The NYS Human Rights Commission issued a final order directing the Ithaca City School District to take immediate actions to address discrimination and racial disharmony within our schools. For specific details of the order, please see pages 12-13 in the document here.

These directives will certainly help, but it will be the district’s demonstrated commitment to change and actual results that will ultimately matter most. Addressing these challenges effectively requires nothing less than creating an anti-bias, anti-racism, anti-discrimination culture that permeates the district from the highest levels on down. Consistent oversight and clear accountability will increase the likelihood that particular initiatives are actually working.  There are excellent resources to drawn on in evaluating these, including the Equity and Inclusion Leadership Council whose mission is to monitor and assess district and community equity efforts.

The school district maintains it’s already doing many of the things listed in the Commission’s order.  It also questions the feasibility of certain provisions like mandatory volunteer training. Rather than presuming such training to be deterrents for prospective volunteers, it's worth considering that it can actually make the volunteer's impact and experience in schools more effective, inclusive and mutually satisfying.  Although the scope of the volunteer training requirement needs clarification, what’s absolutely critical is that the district has definite expectations regarding the behavior of all volunteers in our schools and that those expectations be well defined and clearly articulated.