Frederick County Public Schools in Maryland said the school board’s Racial Equity Committee will draft an anti-racism policy for the system “rejecting all acts of racism” as part of its “legal and moral imperative.”
The policy, first reported by the Frederick News-Post, calls acts of racism morally wrong and offensive, and says the school system won’t tolerate them.
“It is the Board’s intent that employees and students work and learn in an environment where they feel welcome and safe and valued,” the policy statement reads, “and allegations of racism will be swiftly and appropriately addressed.”
The school system also included plans to use its equity and racism tools to develop definitions of institutional, structural and individual racism along with cultural competence and implicit bias.
“Anti-racism is purposeful,” the board said in its definition of the term. “It challenges and counters racism and race based inequalities, prejudices, and discrimination [in institutional and social structures, practices, policies and regulations] through actions, theories, and conscious practices.”
The department will track its progress using data from school discipline, extra curricular opportunities, athletic suspensions, student enrollment in honors programs, hiring opportunities, professional learning and documenting racially motivated incidents.
