Mason Public Schools’ equity plan encourages teachers to read books by Paulo Freire and other “anti-racist” writers

In Mason Public Schools’ recent equity plan, the district lays out its plan to increase diversity and social justice in the district’s work. Despite noting the “district’s continued stable enrollment, low transiency rates for both students and staff, the economic stability of the district and the size of the investment in students and staff on average” they believe that it is important to look at things through a diversity and equity focus.

The equity plan criticizes the fact that 95% of teachers are white while the district is only 85% white which could “negatively impact ethnic and economic minority students’ sense of belonging in the classroom, especially if intentional work does not occur at the individual, school community, and district levels related to intense learning on cultural sensitivity, implicit bias, automatic assumptions, culturally responsive pedagogy and social justice.”

To make teachers more culturally responsive, the district DEI committee published a list of recommended books for teachers including Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” and other such works as “Anti Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves” and “Everyday Anti-Racism: Getting Real About Race in School.”

As part of the effort to further implement DEI practices in the district, MPS published its 2020-2022 DEI implementation plan:

The full equity plan can be read below and the districts’ full DEI page can be found here.