Please head to https://forms.gle/uDBRtonN6tpmn6Es5 to add your signature! We have asked for it to be read at the Board of Education meeting on July 7, 2020
June 2020
School District 709 Superintendent Hill, Board of Education President Beaty, Principal Ripka, and Principal Hoffman,
We are a group of Morton High school alumni, current students, and supporters writing to you with the humble request. We request to insert additional Black perspectives into the English, History, and Political Sciences curricula at Morton High and Junior High Schools.
The past weeks of protest in the United States against the systemic oppression, injustice, and discrimination against Black people have been eye-opening, action-inspiring, and long overdue. These protests have placed a spotlight on shameful disparities in our country such as the fact that 1 in every 1000 Black men can expect to be killed by police. We know there are flickers of “what can I do?” afflicting millions across the country, and we are firm believers that everyone can actively affect change.
As students of District 709, we enjoyed a wealth of advantages and privileges: safe schools and town, a top-notch public education, and supportive administrations and staff. However, one prominent omission from our experience was a set of diverse perspectives from a racially representative set of peers.
According to the 2010 Census data, the Black population in Morton only makes up 0.7% against the nation’s 13.4%. Additionally, according to the Illinois Board of Education’s report card website, only 1.8% of the student population at Morton High School is Black. This is not an explicit criticism of the Village of Morton or School District 709, but rather some statistics meant to highlight a stark reality. It’s very easy to be a student in our community and have minimal interactions with Black people. It is common to befriend zero Black classmates until leaving for college or professional life.
The education system is a critical venue for imparting lasting change. By actively incorporating Black perspectives and history, School District 709 can increase awareness, acknowledgement, and understanding of our country’s long guilty history of systemic injustice and racism.
The first, and most important step, is awareness. Awareness of our country’s history, especially the uncomfortable truths that are frequently omitted from history curricula.
As such, we ask you to challenge the English, History, and Government departments to actively incorporate additional perspectives into their curricula.
Education is not and never has been strictly about memorizing facts, dates, and trivia for quizzes. It is a holistic deeping of awareness, knowledge, and understanding. We are confident that Morton High and Morton Junior High faculties and administrations possess the fortitude to embrace these principles.
We suggest the following works if not already in current curriculum, for consideration. Both fiction and non-fiction open windows into places and perspectives that open a reader’s mind.
Non-fiction books
Fiction books
Documentary Films
We are proud to be alumni and students in this community, but we know it would be wrong for future graduates to leave one of the top schools in our state with no greater understanding of systemic racial injustice in the US than our own understanding when we graduated.
Best,