TCS Statement
From the Superintendent and Board of Education
The past few months have been difficult for TCS and our students – from dealing with the challenges of educating and learning during a pandemic to the emotions we are experiencing while we witness and live through our nation confronting head-on the issue of racial inequality. The names George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Aubery have made headlines in recent weeks, but we know there are countless others whose stories have gone untold.
Because of our own system's documented history on this topic, our stakeholders expect and deserve to know where we stand on this issue. We are not blind to racism, injustices, and discrimination in our country. We see the grief, agony, and pain that so many in our community have experienced for so long.
We are a diverse system, serving students and employing people from all walks of life. More than 70 percent of our student population is African-American. The progress we are making as a school system will never be truly meaningful if we do not directly address the racism that exists in our country.
As educators, we work tirelessly to make sure each and every student in our community is cared for, loved, and academically challenged so that all can be highly successful, productive members of society in the future. We have been and will continue to address issues of equity so that all students have access to high-quality education and opportunities. We have made incredible improvements in reading outcomes, graduation rates, career readiness, access to dual enrollment, and so many other areas.
We are resolute in our efforts to remove barriers to student success. TCS is constantly working to meet that goal and will now take these events as a challenge to double our efforts.
We are fiercely committed to the principle of equal justice and education for all and will join our community in reflection, conversation and action to make a positive difference in the lives of all TCS students. We will work toward improving the dialogue of racism between our students and educators so that they can understand and empathize with each other with regards to the effects of racism, not just in our school system, but in everyday life. In looking at the optimism and leadership that is found in our students today, we see the hope for a much brighter tomorrow and beyond.
The students we serve can and will benefit from how we act today. We must engage in meaningful dialogue as a community so we can develop actions to improve our system, community, and country.
We welcome your comments, insight, questions to inform the work we are called to do as we revise our strategic plan this summer.