EPISODE 2: Achieving Education Equity in Vermont, Let Us Count the Ways

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Back to Freedom School – Ongoing conversations about education equity in the State of Vermont

Achieving Education Equity in Vermont, Let Us Count the Ways – Elijah Hawkes and Jay Diaz

There are several ways to pursue and achieve educational transformation, including grassroots organizing/activism from the ground up, courageous leadership from the top, inside-outside approaches based on relational organizing, and adversarial approaches that may involve legal challenges. 

Randolph Union high is pretty lit right now, in a good way, with great leadership and student organizing/activism. In the land of the “Galloping Ghosts” [a mascot that resembles a KKK member riding on a horse] there was an awakening to combat racism before the murder of George Floyd. Their first annual “VT School Against Racism” conference in 2019 was the first of its kind in the state to originate in the public schools and led by students. They continue to address racism at their school head on. “The curriculum needs to mirror the reality of our lives, so that we are better able to change those realities for the better,” says the principal at Randolph High School.

With one of the most brilliant legal minds in the State of Vermont, Jay Diaz isn’t afraid to take on the system in the face of injustice. We live in a society with a compulsory education system, where everyday people with limited means are legally obligated to have their kids enrolled in school, regardless of how undesirable the experience is, or how poor the outcomes are. As long as this is a reality, there will always be a need for a legal apparatus to counter the power imbalances that exist between the families whose needs are not being met by the current system, and the local and state authorities that require them to be a part of that system. Diaz’ position is that “we need more access to data… privacy issues are always balanced, never absolute. privacy should not be used as a shield to prevent us from understanding the gross inequities in any system, especially our education system.” That might be an understatement, given the current state of our “data driven” approach to education equity.

Note: (the acronym FERPA is referring to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)