MINNEAPOLIS — Over 150 school principals announced Tuesday they were joining forces to launch a coalition aimed at "dismantling racist policies and practices that exist within the state's educational system."
The "Good Trouble" coalition aims to "decenter whiteness" in school structures.
“We believe righting wrongs of generational educational injustice for children of color does not mean lowering standards for children of color. But holding to a high standard our children of color. And more importantly, holding ourselves to an even higher standard; a standard that says the educational successes and failures of children of color are the successes and failures of ourselves,” said Mauri Friestleben, principal of North Community High School in Minneapolis.
The following is an outline of goals the coalition aims to achieve, according to a press release:
- De-centering Whiteness. Understanding that traditional organized Whiteness ensures domination through forms like PTAs and Unions. We purposefully call out and lift up historically non-represented voices of color in our spaces to hold weight and power.
- Dismantling practices that reinforce White academic superiority like bias in testing and the labeling, tracking and clustering that reflect an Americanized version of a caste system in our schools.
- Reconstructing “school” upon our full in-person returns where business-as-usual, like schedules and staffing, are open to drastic changes. and engaging in that preparatory work now.
- Speaking truth to power. Where our commitment to holding ourselves and those who serve under us accountable to this work is just as importantly extended to those who serve over us.
