Pacific Educational Group Inc.

$3,462,373.45

  • Acalanes Union High School District, CA - 2020 - $30,000 for Blanket Purchase Order Download
  • Acalanes Union High School District, CA - 2019 - $50,000 for Blanket Purchase Order Download
  • Acalanes Union High School District, CA - 2018 - $69,450 for Blanket Purchase Order Download
  • Acalanes Union High School District, CA - 2017 - $54,750 for Diversity Summit Download
  • Acalanes Union High School District, CA - 2017 - $2,375 Student Leadership Speaker Download
  • Acalanes Union High School District, CA - 2016 - $5,000 for Diversity Summit Download
  • Acalanes Union High School District, CA - 2016 - $2,500 for Administrator Presentation Download
  • Acalanes Union High School District, CA - 2016 - $9,500 for Diversity Summit Download
  • Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, CA - 2018 - $56,600 for Beyond Diversity Download
  • Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, CA - 2017 - $77,200 for Equity Initiative Download
  • Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, CA - 2017 - $17,150 for Diversity Seminars Download
  • New Haven Public Schools, CT - 2020 - $111,450 for Equity and Antiracism Professional Development Download
  • Lawrence Public Schools, KS - 2018-2021 - $103,625 for 21 Contracts Download
  • Lawrence Public Schools, KS - 2009-2017 - $754,673.45 for Consulting and Courageous Conversation Training Download
  • Oak Park and River Forest High School, IL - 2018 - $15,000 for 'Courageous Conversations About Race' Practitioner Certification Download
  • Oak Park and River Forest High School District, IL - 2015 - $11,150 for 'Beyond Diversity' Seminar Download
  • Evanston Township High School District 202, IL - 2020-2021 - $5,500 for Courageous Conversation About Race Download
  • Evanston Skokie School District 65, IL - 2019 - $3,000 for Newly Certifying Affiliated Practitioners Download
  • Baltimore County Public Schools, MD - 2016 - Vendor Transaction History Download
  • Baltimore County Public Schools, MD - 2015 - $182,300 for Contract Modification Download
  • Baltimore County Public Schools, MD - 2014 - $315,000 for Contract Modification Download
  • Baltimore County Public Schools, MD - 2013 - $100,600 for Professional Development, Coaching, and Consulting Services Download
  • Baltimore County Public Schools, MD - 2013 - $106,300 for Professional Development and Coaching Download
  • Fort Worth Independent School District, TX - 2017-2021 - $1,379,250 for 'Courageous Conversations' and Professional Development Download

School Districts

California

Colorado

Connecticut

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Kansas

Maryland

Michigan

Minnesota

New York

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Texas

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

Wisconsin


Report Details

What is Pacific Educational Group Inc.?

In 1992, Glenn E. Singleton, a former Ivy League admissions director,  established Pacific Educational Group, “committed to achieving racial equity in the United States and beyond.” The company was registered as Pacific Educational Group Inc., on Jan. 4, 1994, with the  California Secretary of State. The 2020 filing listed Singleton as the chief executive officer, based in San Francisco. Christine Lim is the secretary, based in Oakland, Ca., and Adrienne Cecile Edmands is the chief financial officer.

Marking 25 years in 2018 in the “race and equity in education” business.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he earned his master’s degree from the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, according to an official bio.

In 2006, he wrote the book, “Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Racial Equity in Schools.” Later, he published the book, “More Courageous Conversations About Race.”

On its website, Courageous Conversation says it is “providing training, coaching and consulting services for millions of racial equity leaders around the world.”

Pacific Education Group describes itself as an “award-winning protocol for effectively engaging, sustaining and deepening interracial dialogue.” Through its “Framework for Systemic Racial Equity Transformation,” the group’s staff members say they “help individuals and organizations address persistent racial disparities intentionally, explicitly, and comprehensively” and “engage in sustained partnerships featuring training, coaching and consulting with organizations to transform beliefs, behaviors and results so people of all races can achieve at their highest levels and live their most empowered and powerful lives.”

In 2015, EAGnews obtained a list of school districts that contracted with Pacific Educational Group, and 42 districts responded to a query about how much they paid Pacific Educational Group over the past five years. The total amount spent was $3.9 million between 2010 and 2015. 

Pittsburgh Public Schools spent $586,300 over a four-year period for Pacific Educational Group, the largest amount spent. From 2010-2011, the school district spent $231,000; from 2012-2013, it spent $183,200; and from 2013-2014, it spent $76,000.

In late September 2016, Singleton was a featured speaker at  an annual conference of the National School Boards Associations and Council of Urban Boards of Education in Miami, Florida, at the Four Seasons Hotel. Singleton led a three-hour-and-15-minute “Leadership Training Workshop,” called, “School Board Members, Step to the Front on Achieving Racial Equity!” The workshop description said Singleton “will engage participants in a Courageous Conversation which will leave board members poised and practiced to take action in their districts—actions that will achieve racial equity—and better able to confront challenges related to existing class, gender, and linguistic inequities.”

Cornel West spoke at the conference.

What services does the Pacific Educational Group Inc. offer?  

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The National Summit for Courageous Conversation says it is “uniquely designed for educators, civic and community leaders, and other professionals who are committed to elevating individual and organizational racial literacy and consciousness to eradicate racial disparities that are predictably evident in achievement.”

The organization says the summit is “our venue for bringing together the most promising and effective racial equity leadership voices, practices and results for examination and broader dissemination across the United States and globally.”

Other services include:

The company’s services include engaging in “sustained partnerships with our clients that center on training, coaching and consulting to transform beliefs, behaviors and results so people of all races can achieve at their highest levels and live their most empowered and powerful lives.”

  • It sells a “variety of seminars” on “various topics.” It offers “scheduled programming” and “customized seminars for clients interested in more specific areas related to racial inequity, such as: racial inequities in education, corporate work environments or local structures such as city-level government.”
  • It sells “coaching,” for “entities that are trying to navigate through a current, internal issue or concern within their organization,” helping to “identify standards for equitable solutions as well as existing areas of interrogation that they may not have considered.” The website notes: “Structure of this service is highly dependent on the unique circumstance of the client. Frequency of coaching sessions and expected goals are developed in collaboration with each client at the start of the coaching relationship.”
  • It sells ”consultation,” to “launch professional and organizational change.” The service “provides us the opportunity to navigate any predictable and emerging resistance alongside you, while redesigning practices and policies to create a more racially equitable, diverse and inclusive space for your company or organization.” It also sells the service on a “case-by-case basis to clients who may be seeking help with unique situations that require more nuance.”

What K-12 work has Pacific Educational Group, Inc. done? 

Web archive of 2014 list of clients.

CALIFORNIA

Acalanes Union High School District

In August 2019, the East Bay Times wrote that Acalanes Union High School District Associate Superintendent Amy McNamara “contacted Pacific Educational Group of San Francisco three years ago.”

The school district included details and a video on its website.

California Department of Education

According to a copy of meeting minutes, in 2010, in partnership with Jack O’Connell as the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the California Department of Education reported that Edison Charter Academy Principal Edward Winchester “informed the Members that the charter’s management was taking a closer look at data, specifically towards subgroup data, and was contracting services from Glenn Singleton of the Pacific Educational Group in an effort to meet the needs of the school’s African American students as well as for professional development for teachers, and was using benchmark assessments, mapping standards, and creating pacing guides to do so.”

Lodi Unified School District

In 2008, a local columnist wrote “Good riddance, Pacific Leadership Group,” after the Lodi Unified School District decided to not renew its contract.

Monterey Peninsula Unified School District

On Jan. 22, 2019, according to the meeting minutes from a board retreat of the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, the board unanimously ratified a contract “not to exceed” $56,600 with Pacific Educational Group for Racial Equity Seminars in 2018 and 2019.

Oakland 

The school district’s database of vendors included a contract with Pacific Educational Group to “provide its Courageous Conversations About Race Certificate Program training, as described in the Scope of Work, incorporated herein by reference, to Board of Education District 3 Director, Jumoke Hinton Hodge, for the term December 15, 2017 through January 30, 2018, at a cost not to exceed $1,500.”

San Leandro Unified School District

A school district PDF describes the school district as a “PEG Partner Since 2003.”

San Rafael City Schools

In 2016, San Rafael City Schools signed a contract with Pacific Educational Group after “racial incidents” emerged following the 2016 election, according to a local media report.

CONNECTICUT

Greenwich Public Schools

The school district announced a budget plan for the 2007-2008 school year with Pacific Educational Group as a vendor.

New Haven Public Schools

On Nov. 10, 2020, New Haven Public Schools signed a one-year contract, effective from Dec. 1, 2020, through Dec. 31, 2020, for $111,450, according to a copy of the contract. It agreed to an hourly rate of $4,650 per day to $13,900 per day. The funding source was the “Equity Transformation Grant #4448,” paid by the “Higher Heights Program” of the New Haven Board of Education.

The contract claimed an alternative contractor would cost $115,000. To the question of whether this was a “service existing staff could provide,” the contract only said: “The Pacific Educational Group (PEG) services will provide the opportunity to advance the large scale [sic] development for staff and will accelerate the district’s capacity to engage in equity transformation.” To another question of whether the service could be provided by “existing staff,” if it was provided for professional development, the answer was just as opaque: Pacific Educational Group “will expand the districts [sic] capacity to sustain and maintain the equity transformation and development plan.”

FLORIDA

Broward County Public Schools 

On Feb. 2, 2021, Public Consulting Group Manager Sophia Thwaites co-facilitated a webinar, “Conversations with District Leaders: Building and Sustaining Racial Equity,” with Luis Versalles, Director of Pre K-12 District Partnerships at Courageous Conversation. The recording is at this link.

District 65

For vendors contracted between April 30, 2019, and June 20, 2019, the school district published a payment amount of $38,018 for Pacific Educational Group.

Hillsborough County Public Schools

The school district published details of its contract for $1,476,292.

In a memo to the school board, the superintendent, Jeff Eakins, wrote: “Consultants from PEG will work with Superintendent Staff, district leaders, and school based leaders to develop the districts capacity to engage in systemic equity transformation and eliminate racial and other educational disparities in Hillsborough County Public Schools. The contract will include meetings, trainings, coaching, and support with district leadership focused on the topics of diversity and equity. All district and school leaders will receive a two-day Beyond Diversity Training, which will bring awareness to the role of equity and closing achievement gaps. A district team will be trained to continue the conversations, training, and support with all other stakeholder groups.”

Speaking in St. Petersburg, Florida, Feb. 21, 2019.

GEORGIA

Bibb County

In 2012, The Telegraph reported, “In his Macon Miracle school improvement plan, Superintendent Romain Dallemand said he wants to hire the Pacific Educational Group to close the achievement gap between white and Asian students and those of color, primarily blacks and Latinos.”

ILLINOIS

Chicago Public Schools

The Chicago City Wire reported that Chicago Public Schools renewed a contract worth $250,000 for the services of consultant Glenn Singleton.

The school district published the contract at this link.

Evanston/Skokie School District 65

In late March 2021, the board of education issued a “Land Acknowledgement.”

It organized “Beyond Diversity,” a two-day seminar, “facilitated by affiliates of the Pacific Educational Group.” The local media reported the board heard an “earful.”

New Trier

The school district published a contract with Pacific Educational Group on its website.

Local media reported about a contract for $90,000 “to instruct teachers on whiteness.”

Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200

On Sept. 16, 2014, the school district signed a contract with Pacific Educational Group  to do “Beyond Diversity” professional development work with faculty and staff with Pacific Educational Group and seminars with Luis Versalles, costing $17,400 for “District Executive Equity Leadership Team,” or “DELT.”

The school district published the details on its website.

The details from 2011-2012 were also published online.

KANSAS

Lawrence Public Schools

Since 2005, Lawrence Public Schools has contracted with Pacific Educational Group, including reference to “PEG’s Systemic Equity/Anti-Racism Transformation Process” and “Beyond Diversity” plan.

According to a 2015 local media report, Lawrence Public Schools spent $362,750 for Pacific Educational Group’s services between 2010 and 2015.

Topeka Public Schools

On its website, Topeka Public Schools said it is “engaging in a multi-layered racial equity development work with Pacific Educational Group to create the educational climate and culture for systemic equity transformation.” It said; “This transformation includes all levels of the organization School Board: Superintendent’s Council, district and site leadership and certified and classified staff. Again, the district is committed to eliminating racial disparities and predictability in academic achievement.”

The school website has the analysis on its plan.

MARYLAND

Baltimore County Public Schools

According to a 2015 media report, Baltimore County Public Schools spent $427,000 between 2010 and 2015 on the Pacific Educational Group. 

According to a board contract document, Baltimore County Public Schools agreed in June 2015 to extend for one year an earlier $415,600 contract with Pacific Educational Group for an additional $182,300, bringing the estimated total contract spending authority to $597,900. The document said the changes would “accommodate training for additional participants and extend the training program for one year.” It said, “The increased cost is requested for continued support of senior staff as well as training support for school-based staff, members of curriculum and instruction, business services, and communications. These services will allow the system to institute and maintain BCPS’ own diversity and equity training over the coming years.”

The contract was intended “provide coaching and consulting, as well as tools and protocols essential in advancing the system’s ability to provide services and support to its diverse student population.” It noted, “An evaluation of this year’s efforts will include a mixed method reporting of the impact of training on individual, professional, and organizational capacity. Evaluation results will be available through the Department of Research, Accountability, and Assessment at the conclusion of the 2015–2016 academic year.”

Its staff attended the annual summit in October 2019.Talbot County Public Schools, Maryland

According to a 2015 media report, Talbot County Public Schools spent $259,100 for Pacific Educational Group’s services between 2010 and 2015.

MINNESOTA

Edina Public School District

A high-school teacher in the Edina school district crafted the curriculum of a tenth-grade English class to address “race, racism, and Whiteness.” The class relied heavily on critical race theory and was designed to help students “discuss how Whiteness [is] showing up  in the classrooms and hallways.” According to the teacher, “[u]nderstanding [CRT]  was a significant reason behind our school taking [this] step on our equity journey,”  and teachers “encouraged students to examine … the ways Whiteness silences some voices and amplifies others.”

Osseo Area Schools

Osseo, Minnesota, school district paid Pacific Educational Group $533,800 over three years, according to the school district. It paid $100,000 payment for the 2012-13 school year; $225,000 in 2013-14; and $208,800 in 2014-15.

In 2017, the Osseo Area School Board said, according to an article, it would cut funding for diversity and equity training by Pacific Educational Group and Courageous Conversations, allocated  in the “Achievement and Integration” funds in the Minnesota budget, providing training sessions called “Beyond Diversity” and “Beyond Diversity II,” with required attendance by district staff leaders. Training participants also read “Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools,” by Glenn Singleton and Curtis Linton. 

The proposed budget was for $85,750 for consulting and license fees and $38,100 for staff members to attend Pacific national and regional summit meetings. School board member Robert Gerhart “said the board has received phone calls and emails both in support and opposition of Pacific’s programing.” “He said as an elected official, he didn’t feel comfortable supporting such a polarizing program. Pacific’s consulting work has resulted in problems in other school districts, he said,” the article said. “This is not the stuff we should be putting into our racial equity work,” Gerhart said. The article said; “The programs provided by Pacific do not serve the entire population, and can reinforce stereotypes, he said.” “I think you’re actually establishing stereotypes where none may have existed before,” he said. Another board member, Jessica Craig, said there wasn’t evidence the training closed the racial achievement gap.

According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the contract was for $152,000 for the 2016-2017 year.

St. Paul Public Schools

The Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported, “St. Paul’s minority students were often performing worse academically and had higher discipline rates than their white peers. To help address those gaps, the district hired the Pacific Educational Group, or PEG, in 2010 as its racial equity consultant. Over the next five years, nearly every district employee would receive PEG’s “Beyond Diversity” training.”

“Besides St. Paul, the company has worked with other Minnesota districts, including Minneapolis, Edina, South Washington County and Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan.”

“PEG and the St. Paul district began working together in 2010. The first PEG contract was for $3,505 to provide a “Beyond Diversity” presentation, district records show.”

“In all, the district has paid the company nearly $1.8 million for staff training and seminars. Nearly every district employee has taken part.”

“The district’s contracts with PEG have been on the decline since 2013, in part because St. Paul uses a ‘train-the-trainer’ system that allows staff to train co-workers.”

The state also documented records.

OREGON

Tigard-Tualatin School District 23J

Located in a southwest suburb of Portland, the Tigard-Tualatin School District 23J hired Pacific Educational Group, according to school district documents.

PENNSYLVANIA

Tredyffrin / Easttown School District

According to the Tredyffrin / Easttown School District, the school district “began a partnership” with the Pacific Educational Group in the spring of 2018, “specifically to enhance the polices [sic] and practices around racial equity.” Tredyffrin/Easttown School District’s director of curriculum, instruction and staff development, Wendy Towle, said it wouldn’t release material from Pacific Educational Group because of “copyright concerns,” according to an email obtained by Parents Defending Education

The material “constitutes proprietary information” and Towle said she could not share the curriculum “without legally exposing the District to copyright violations.” In a late June school board meeting , a local parent, Deana Wang, said, “America is great because of two reasons. This country nurtures innovative minds that drive progress on a global scale, and American people who seek to embrace constructive criticism.” She continued: “Critical race theory is creating the indoctrination environment that will constrain children’s creative sense of self and consequently limit their analytical productivity as adults.”

In mid-June 2021, about 100 people filled the Conestoga High School auditorium for its first in-person meeting in over a year, according to a WHYY report.

The Board of School Directors approved an agreement between Pacific Educational Group, Inc. and the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District to provide professional development services, effective March 1, 2019 – May 30, 2019 in the amount of $12,000.

TEXAS

Fort Worth Independent School District

In a file dated Sept. 18, 2020, the school district published an “Overview of Services Provided by the Division of Equity & Excellence.”

It included one section: “Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Fort Worth ISD: An Introduction.”

It said participants would be able to learn a “working understanding of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and its central tenets,” including “counter- storytelling, the permanence of racism, whiteness as property, interest convergence, critique of liberalism.”

It wrote: “February 2016- ​Superintendent Scribner presented a new organizational structure that introduced the Division of Equity & Excellence. ​The charge was to implement a district-wide equity transformation plan. To accomplish this, they recognized the need for a partner with experience to assist in preparing for this journey, or this endeavor could have negative consequences. After vetting multiple vendors, FWISD entered into a 5-Year agreement with Pacific Educational Group (PEG). PEG’s format that trains our leadership and staff to reflect on their own racial experiences allows for their racial awakening to be scaffolded in order to address systemic barriers within the District. The CCAR tools help facilitate a more productive way to engage, sustain, and deepen conversations about race.”

It wrote: “February 2017- ​After vetting the Racial Equity Policy through many entities and legal guidance, the FWISD Board approved ​Racial Equity Policy​ ​AE(LOCAL),​ and a Five-year plan ($1.3 million) to contract with ​Pacific Educational Group (PEG). ​PEG has over 20 years of experience in supporting large organizations in cultivating a racially conscious environment.”

Feb. 14, 2017, a board meeting was set with the topic, “Approve District-Wide Racial Equity Training and Program Services” and included the five-year contract with Pacific Educational Group. The funding source was the “Special Revenue General Fund” for the forest year.

Year one, 2016-2017, $75,000 and $69,700 for a total of $144,700. 

Year 2, 2017-2018, $333,700

Year 3, 2018-2019, $391,500

Year 4, 2019-2020, $331,500

Year 5, 2020-2021, $177,850

Total cost, $1,379,250

Actions

Actions that school district trustees have taken include:

  • October 2015 — Kent Scribner started as superintendent of Fort Worth Independent School District. In 2021, he was chair of the Texas Urban Council of Superintendents when it signed a letter opposing HB 3979, which bans critical race theory in Texas. 
  • February 2016 — Within a few months after starting as superintendent, Scribner increasingly focused on equity and inclusion and created a Racial Equity Committee in February 2016.
  • June 9, 2020 — School district trustees passed a “racial equity” policy, stating: “As members of the Racial Equity Committee we will speak out against the perpetual White supremacy, systemic racism, and the anti-Blackness we observe and experience. The need for action to accompany our words is imperative. We will support our school district in conducting a full Racial Equity Audit at every school and district wide. This tool will be used by the Racial Equity Committee and FWISD Leadership to identify and eliminate systems, policies and practices which perpetuate racism in our schools and community.”
  • January 2021 — Scott Blanco-Davis, a teacher at the district’s World Languages Institute, took “Beyond Diversity” training and was trained in the Courageous Conversations program, sold by Glenn Singleton, cofounder of the controversial Pacific Educational Group. The teacher filed a complaint about its prejudice against white participants.
  • April 15, 2021 — School district trustees passed a policy to eliminate “institutional racism.” The website states: “The Racial and Ethnic Equity policy is meant to ensure that minority students get the same chances of academic success as white students. The policy calls for providing ‘high quality, culturally and personally relevant instruction, curricula and support.’ It also calls for the elimination of losing instructional time due to disciplinary referrals.” Meanwhile, the policy noted that only about one of three third graders in the school district were at grade-level math and reading.
  • June 3, 2021 — According to its minutes, the district Racial Equity Committee met and discussed $261.56 million the school district was receiving in so-called ESSER funds, as part of COVID relief money. Committee members discussed spending funds on creating “calming centers” at schools to “reduce suspensions.”
  • Nov. 9, 2021 — A father supporting critical race theory said at a board meeting that he had a “thousand soldiers” ready to fight opponents of critical race theory.
  • Nov. 19, 2021 — A parent, Kerri Rehmeyer, told Fox News that Norma Garcia-Lopez, co-chair of the Racial Equity Committee at Fort Worth Independent School District, of publishing their addresses and phone numbers online, an act known as “doxxing.” Rehmeyer, a Fort Worth mother, sued the school district to block a mask mandate. 

Professional Development 

The school district offers professional development that includes:

  • “E&E: Foundations for Racial Equity in Education (F.R.E.E.)” — Two days of in-person training. Training description reads: “Participants will be introduced to the Courageous Conversations about Race Protocol as taught by Glenn Singleton. The course begins with an overview of racial equity work in Fort Worth ISD. Next, participants will learn about the Four Agreements, the Compass, and two of the Six Conditions. Throughout the course there will be opportunities to engage independently and collaboratively with other participants. As a culminating activity, participants will develop their own racial autobiography to move more deeply into critical self-reflection.”

VERMONT

South Burlington

In December 2019, Christie Nold wrote about her school in South Burlington, Vermont, on the website, TeachingWhileWhite.org, signing a “district partnership” with Pacific Educational Group after a “number of us on the faculty” attended the Courageous Conversation Against Racism Summit in 2017.

WASHINGTON

Lee’s Summit Schools

In 2018, the local community had a debate over a contract with Pacific Educational Group, with some community members feeling it was a waste of money, according to the Kansas City media.

A local parent called then-Superintendent Dennis Carpenter, the district’s first African American superintendent, the “race doctor,” with his Twitter handle @EquitySupt1. He later started a diversity consulting firm, Aspirational Insights.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

District of Columbia Public Schools

The equity plan included Courageous Conversations.

WISCONSIN

Milwaukee Public Schools

In February 2021, Milwaukee Public Schools signed an “Award of Exception-to-Bid” Contract with Pacific Educational Group Inc. for professional development training for 10 staff members to become “licensed facilitators” of “Courageous Conversations.” It included $158,1000 for 17 “Virtual Courageous Conversations Explorations” for 80 participants maximum at $9,300 per event. And it included 10  staff engaged in “Practitioner Certification” at $4,000 per person. 

The school district included documentation on its website.

Sun Prairie Area School District

In 2015-2016, the school district began with the National Equity Project. It then signed a contract with Pacific Educational Group. According to a school district investigation, on Feb. 1, 2021, a lesson was created with “slaves.”