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| Rachael Blansett, New ORCSD DEIJ Coordinator |
Guest blog by Yusi Turell, School Board Member
[This is an expanded version of my statement at the June 15th School Board meeting, which was condensed in the interest of time. It reflects my personal opinion and not necessarily that of the ORCSD School Board. I appreciate Dean publishing this even though I criticize his and Ruth’s approach (not by name during the Board meeting).]
Ms. Rachael Blansett will begin the new role of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) coordinator on August 1, 2022. The need for this role emerged from 5+ years of stakeholder discussion and a widely recognized need for a consistent, skillful, and age-appropriate approach to related topics in curriculum and instruction across the district (as outlined at the Feb. 8th Deliberative Session). Ms. Blansett currently serves as the inaugural Diversity & Inclusion Fellow at College of the Atlantic (Maine) and Sterling College (Vermont), after earning an M.Ed. in Student Affairs and a B.S. in Communications. She consults with Mount Desert Island Regional (K-12) School System in culture and curriculum. Ms. Blansett brings significant, transferrable experience in collaborating with staff and faculty to create equitable environments for teaching and support and to develop strong, sustainable, and inclusive communities.
The Oyster River Clean Slate blog and resulting Facebook comments have trumpeted one aspect of Ms. Blansett’s experience: her co-hosting of the podcast, ‘2 Happy Heauxes.’ (Ms. Blansett has since made the podcast unavailable online and said she will stop producing it.) Some might say this focus is sensationalistic and disproportionate to her spotless professional resume and ORCSD interviews. Others have scoured the episodes and screen shots, wondering if they reveal that Ms. Blansett is unsuitable for a job in K-12 education.
I was one of 15 people on the interview committee. After our six-interview marathon on May 3rd late at night after the two finalists were selected, I searched their names online. As you can imagine, I was surprised by the podcast and some of its episode titles. For example, one episode is provocatively titled, ‘Wh*te People Are Not Okay: The Panel.’ (It turns out this is a group of the co-hosts’ white friends in cross-cultural conversation about hygiene, food & cooking, music & dance, allyship, and more.) It took a lot of time and brain- & heart-energy to listen to many episodes, to think “why are the co-hosts saying this,” to unpack why it was uncomfortable for me, and finally to consider what all this could say about her character and how it might translate to her job in Oyster River.
“A fish doesn’t know that it’s wet.” When we are swimming in a dominant culture – and we don’t even realize that our societal systems are pushing others to conform – it can be jarring to hear those normative expectations explicitly named. When we ourselves are working hard to avoid language or actions that disparage or harm marginalized groups, it can be jarring to read or hear language that points out these differences, especially through comedy.
Others will have different interpretations and take-aways. For me, while I grew to dread the inevitable online firestorm, I also grew to appreciate the depths of what Ms. Blansett could bring to Oyster River in these turbulent times. Ms. Blansett is a candidate and human who both encompasses, and is larger than, her podcasts. She is a first-generation college student who brings additional socioeconomic diversity to our leadership team. She has developed trainings on dismantling classism and ableism and on the relationship between social and environmental justice. She grew up in East Detroit, served as a resident director in Berkeley, CA, and received stellar reviews for her DEIJ work with majority-white colleges in Maine and Vermont. I personally have spent four hours with Ms. Blansett. Her interviews show her to be personable, analytical, and informed and nuanced in complex topics – someone who asks good questions and responds thoughtfully. Her references are glowing. We are lucky to have her and will be lucky to keep her.
District Communication
The Oyster River Clean Slate blog and resulting Facebook comments have trumpeted one aspect of Ms. Blansett’s experience: her co-hosting of the podcast, ‘2 Happy Heauxes.’ (Ms. Blansett has since made the podcast unavailable online and said she will stop producing it.) Some might say this focus is sensationalistic and disproportionate to her spotless professional resume and ORCSD interviews. Others have scoured the episodes and screen shots, wondering if they reveal that Ms. Blansett is unsuitable for a job in K-12 education.
I was one of 15 people on the interview committee. After our six-interview marathon on May 3rd late at night after the two finalists were selected, I searched their names online. As you can imagine, I was surprised by the podcast and some of its episode titles. For example, one episode is provocatively titled, ‘Wh*te People Are Not Okay: The Panel.’ (It turns out this is a group of the co-hosts’ white friends in cross-cultural conversation about hygiene, food & cooking, music & dance, allyship, and more.) It took a lot of time and brain- & heart-energy to listen to many episodes, to think “why are the co-hosts saying this,” to unpack why it was uncomfortable for me, and finally to consider what all this could say about her character and how it might translate to her job in Oyster River.
“A fish doesn’t know that it’s wet.” When we are swimming in a dominant culture – and we don’t even realize that our societal systems are pushing others to conform – it can be jarring to hear those normative expectations explicitly named. When we ourselves are working hard to avoid language or actions that disparage or harm marginalized groups, it can be jarring to read or hear language that points out these differences, especially through comedy.
Others will have different interpretations and take-aways. For me, while I grew to dread the inevitable online firestorm, I also grew to appreciate the depths of what Ms. Blansett could bring to Oyster River in these turbulent times. Ms. Blansett is a candidate and human who both encompasses, and is larger than, her podcasts. She is a first-generation college student who brings additional socioeconomic diversity to our leadership team. She has developed trainings on dismantling classism and ableism and on the relationship between social and environmental justice. She grew up in East Detroit, served as a resident director in Berkeley, CA, and received stellar reviews for her DEIJ work with majority-white colleges in Maine and Vermont. I personally have spent four hours with Ms. Blansett. Her interviews show her to be personable, analytical, and informed and nuanced in complex topics – someone who asks good questions and responds thoughtfully. Her references are glowing. We are lucky to have her and will be lucky to keep her.
District Communication
Despite having the right person in the right job, over the past two weeks I have been dismayed how district communication has handled this predictable and mostly avoidable controversy.
How much healthier for our community, and for Ms. Blansett, if administration had immediately released a press release at her hire, with a photo that matched the job at hand? Instead, an article from the high school student magazine, written by a student and using a photo grabbed online, was sent to the Town of Durham’s Friday Update – causing some to think that the administration and Ms. Blansett had selected this photo as a message for Oyster River – and certainly distracting from everything else Ms. Blansett brings.
As online concerns grew, the district should have sent a clear message to squelch speculation, something like:
These three points, proactively messaged, would have helped our community make sense of seemingly contradictory information about Ms. Blansett. Instead, the district waited until this evening to react. (I applaud the new DEIJ website, still under development but long overdue.)
How much healthier for our community, and for Ms. Blansett, if administration had immediately released a press release at her hire, with a photo that matched the job at hand? Instead, an article from the high school student magazine, written by a student and using a photo grabbed online, was sent to the Town of Durham’s Friday Update – causing some to think that the administration and Ms. Blansett had selected this photo as a message for Oyster River – and certainly distracting from everything else Ms. Blansett brings.
As online concerns grew, the district should have sent a clear message to squelch speculation, something like:
- “The administration and School Board were fully aware of the podcast prior to hiring Ms. Blansett.
- “We hired Ms. Blansett for her full self and we stand by our decision. We do not ask Ms. Blansett to disavow how she expressed her version of the messy, sometimes angry, sometimes hopeful feelings that we all feel at times (but especially when we’re on the receiving end of bias and discrimination). We know that we cannot claim to want a DEIJ Coordinator who speaks and listens with experience, knowledge, and nuance – while also insisting that their whole life fit in a small box of what we deem ‘polite.’
- “Ms. Blansett will not continue her podcast as an Oyster River employee. We support her choice, recognizing that society needs both provocateurs and healers in order to change – but that it is near-impossible for one person to hold both public personas, without confusion, at the same time.”
These three points, proactively messaged, would have helped our community make sense of seemingly contradictory information about Ms. Blansett. Instead, the district waited until this evening to react. (I applaud the new DEIJ website, still under development but long overdue.)
At this point, my concern is not that we will somehow turn our back on this hire; it is about what happens next. My heart aches for the DEIJ Committee members or other courageous allies who may have been blindsided by the podcast-related firestorm – a result of the vacuum in district communication. All this was avoidable. And it's still fixable if we assemble a diverse team to think deeply about what Ms. Blansett, teachers, and the community need to heal and move forward.
One final note. Clearly, I am critical of the administration’s communication to date. The bumpiness in introducing Ms. Blansett is one of the reasons that her job is needed in the first place! Nevertheless, I staunchly support the administration’s intent and am not going to let this drive a wedge between us.
Community Communication
In contrast, I’ve observed that a few members of our community are intentionally spreading rumor and fanning flames online .One such falsehood is that the DEIJ hire cannibalized $50k from special education, a message that drives a wedge between DEIJ and special education. (I will respond to this and a few other claims in the comments.)
One final note. Clearly, I am critical of the administration’s communication to date. The bumpiness in introducing Ms. Blansett is one of the reasons that her job is needed in the first place! Nevertheless, I staunchly support the administration’s intent and am not going to let this drive a wedge between us.
Community Communication
In contrast, I’ve observed that a few members of our community are intentionally spreading rumor and fanning flames online .One such falsehood is that the DEIJ hire cannibalized $50k from special education, a message that drives a wedge between DEIJ and special education. (I will respond to this and a few other claims in the comments.)
Ruth and Dean, I know that this process and documentation for the DEIJ Coordinator have not been how you personally would have gone about it. We have learned from some of your points, including better transparency. But the fact is, you weren’t the ones rolling up your sleeves over the past 5 months or 5 years to make the district more inclusive and to support teachers in this area. Your approach was not the one that the Board approved after much discussion, or that the community supported. You reached out the day before the Deliberative Session and tried to cram. At what point does misunderstanding from late arrival, turn into willful ignorance, turn into intentional harm and sabotage?
What is the highest and best use of our community’s considerable energy and credentials? How do we all choose daily to avoid becoming the ‘white moderate’ that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. warned us against (“more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice…”)?
In Closing
Dr. Morse has said, “we must give [Ms. Blansett] the gift of time to get to know us and for the district to get to know her.” ORCSD hired Ms. Blansett to help us have rich conversations that won’t always have us all agreeing with each other. Rather, they rather invite us – and especially Oyster River educators – to understand more ‘layers of the onion,’ so they can better prepare our children to thrive in an diverse world. I welcome Ms. Blansett as a professional resource on our school administrative team and in our community.
[Member Turell further elaborates on the issues in the comments below. - Dean]
(1) I understand the controversy over the podcast, but it doesn’t help constructive conversation when rumors and half-truths continue to circulate about the DEIJ hire decision process. I have addressed many of these directly with the authors over the past months and will now post online for those who have been reading and wondering. As always, I speak for myself and not the School Board. Please note that I won’t engage in future online back-and-forth.
ReplyDelete(2) The DEIJ position did not cannibalize $50k from special education funding. It is true that Catherine Plourde recommended that a $50k contract not be renewed for 2022-23 due to lack of expected need, but this decision was unrelated to the DEIJ position. I can understand how this has been a cause of confusion since many final budget changes were discussed at once, in the context of "can we afford to create this position?" - and, at the Dec. 1st meeting, Catherine Plourde was reluctant to announce the specific reduction until she had spoken with the contractor in question. However, I have since confirmed twice with Dr. Morse and Catherine that this contract would not have been renewed regardless of the DEIJ position. As further support of this view, at yesterday's June 15th Board meeting, the Board reallocated a $70k windfall of health insurance savings to an additional 0.5 FTE high school science teacher and to drug & alcohol counseling, not into reinstating the SPED contract. If unexpected SPED needs arise, there is a contingency fund.
ReplyDelete(3) "There's also an inconsistency about whether consultants were hired before deciding we needed a full time post, with some board members claiming yes, and the superintendent saying no consultants were hired." (ORCSD Clean Slate 6/13/22) … In past years, the district has hired consultants to lead DEIJ trainings for staff and to facilitate the DEIJ Committee. This year, we also paid our lawyers to lead a one-time training on the new divisive concepts law. As noted at the Deliberative Session, staff have asked for on-call support throughout the year, rather than one-time trainings. I think this "inconsistency" could be easily cleared up if one chose to. My guess is that Dr. Morse thought you were asking about hiring consultants for a needs assessment or to define the coordinator role.
ReplyDelete(4) "There's some controversy that New Hampshire Listens facilitated the rather secretive process that resulted in a recommendation to add a DEIJ Coordinator, that was ultimately filled by a New Hampshire Listens Fellow." (ORCSD Clean Slate 6/1/22) … As noted previously, NH Listens facilitated the DEIJ committee in 2020-21. In 2021-22, the year that the position was conceived and approved, NH Listens was not involved. New Hampshire is a small state and many of the people involved in DEIJ-related work are connected to them. The DEIJ Committee met every 2-3 weeks and presented several times at School Board meetings this fall.
ReplyDelete(5) “No one on the board can explain what the new DEIJ director will do.” (I can’t find a blog snippet, but Ruth mentions this often including in her letter referenced on 6/13/22.) … I don’t think that is true. Your confusion may be because two things are true at the same time. We know at a high level that the coordinator will focus on supporting educators in curriculum and instruction - and have minor roles supporting marginalized students directly, assisting in communication with multiple stakeholders, and contributing to policy/practice development as needed. And also, we’ve chosen to wait until we have additional expertise and capacity on staff to define exactly what this will look like and how it will be evaluated, in line with ORCSD’s DEIJ strategic plan summary and DEIJ committee goals (https://www.orcsd.org/about_us/deij).
ReplyDelete(6) '"At its Dec. 1st meeting] Incredibly, the board made almost all the objections my wife Ruth Sample later made: The budget is too tight this year, the job description is too vague, consultants would be preferable, the position would embroil ORCSD in scandal, the public should be surveyed and allowed to vote on the position, etc." (ORCSD Clean Slate 6/13/22) … It is true that the Board members raised similar questions (though I wouldn't phrase them quite this way) and had a rich discussion. Ultimately, the job description was updated and the remainder of the concerns appear to have been addressed to the Board's satisfaction (the vote was 6-1 in favor of the position and 7-0 in favor of the complete budget). If anything, the blog observation reinforces that Board members asked probing questions and were ultimately satisfied.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post and all the comments Yusi. I'll be replying shortly.
ReplyDelete