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At our June 23rd board meeting, the Uplift board voted unanimously to take the following actions:
- Direct the Uplift leadership team to create a detailed plan on addressing racial equity within Uplift for our September board retreat
- Analyze Uplift performance data through a racial equity lens on a quarterly basis starting at our annual board retreat
- Add additional budgetary resources to help our Black scholars be successful and ensure consistent resource allocation
- Re-evaluate our curriculum and implement innovative instructional practices that allow scholars to better understand their racial history and identity, include more current topics such as anti-racism into our K-12 humanities courses, and increase teacher training on culturally responsive teaching practices beginning in the 2020-21 school year
- Analyze our student attrition data and create an action plan to retain our Black scholars at the same rate as other scholar groups in the network
- Develop a 3-year plan to increase the diversity of our overall leadership team and teaching staff because we know students thrive in learning environments where they can identify with their teacher
- Increase our teacher and leader training on restorative discipline practices and create the plan for a therapeutic alternative to expulsions to launch in the 2021-22 school year
- Support Uplift leadership team’s plans to spend time with our Black Student Associations during the first academic quarter and hear their experiences in our schools and what actions we can take to improve their experience
- Support the investment in expanding the parent engagement team and parent associations at Uplift to ensure our parents have a voice now and ongoing
- Engage our philanthropic community in candid conversations to help educate them and reveal areas where their generosity is needed most to achieve racial equity at Uplift
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We see our proposed actions as permanently improving who we are as an organization. We recognize that this is just the start of our plan and with more listening and dialogue throughout the network, we will continue to build on it. We will move forward with a sense of purpose, humility, conviction, and integrity. We recognize that the Black scholars we serve are watching us, and they need us to get it right. We will because we are committed to reaching our fullest potential for all scholars and staff.
In solidarity,
The Uplift Education Board of Directors
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