FCPS Consideration of “Equity Policy” Coming Soon

A proposed “Equity Policy” for the Fairfax County Public School system (FCPS) will be considered by the county School Board at a work session on June 20 and will come up for final approval at the Board’s June 26 meeting, just five weeks from now.  This is despite the fact that a draft of the Policy hasn’t yet been released to the public.  If adopted, the Equity Policy will direct FCPS actions on sensitive policy issues.  The time being allotted for public awareness and comment is grossly inadequate, given the importance of the issues presented.

Introduction

The term “equity” is defined in many different ways by different people.  Some definitions are widely supported in the community, but others are highly controversial.  For example, some people use the term to advocate for equality of results (not just equal opportunity) for all racial and social groups, using whatever means that may be needed to achieve that goal, including reverse discrimination, downgrading education standards, altering grading systems to create artificial equality, etc.  “Equity” is also used as a justification to create race-based curricula, using divisive concepts of  “systemic racism,” “white privilege,” and teaching students to think about society in terms of their separate “identities.”

Fairfax Schools Monitor has been reporting on the Equity Policy since the process of developing it began in July 2022.  See “Proposed Equity Policy for Fairfax Schools,” Part 1, and Part 2, “New Strategic Plan and Equity Policy for FCPS,” Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

These articles reported the following facts, among others:

• The School Board recognized at the outset that the term “equity” has many meanings, some of which are controversial, and it directed its staff to develop a definition that focused on the basics of quality education, not ideology.  In addition, the Board stated that the public should be fully engaged at all stages of developing the Equity Policy.
• The Board’s equity staff made token gestures towards inclusiveness but mostly worked behind the scenes with “equity” advocates.  Although an Equity Policy Steering Committee was formed, it conducted only two Zoom meetings and was then abandoned.
• The Equity Policy was being developed by the FCPS equity staff, which was working independently of the more inclusive team developing a new Strategic Plan for the schools.  The equity staff developed a divisive, ideological definition of “equity.”  This definition was radically different than the concept of equity embodied in the proposed Strategic Plan, which limited the concept of “equity” to opening opportunities to a good education where such opportunities were deficient, and removing barriers where they existed.  No effort was being made to reconcile the two definitions.  The Superintendent was deeply involved in every aspect of the Strategic Plan process but seemed reluctant to supervise the equity team’s development of an Equity Policy.

That’s where the matter stood in mid-March.  The equity team’s work in the two months since then has been conducted behind closed doors.  No drafts of a proposed Policy have been released to the public.

Recent Meetings of FCPS Public Engagement Committee

The School Board’s Public Engagement Committee was scheduled to discuss a plan for getting public input on the Equity Policy at its meetings on May 10 and 17.  At the first meeting, however, the issue was deferred, because no one from the equity staff was present, and no draft of a communication plan was available.  It also was revealed that the committee members hadn’t even seen a draft of the Equity Policy itself.

Prior to the May 17 meeting, I asked Iona Spikes, an official in the FCPS equity office, when the draft Policy would be available.  She said she couldn’t say.  At the meeting itself, however, Dr. Spikes responded to the same question from a Board member and said the draft should be available around June 1.  Assuming it is made available to the public immediately thereafter, there will be only three weeks before the Policy is debated, and possibly revised, at the Board’s June 20 work session.

No firm decisions were made at the May 17 meeting concerning how community comments will be solicited.

Discussion

Given that the proposed Policy hasn’t been published, it’s impossible to say how controversial it will be.  The one component that was released in the early Spring — a definition of the term “equity” — was very problematical, but the definition may have been substantially revised since then.  The other elements of the Policy might or might not be divisive.  However, it seems likely that the draft will generate wide interest and comment.  “Equity,” and how to achieve it, are hot-button issues within FCPS today.

What does “equity” mean?  Equally important, what does the term not mean?  For example, does “equity” support the teaching of divisive concepts such as “systemic racism” and the like?  How does the proposed Equity Policy square with the Strategic Plan and the long-standing Controversial Issues Policy?  What implications does the Policy have for standards of excellence, for admissions to advanced coursework, and for measuring achievement?  Will the educational interests of some student groups suffer in order to achieve “equity” for other groups?  What are the implications for resource allocations?  How will progress towards “equity” be measured?  Will all differences in achievement among racial/ethnic/gender groups be assumed to be attributable to inequity; if not, what will the criteria be?  These and dozens of other questions can be posed.

FCPS cannot possibly explain the Policy to the public, solicit meaningful input on it, analyze the input, and consider potential amendments to the Policy in a three-week period.  There would be no time for public forums at which questions could be asked and answers provided.  There would be grossly inadequate time to prepare a public survey; publicize it; and analyze responses meaningfully.  There would be almost no time for interested community groups and individuals to meet with their elected representatives.

The process of developing an Equity Policy has been ongoing for almost a year.  It has actually been in process for at least four years, dating back to the proposal for an “Anti-Racism, Anti-Bias Policy,” which never came to fruition.  To ram it through in a three-week period would be unconscionable.

When the process began last July, the goal was to enact a policy by the end of the current school year.  That’s no longer realistic.  FCPS should establish a plan for obtaining comprehensive review and input.  Consideration of the Policy should be postponed until the Autumn.

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