Anti-bias educator Kristy Leader helps us explore the need to engage families through a culturally responsive and anti-bias framework in education, the positive outcomes for schools and communities when done so, and how imperative it is for change to start now.

Full transcription and references available here

Noelle: Often we might blame families for uninvolvement, such as saying things like-oh, they don't value education, or they just don't care, rather than addressing ways that we can include them. So can you touch on some of these factors that cause family disengagement in the schools?

Kristy: We work with professionals in schools, a lot of times we hear this--okay, you know, these families just don't care. And in my 20 plus years of education, one thing that I can tell you is that I've never met a family that didn't care, and nothing hurts me more. And I think first and foremost, people who work in schools need to really embrace and understand that. There are a variety of reasons why families may not show up in the way that schools want them to show up. And some of those things, I try to think first and foremost of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. And if you're familiar with that, it's basically like your food and shelter come first and you really can't get to all the goodies and the self actualization until you feel safe, secure, fed. And so there's a big piece of that with families, so if a family is just working to get food on the table, or to keep their job, and they're worried they're going to get fired for missing a 10am conference at the school-and schools are notorious for making things between nine and three. How accessible are you really making this? So that's the first part of it, are people's needs being met. And then the second part that contributes to disengagement is all the lack of culturally responsive work that people do with families. So a lot of times there's no translation, or meetings are predominantly in English. If you go to one meeting and it's an English, and English isn't your first language, probably, you're not going to arrange for the childcare and get yourself out of the house for a meeting at six at night, just to sit there and hear a meeting in a language that you don't necessarily understand.

A lot of times families don't feel welcomed, and that's a big issue.

Nobody likes feeling like an only, it's a very brave thing to be an only in a room. So if everybody in the room looks very different from you, it may be something that's off putting. It may be a way that you don't really feel comfortable, some families are scared. We see this particularly with undocumented families where they just don't want to draw any attention to themselves. And the other thing is, a lot of families from a cultural standpoint are taught not to really question. A lot of cultures teach you to really respect the teacher, that's not a very American thing, but in some cultures, the teacher really is the end all and there's really nothing to say. And I think, unfortunately, a lot of times school staff see those things as parents not caring or being flippant, and, you know, it's really not that.

Join us for season one as we explore bias, systemic racism, the roots of oppression and barriers found within education and the criminal "justice" system.

The Unpacked Project is produced by Vicky Lee with Branding and Marketing by Raquel Avalos.

Show us some love by liking, subscribing and reviewing our podcast; and to stay up to date, follow us on Instagram at the_unpackedproject.