a shared understanding and language for the work

We will do this through:

• Community meetings (Meetings on the Bridge)

• Collecting stories
  

What are Meetings on the Bridge?

A cross-cultural dialogue for the benefit of our students and community

Meetings on the Bridge are designed to assist communities in the mission of encouraging cross-cultural dialogue about challenging social issues for the purpose of creating a school environment where every student’s culture is known, respected, valued, appreciated, and used to provide access to a positive schooling experience. Communities hosting these events are those where educators and families are working as collaborators towards academic success of all students. This collaboration is fostered through  respect, care, trust, inclusiveness, empowerment, and collective responsibility.

October Meeting on the Bridge

Our October Meeting on the Bridge will focus on creating a shared language of antiracism.

Storytelling Project

We recognize that the voices currently contributing to this work are limited. In an effort to expand the voices sharing their lived racialized experiences, last spring we set out to start collecting stories. Throughout the year we continue to collect stories from around the Rosa Parks community--from caregivers, students, faculty, staff, and community members--about both positive and negative racialized experiences of our community members.

If you or someone you know would like to share your story, please reach out to antiracism@rosaparkselementary.org and we will connect. You can also let your classroom teacher know and they can connect us directly..