Plymouth-Canton Community Schools implements equity into curriculum; offers educators resources on teaching “Anti-Racism” and “Social Justice” in mathematics

Plymouth-Canton Community Schools is in the process of implementing equity into the school district’s curriculum. On the school district’s website, a “Teaching & Learning” page explains that the goal is to “utilize culturally responsive pedagogy.” The page further explains that the job of a majority of the school district’s departments is to “ensure excellence, equity, and access for all students.” The responsibilities of the “Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion” department include developing “dynamic and intentional equity, diversity and inclusion programs and initiatives for students, staff and families.”

The school district introduced an “Educational And Racial Equity Policy” to implement equity for all students. Goals of this policy include reviewing “existing policies, programs, professional development and procedures to ensure the promotion of racial equity and all applicable new policies” and achieving “workforce equity.” The policy is intended “to close the persistent and unacceptable opportunity gap between white students and students of color.”

Plymouth-Canton Community Schools also offers resources for educators and parents on “Anti-Racism,” “Equity,” and “LGBTQIA” issues. The school district’s resource page features a document with further material for educators to access. One resource is titled “Seeing White” that directly asks “just what is going on with white people?” Another resource is called “75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice” that actually lists over 100 ideas promoting the idea of “racial justice.” This resource claims America is inherently racist: “White supremacy exists in every institution. We are each charged with dismantling it in the place where we work, both in terms of how employees are treated and how clients are treated.”

The school district also offers resources called “Culture, Race and Power in Mathematics Education” and “Rethinking Mathematics: Second Edition Teaching Social Justice by the numbers.” In the description for the book Rethinking Mathematics, the book seller explains “more than 50 articles show how to weave social justice issues throughout the mathematics curriculum” in the book. The book seller’s website also has an article published called “Confronting the Right-Wing Attacks on Racial Justice Teaching” that claims teachers should educate their students about the “current manifestations of systemic oppression.”

The school district’s resources also include links to “LGBTQIA” material. One resource links to the “Ruth Ellis Center” that specifically targets “LGBTQ+ young people.” Another resource links to “GLSEN” that has information for teachers about including “LGBTQ-Inclusive Literacy” into the classroom for elementary students. One book the organization promotes is called “Reading the Rainbow: LGBTQ-Inclusive Literacy in the Elementary Classroom.”