Campaign to Improve Racial Equity in North Carolina Public Schools

The Freedom Hill Coalition announced its new “Represent!” campaign at a press conference on Thursday, saying it would advocate for the needs of students of color in North Carolina's public schools over the next two school years.

Jerry Wilson is director of policy and advocacy at the Center for Racial Equity in Education (CREED), one of the coalition's organizations. Wilson said they wanted more active representation, not just a “box to check.”

“So we use the verb form of the word 'represent' because it means that the act of representing is ongoing, and it is ongoing, because the moment you start to think that you've accomplished the task of representing, you're no longer representing those you're supposed to represent,” Wilson said. “And that's the case with too many policymakers. Unfortunately, that's the case with some educators and the curricula and policies that are in place in North Carolina public schools today, and that's what we want to change.”

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The coalition had several goals for the campaign. First, they want to work to ensure that appeals of short-term suspensions are possible in three additional school districts in North Carolina by the end of the 2024-25 school year.

Under North Carolina law, a short-term suspension is defined as a disciplinary exclusion of a student from his or her assigned school for less than 10 days. The law also states that the student has no right of appeal and a review of the decision to suspend is at the discretion of the school district.

Currently, students in the following districts may appeal their short-term suspension or request a review: Catawba, Cumberland, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Dare, Guilford, Halifax, Hoke, Jones, Lexington City, Madison, Martin, Pamlico, Weldon City, and Whiteville City.

The coalition's three additional or “target districts” have not yet been named. Wilson said they are targeting districts where “the greatest need is present.”

Another common goal of the coalition is to eliminate suspensions and expulsions of students in preschool through eighth grade by December 2025.

“We know these are traumatic experiences that not only remove students from their learning environment – they also leave an indelible mark on the way students perceive themselves as learners. That is the real harm of these policies and that is why we want to fight and abolish them,” Wilson said.

Lucia Lozano Robledo, curriculum and program specialist at LatinxEd, shared the goals on behalf of her organization. They want to collect 100 stories from marginalized students, parents, educators and community members by January 2025. Those stories will support a petition with 10,000 signatures from North Carolina residents calling for fair funding for public schools by December 2025, Robledo said.

“We know there is a real lack of representation in the education system, in the curriculum, in our leadership, in the principals, in those who create these curricula,” Robledo said. “So we want to identify and leverage these 100 stories.”

Keiyonna Dubashi, executive director of Profound Ladies, said they want to change the portrayal of public schools as a “bogeyman.”

“By promoting school choice – we believe every child and every family should have a choice of schools – this deprivation of public school work directly impacts marginalized communities and black and brown students,” Debashi said.

The Freedom Hill Coalition is made up of 15 organizations dedicated to “ensuring that all North Carolina children receive the quality education they deserve,” Wilson said. They combine the idea of ​​education with liberation, as the coalition is named after the first settlement of former slaves in Edgecombe County.

The campaign is scheduled to last 16 months.