Supporting a culture of safety and belonging: A conversation with Akron Public Schools district leaders about REL Midwest's equity audit approach

Over the past two years, REL Midwest has been working with Akron Public Schools to implement the Making Equitable Schools Audit (MESA) approach. This approach leverages community-wide relationships and data to strengthen students' sense of belonging and build more equitable and welcoming school experiences. Through this project REL Midwest has engaged school leaders, staff, parents, and students in three high schools to identify equity gaps, make meaning from data, and plan for action and change.

We recently spoke with Dr. Carla Chapman, chief diversity officer, and Dr. Wanda Lash, director of student and family services, at Akron Public Schools about the district's new strategic plan and the ways that the MESA approach aligns with district efforts to develop a culture of safety and belonging. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Dr. Carla Chapman
Chief Diversity Officer

Dr. Wanda Lash
Director of Student and Family Services

Akron Public Schools recently released the Blueprint for Excellence strategic plan, which includes a focus on a "Culture of Safety and Belonging," one of four cornerstones in the plan. Can you describe this cornerstone and its centrality to the overall strategic plan?

Dr. Wanda Lash: That cornerstone is really about the environment and the experiences that our stakeholders have in their interactions with the district, with different layers in the district, and those equitable practices that engage all stakeholders. In that cornerstone, there are several different objectives that speak to culture, and how our stakeholders are experiencing an affirming culture.

Dr. Carla Chapman: Looking at the whole picture, I would say all the cornerstones of the strategic plan connect to each other in that they're all viewed through what I call the equity lens, which is, How do we examine our processes, our policies, and our practices in a systemic way to ensure that we're eliminating disparities?

There is also a layer of cultural competency and culturally responsive practices in that Culture of Safety and Belonging cornerstone, which also speak to how welcoming and affirming we are in accepting of others' identities, experiences, knowledge, and cultures.

Figure 1: Cornerstone 1 of Akron Public Schools' Blueprint for Excellence Strategic Plan

How does the REL Midwest MESA partnership align with Akron Public Schools goals and initiatives from the Blueprint for Excellence strategic plan? How does the MESA approach advance action regarding equity?

Dr. Carla Chapman: We have [an implementation plan] that provides us with a roadmap for each of the schools that are participating in this. And so now, how we take that roadmap, those learnings and recommendations, and fold them into our process of understanding an issue in a school, and then how we identify the resources to support that work, becomes that next level of work.

Dr. Wanda Lash: Like our Blueprint for Excellence strategic plan, it [the MESA approach] has equity at the helm of it. I mean, it's like air--it's there, it's supposed to be embedded in every single thing. And so I think this process has helped [school] buildings just kind of have an open eye to some of the things they may not have paid attention to before. Not because they weren't trying to, but because it just didn't cross their mind. I think the MESA partnership helps steer those conversations that are just not intuitive.

Dr. Carla Chapman: I appreciate that the MESA project was designed with talking about and addressing and eliminating disparities in mind. That is often not the case. If we're not going to design what we do with the disparities in mind, we may not be intuitive enough to get at it.

What has been your favorite part of the MESA partnership and working with REL Midwest?

Dr. Wanda Lash: Seeing the teams come together, from the students who have been present in the room to the various staff members in the building, and the parents, to see collaboration from those different perspectives--that has been the most enjoyable, knowing that it is happening. It's not just the school people; it's the people who are impacted by the school decisions too.

REL Midwest and Akron Public Schools will continue working together over the next year at two additional schools. What are areas for continued growth and learning that can strengthen implementation of the MESA approach?

Dr. Wanda Lash: You know the first thing that came to mind, and I know that our [school] administrators get pulled in so many different directions, but their presence makes a difference.... As we talk with the school teams, [we should highlight] the importance of not only their participation and presence, but even the makeup of their leadership team, ensuring that they do have student voice, they do have community partner voice, they have parent voice, and they have a cross section of their staff present.

As REL Midwest begins working with other school districts, what do you think will be important for districts to know about the MESA approach to best support students and school communities?

Dr. Carla Chapman: One thing is it gives you a way to keep students at the center of the conversation. Because I think often we do slip into the needs and wants of adults, and I think that this [approach] gives us a way to put and keep students at the center.

Dr. Wanda Lash: It's a systematic process that helps one walk through their data and tell the truth about it. And not just that, but then have some recommendations for how they're going to affect it.