The Val Verde Unified School District is holding meetings this spring to hear from the parents of Black students. But not only them, contrary to published reports in conservative media.
A Daily Wire report characterized the meetings as segregated, and only open to Black parents, something that was echoed by other conservative media outlets and right-wing blogs.
Instead, the goal has been to communicate with Black families, according to Val Verde Superintendent Michael R. McCormick.
“We’ve really kind of struggled to connect with our African American families,” he said.
The 20,141-student district that includes parts of Moreno Valley and Perris has had African American Success meetings since 2013, attempting to address the Black community’s needs and look for ways to close gaps between Black students and others in terms of achievement and disciplinary issues.
According to the California Department of Education, 12.2% of the district is African American, more than double the Riverside County or statewide average. But, in the 2019-20 school year — the last for which data is available — they were almost twice as likely to be suspended as the average Val Verde student.
Rancho Verde High School 2008 graduate Oliver Petty spoke with McCormick in summer about the gaps, and they came up with the seven-part Demand for Change discussion series, carried out via Zoom because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve simply wanted to create a safe space for our African American parents to express their concerns and ideas around how we could better serve their students,” McCormick said.
Petty had been offering training to district principals, teachers, staff and students as early as elementary school and working with parents. He wanted something more than just a one-off meeting between parents and the district.
“Typically what happens is that, if the district opens conversations like this, the initial session tends to be a cathartic release,” Petty said. “But it doesn’t typically move into action.”
Having more meetings allows for a longer conversation, he said.
The meetings aren’t limited to Black parents, according to Petty and McCormick.
“It is not exclusionary against anyone, but it is targeted,” Petty said. “We have Blacks on the call, Whites on the call and Latinos on the call. But the primary focus is on the Black people.”
McCormick and Petty said the Daily Wire article is the only pushback they’ve heard about the program.
“Otherwise, we’ve gotten nothing but high praise,” Petty said. “If someone has a problem with that, show up, speak out.”
Petty invites skeptics to the next meeting.
“It’s an open call,” he said. “No one is excluded.”
The next session is scheduled for April 12 at 6:30 p.m.
For information, or to register, visit: sites.google.com/valverde.edu/fec.
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