Dear Staff, Community, and Students,

Our country is experiencing an incredibly sad and difficult time right now.  The racial tension that our nation is experiencing, due to long standing mistreatments and systemic injustice, is the culmination of voices needing to be heard, listened to, and processed.

In light of just too many instances of injustice in recent months, there is now a sense of urgency that we all must take part in ending the mistreatment of our fellow citizens. It is crucial that we have conversations with our children about racism, social injustice, and privilege. It is important for us as parents to open this dialogue at home, and it is just as important for us as educators to explore ways to discuss these matters in our classrooms.  

In the Grandview Heights Schools, we have made our stance very clear that we support and encourage all of our students, staff, and their families regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or any other individual characteristic. We will not tolerate any acts of hate or exclusion.  

While there is much to celebrate with respect to the inclusive nature of Grandview Heights Schools, we can and will do more.  However, with the realities that so many are facing each and every day, we have to do better and we must do our part by speaking up.  As a school district, we will continue to advocate for inclusiveness, kindness, and love every day.

Today we are asking our community to join us in taking a stand. It takes courage. It takes strength. It takes many voices.  Let's continue to learn and stand firm against hatred and racial injustice. Let's continue to make our district and community the best it can be - a place where every single student, staff member, and community member feels safe, valued, respected, and heard.  

Sincerely,

Andy Culp, Superintendent

Jesse Truett, Board of Education President

Doug Page, GHEA President

Carrie O’Mara, GHESSA President

Additional Information and Resources

Grandview Heights Schools will be offering an online course this summer on racial injustice and cultural intelligence through Schoology. Please look for an email in the next week with more details. 

We have included some links for your consideration to help build understanding and possibly share with your son/daughter.  Here are the links:  

• USC Rossier Resources to teach cultural diversity: https://rossieronline.usc.edu/youth-and-racism/resources
• Teaching Tolerance: https://www.tolerance.org/topics/race-ethnicity
• Link to our “Inclusivity” document: https://1.cdn.edl.io/AVCxY2uKJC4qHWa2W4k4AuS8RoAjyCuNJWQttFuWSOwQCxtE.pdf
• Dosomething.org
• Instructional Resources for learning about racial injustice: https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2020/06/15_classroom_resources_for_discussing_racism_policing_and_protest.html 
• National Education Association Black Lives Matter at School: https://neaedjustice.org/black-lives-matter-school-resources/
• American Psychological Association (Resilience): https://www.apa.org/res/parent-resources/
• Talking to Middle and High School Students about race: https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/diversity/social-justice/social-justice-lesson-plans/talking-about-race-and-privilege-lesson-plan-for-middle-and-high-school-students
• Teaching young children about race: https://www.teachingforchange.org/teaching-about-race

Articles to Read

• The 1619 Project by The New York Times Magazine 
• How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change by Barack Obama
• The American Nightmare by Ibram X. Kendi 
• 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice by Corinne Shutack 
• DeRay Mckesson on the Black Lives Matter Revolution 
• https://daily.jstor.org/institutionalized-racism-a-syllabus/ (A changing collection of articles.)

Book Titles

• 31 Children’s Books to support conversations about race: https://www.embracerace.org/resources/26-childrens-books-to-support-conversations-on-race-racism-resistance
• Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
• The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas
• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (part of the 9th-grade curriculum)
• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander (part of the 12th-grade curriculum)
• Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine 
• The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
• The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward
• Good Talk by Mira Jacob
• How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehsis Coates
• White Fragility by Robin DeAngelo
• I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown

Podcasts

• Codeswitch
• Pod Save the People
• 1619
• Intersectionality Matters

Media to Watch 

• 13th (Documentary, Ava DuVernay, 2016, Netflix)
• I Am Not Your Negro (Documentary, James Baldwin, 2016, Prime Video)
• Dear White People (TV Show, Netflix)
• Selma (Movie, Ava DuVernay, 2014, Prime Video)
• Let It Fall (Documentary, John Ridley, 2017, Prime Video)
• When They See Us (TV mini-series, Ava DuVernay, 2019, Netflix)

Social Media Accounts to Follow

• Ibram X. Kendi
• Bree Newsome
• Rachel Cargle
• Ijeoma Oluo
• Clint Smith 
• Austin Channing Brown
• Brittany Packnett Cunningham
• Campaign Zero
• Color of Change
• Black Lives Matter