Build Momentum - Thought Leadership for Education, Global Workforce Edition

S02E11 - A Conversation with Bellevue School District Leader | Shomari Jones

February 08, 2022 Sarah Williamson Season 2 Episode 11
Build Momentum - Thought Leadership for Education, Global Workforce Edition
S02E11 - A Conversation with Bellevue School District Leader | Shomari Jones
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode of Build Momentum, we are joined by Shomari Jones. Shomari currently serves as the Director of Equity and Strategic Engagement for the Bellevue School District in Washington state. During his nearly eight-year tenure at Bellevue, Shomari has developed a multitude of initiatives aimed at closing achievement gaps, such as empowering students to advise district leaders on bias in the history curriculum and educating teachers about how to recognize and address their own unacknowledged prejudices. 

Shamari was recently recognized as an Education Week Leader to Learn From. He also hosts a podcast together with Dr. Paul Sutton called “Coffee with a Little Bit of Cream”.

Some Questions I Ask:

  • What can you tell us about your school district and its diversity? (2:16)
  • Please describe The BOOM Experience and other student-led programs that are being replicated elsewhere. (4:33)
  • How are you working with other districts to help with this replication? (9:36)
  • In terms of the tipping point in equity and evaluating systemic racism, where do you think we are today? (16:07)
  • If you were going to offer advice, what would you suggest communities do? What can we as parents do? How can we support and get behind this cause? (20:12)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

  • What school diversity looks like in Shomari’s district (2:23)
  • About The BOOM Experience and other student-led programs (4:48)
  • What challenges he’s encountered in replicating and implementing programs to close the achievement gap (9:42)
  • Shomari’s stand on equity and his evaluation of systemic racism (16:25)
  • Tips for getting behind the cause (20:30)

Quotes:

“I would say we struggle just a little bit with regard to appropriately serving each and every student … so they have a sense of belonging or feeling that this place is fit for me. And so part of the work that I do is ensuring that we are leveling the playing field and providing opportunities equitably.”

“Between students, families, and staff, I think it is our obligation to make sure everyone feels like they have a sense of belonging. And, unfortunately, the way of doing that is to develop a program, instead of it being integrated into the system and transforming the environment.”

“I work separately with some of our school districts, especially within our region and the state, to help bolster ideas that they have on the creation of systems and supports that will best serve their students. And that works really well.”

“For better or for worse, equity has become very trendy. I don't know what the catalyst was that launched this trendy effort. But there is a huge exposure to the gaps that exist in our country, in our economy, and in our society—in particular in our districts and education system. I think that movement has begun to climb. And you would think that it would continue to climb after some of our real recent events.”

Connect with Shomari Jones:
Coffee with a Little Bit of Cream Podcast
Shomari Jones' LinkedIn

Stay in touch with Sarah Williamson:
Free Case Study Guide
SWPR GROUP Website
LinkedIn

Stay in touch with Chad Bolser:
LinkedIn

About "The Secret to Transformational Leadership," which Sarah co-authored with Dr. Quintin Shepherd:
Transformational Leadership Secret website
Purchase the print or ebook

Sarah Williamson:

Hello and welcome to build momentum where we help education organizations, Blow past their competitors with strategies that make an impact. We think beyond traditional press releases and generic communication tactics, and seek out big, bold ideas create meaningful results for our clients. I'm your host, Sarah Williamson. And I've spent more than 15 years in public relations for the education sector, where our team has learned what works and what doesn't when it comes to PR from launching groundbreaking new industry awards to landing sought after panels at most prestigious shows. We absolutely love this stuff. But the best part is, we have an opportunity to interview some of the smartest people we know who share their knowledge and strategies for success right here on the show. If you enjoy what you hear, we would so appreciate if you please take a moment just drop us a review on whatever platform you listen. And if you want to learn more about us, visit swpr-group.com. Thanks so much for tuning in. Today. Let's dive into the show. And on today's episode, we have Shomari Jones. Shomari currently serves as the Director of equity and strategic engagement for the Bellevue School District. During his nearly eight year tenure at Bellevue Shamar has developed a multitude of initiatives aimed at closing achievement gaps for empowering students to advise district leaders on bias in the history curriculum, to educating teachers about how to recognize and address their own unacknowledged prejudices. Shamari was also recently recognized as an Education Week leader to learn from Shamari Do you know how you got that award? Given the idea? Do you know who nominated you know?

Shomari Jones:

No.

Sarah Williamson:

Me!

Shomari Jones:

Oh, get out of here.

Sarah Williamson:

No!

Shomari Jones:

Seriously?

Sarah Williamson:

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Shomari Jones:

How is that possible? It's been years. I have no idea.

Sarah Williamson:

I just wanted to bring that up, and get a little credit.

Shomari Jones:

That's awesome.

Sarah Williamson:

You're welcome, You're welcome! Anywho, welcome to this show. I'm so excited to have a chat with you today.

Shomari Jones:

Thank you. It is a pleasure always to interface with you. And I'm so excited to tell the truth. So let's get it going.

Sarah Williamson:

Let's get it going. Okay, so first of all, can you set the stage tell our listeners about your school district and really the diversity of your school district?

Shomari Jones:

Yeah, we're just outside of Seattle, Washington about eight miles to the east. The east side of this lovely city is incredibly multiculturally. Diverse. We are a smaller mid sized district, depending on the size of your district. Our district has 20,000 students, we serve about 40,000 family members, parents, 3000 staff and very multiculturally diverse meaning the largest concentration or population of students we serve fit into the federal race code category of Asian, which as we know is credibly first in and of itself. We sit pretty at about 42% of our student population, identifying as Asian and then the second largest group of individuals by federal race code that we serve a white at about 37%. And then a number of strict gowalk quite considerably from there with black students need 3% usually just under and our Latino students being right at about 11% This year, just a little bit over in, you know small sprinkles of students who identify as Native students who are inserted multiracial. And so we do a really good job of recruiting students and families to move into our community to participate in our district because we have such a name for ourselves across the state. It's a very high functioning high capacity district as far as education output. We are AP for All districts, we offer IV, we have some incredible programming around our gifted students, which is a name that we absolutely must change.

Sarah Williamson:

Totally agree.

Shomari Jones:

But I would say we struggle just a little bit with regard to appropriately serving each and every student in a way that all students feel they need to be served by way of them coming to school and feeling so they have a sense of belonging or feeling that this place is fit for me. And so that is part of the work that I do and ensuring that we are leveling the playing field and providing opportunities equitably. So that families and their students who attend our district are well served.

Sarah Williamson:

Yeah. And I know you do some incredible work and you've launched programs that other places are replicating talk to me about some of the booming shout programs. And then you mentioned this other transformational student led program. I want you to talk about that today too.

Shomari Jones:

You know, between students and families and staff. I think it is our obligation to make sure everyone feels like they have a sense of belonging. And unfortunately the way of doing that is by developing a program that will do just that, instead of it necessarily being integrated into the system and transforming the environment that folks show up. We're still in this race of add ons that supplement what we don't do very well, naturally, as you alluded to, we have an event called Boom, formerly boom and shout, now we're sort of condensing it into boom for all room was for young men, showers for young women. Now, boom, which was acronym stands for breaking out of the margins will be inclusive, both men and women. And we're going to separate it by way of high school students and middle school students who have varying needs that show up in those spaces. And so it has historically been a an experience a one time a year experience where we bring kids together on a school day, we spend in December historically and shout in March, we pick them up from school in our yellow buses, and bus them over to Bellevue College, which is just down the street and go for a full day of symposium, which includes breakout rooms and keynote speakers and sessions that they have asked for and opportunity to them to connect to gel and bring stuff back to their school building spaces in a way that feels to them more empowered, and activated to get it going in service of them and others in that building. We have expanded that effort to create monthly experiences for young people, so that they can have build up to our larger events. And so our larger event will happen in the late spring. And right now, my feet are hosting topical subject matter either led by facilitator, or student generated and led by themselves, that really helps to keep them engaged. And you know, the specificity on who we serve. As always challenged, always there's pushback within our community, because we seek to serve who in our system, who traditionally have been underserved or most marginalized in their experience or historic in our country. And so we highlight that we serve black students to turn brown students, Native students, Southeast Asian students, we do not refrain from allowing other students to join, but they need to know that that's the subject matter that we focus on, you know, and still, it's a challenge, but it is essential opportunity for us. As we move forward in this system, in service of equitable approach to our students needs. We also have programs called one program called soar students, organized against racism, it's no basically it's a student group in each of our secondary school buildings. It's a while that our elementary schools, like yo', y'all can't forget that. And so many of our elementaries have launched their own soar efforts with some of their upperclassmen elementary kids, fourth, and fifth graders. And it's probably one of the most phenomenal things I've participated in, you know, to have these young kids talking about the issue that plagued them and how they are catalysts for change in their families, and in their school experiences. So fun. And then a bunch of student unions, black student unions, Latino student unions, affinity based program to really present an opportunity for kids to feel at home, in a space where they may not. And it's been really valuable for us to put these pieces together in every space to really let the kids take charge of their experience from adult programming. And staff programming as well. offer opportunity for kids to see their mentors and their family members and their leaders come together and feel equally as empowered. And so not only is it good for the adult to also work in a space where there are a few, we have less than 2% Black staff who work in our entire school district, you know, of 3000 staff, so and then you have to parse it out to understand that of that 3000 staff. We have a lot of classified folks, you know, folks in nutrition services, folks who don't consistently interface with kids throughout the school day. And so there really minimizes the number of actual teachers in the classroom we have so kids don't see our staff who look like them often. And so we want to make sure that our staff feel empowered, and our staff are coming to school every day lifting up our young people who look like them and are looking for their leadership to help support them through their journey.

Sarah Williamson:

That's amazing. That is so comprehensive. And I know you are you spearheaded the creation of pretty much all of that right?

Shomari Jones:

All of it, yeah.

Sarah Williamson:

Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. That's amazing. Are you working with other districts to help them replicate similar programs?

Shomari Jones:

Sometimes, you know, I don't you know, I had a gentleman. You introduced me to ask me a similar question yesterday. And my response was, like, we invite folks to our things very minimally because we have and want to develop, you know, this interplay with you kids feel connected to one another, and they see one another and they get, you know, to continue to build. But what I do do is I work separately with some of our school districts, especially within our region, and especially, you know, within the state to help to bolster ideas that they have on the creation of systems and supports that will best serve their students. And that works really well. I get a lot of calls from across the country, and I'll do an advisement call from time to time. But a lot of those folks are distant. And it's hard for me to get to to actually do the real work. But most certainly I convene with leaders like myself, who have titles and jobs similar to mine in our area to help the pass along ideas, as I take, you know, from there, as well. And it's a cool union, you know, we're trying in our region to build a movement that is not just self effacing. This is one thing I find that's really troubling in school system and districts were so insular that, yeah, we do this thing on our own, you know, what I mean? Like, we are successful, we can't be successful, unless we're all successful, you know,

Sarah Williamson:

Yeah.

Shomari Jones:

What's the point of holding on to this? It's not a secret, you know, I'm not making money off of these ideas that I'm developing, you know, to lock them away. Maybe I should, as much as this hostility around this the spread of information in the education system, you know, like, we should deem it our responsibility and our obligation to share across the lines, you know, and continue to lift one another up in service of our community.

Sarah Williamson:

It just seems like there should be a district equity leader organization where you could all collaborate nationally, it just seems like that would be

Shomari Jones:

Yeah, I mean, that's it's such a hard lift, we've discussed that before. We have our local ESD, Puget Sound, you know, ESD, which basically governs 12 or 15 districts in our region. And they host opportunities for folks to convene. There was a convening of equity leaders in the region. And folks come out from all over the place, and we talk about what's happening in your system. But it didn't kick off in a way that I think we should be supporting one another in our individualized growth. You know, we all have environments that we work in and have varying ways of oppressing the operations of what we'd like to see roll out or dole out, some of this gets so stuck in the red tape and mud, murk, the system wide way that folks really, you know, very arise and prevent you from leaving for your cause, that it's not as easy as it would seem to just bring people together and say, alright collectively, let's do it.

Sarah Williamson:

Yeah.

Shomari Jones:

So we need to figure out a new campaign and a new way,

Sarah Williamson:

Let's do it

Shomari Jones:

that we can ensure, right that we are not just in this collectivist mindset, but that we are fighting against the oppressions and the status quo that we are sometimes read it in by way of our policies, practices, and sometimes leaders.

Sarah Williamson:

Mm hmm. That's what's even more impressive about everything you were able to accomplish the past eight years, even with all that red tape, that's pretty amazing.

Shomari Jones:

It's a combination of a couple of things A like, I might be a little bit of a bully sometimes and ask for forgiveness instead of permission. Actually, yeah, I mean, especially in the face of external preventative measures like like external stakeholder, the community, members of parents, etc, have loud voices, you know, they they make magic happen when they convene as a large collective of individual and put pressure on our district leaders, our board members who you know, serve at the pleasure of their constituency in their focus area. And so when that happens, and the common narrative is one that is anti your movement, you know, you do run into some barriers, and there's a lot of fight that I have to have a tremendous amount of resilience after half. But I have, in my time here had leaders who have been my leaders or supervisors who have had my back and supported me, it's not always the case, you know, but it has been the case in times where it was most important for us to be progressive in the way that we changed the narrative and did things that even sometimes that community ignites.

Sarah Williamson:

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. We all need those people who are supporting us and find us lifting us up. So that's great that you had some good people helping you there. Okay, so we've all been there, waiting until the very last minute to pull together a conference proposal for an important upcoming industry event. You know, that dreaded moment when you realize you've put this off until that reminder, email pops up in your inbox on what is most likely already a busy day. So you pull something together, read it over, and you think this is pretty good. You hit submit, and you don't think about it for another three months. Then all Have a sudden when it's completely slipped your mind, you get the email you were hoping wouldn't come. Thank you for applying, we received hundreds of submissions and we regret to inform you that your proposal was not accepted. But we still encourage you to register for the conference and purchase a booth. That rejection can be deflating. And it definitely gets old when it keeps happening over and over. Trust us. We've been there too. We know how you feel. But the good news is, we've learned what works and what doesn't work when submitting proposals. And we've created a framework for success that has dramatically increased our acceptance rate. It all begins with just a few simple shifts to land significantly more of those Congratulations, your proposal has been accepted emails. If you're ready to up your proposal game and start landing some big airtime at industry conferences, go to SW PR, dash group comm and click on the Contact Us button and let us know you're ready to get started. Proposals season kicks off in a couple of weeks, and we want you ready. So it seems like we went through a transition a couple years ago where there was a tipping point in equity and education and we're evaluating the systemic racism that's going on. Where do you think we are today? I don't know if you agree with that or not? And I'm curious if you agree with that. And then where do you think we are today?

Shomari Jones:

I do agree with that. I think that for better or for worse, equity became very trendy. I don't know what the catalyst was that launched this trendy effort. But there is a huge exposure to the gaps that exist in our country in our economy and our society, in particular in our districts and education system that folks were taking advantage of, you know, as far as adding people to their staff to help to eradicate I think that movement has begun to climbs statuary. And you would think that it would continue to climb after some of our real recent events. So, you know, nationalize, you know, globalize exposures to who we are as a society and racism that exists within it. But that is not the case, you know, some of the campaigns against equity, you know, the anti critical race theory campaign, I would ask you to ask 50 75% of those people who are critical race theory is, and see if they actually have an answer for you. And why is it that they are combating something that is not intended to create harm. It's intended to create an ideology of investigating your own understanding of the things that you're being told, and the things that you choose to remove that there are massive campaigns and rooted in deep fear around folks losing some, you know, losing access to power, you know, losing access for their kids to get things that they feel that their kids deserve, not necessarily their kid design, but their kids deserve just by way of who the parents are, or what circumstances have been, that revolve around this or there is an unintentional, sometimes intentional bias against particular racism, individual's particular skin colors that exist in the classroom space and just exist outside where, you know, folks have to put on our neck to come to school everyday. We call it racial stamina, you know, it's already a deficit. And then we want to combat the equitable practices that we use to serve those students in ways that help them to feel free enough to remove that on but you know, the word racial Aggelos race, just the word race, before we even put equity to it has been such a conflict ridden, you know, a word that people feel has a level of assertion that is improper and appropriate for school spaces, right. And so we see nationally, areas of our country really seeking to roll back aggressively. I came home from a trip last week, and I was watching CNN. And I didn't have the sound on. But I caught a glimpse of the screen. And there was a segment on Florida and how Florida is in process of developing a law that would make it illegal for white folks to be charged with this and just even in conversation and understanding of racial history, by way of how we teach folks in concert spaces. And it is really challenging that we are seeking our best to suppress the truth. You know, we're not trying to say believe this. We're not trying to say you have to transform your waist back. We're just trying to say you make the most conscious decisions about how you want to lead your life by way of being informed on all the factors. If you're informed Well, there's a good likelihood is a unique world decisions. If you're not informed? Well, there's a likelihood that you're steered to make a decision that's in alignment with what it is that you are taught to understand. Yeah, that's problematic.

Sarah Williamson:

It totally is. So I'm curious, if you were going to give someone advice on what we can do, what can communities do? What can we as parents do? How can we support and get behind this cause? You know, as a white person, what do I do? Yeah,

Shomari Jones:

I get asked, quite often. I mean, we have strategies, this is you have to make a conscious decision, first and foremost, that you wish to have a greater understanding. There has to be your mission in life. As adults, there is no competency. You don't reach it. You don't take a class and say, I did it. You know, you don't jump on a campaign and vote for something and think that you're, you know, a leftist, and you know, someone who's revolutionary, you actually have to practice this consistently. As a black man, I have to practice this consistently. I have to deepen my knowledge, I have to learn new history, I wasn't taught the right real history, when I went through K 12. You know, here I am in my 40s. And I'm still learning all the things that I need to learn. Everyone's I took a trip to Senegal, West Africa, and I took a bunch of kids with eight kids, this is back when I was for the why. And we were on a tour through this coliseum building, it was one of their monuments. There are all these African people in the wall, and the African leader of our group said, You know what he's done and he was like no? And he's like, why not? You know, because we know all of you are black, you know? And,

Sarah Williamson:

Wow, yeah.

Shomari Jones:

That shook me, right. Like, we don't know, some of the most prominent leaders and people who have revolutionized and transformed, you know, the continent from which many of us hail, but they know ours, because it's a part of their truth. And it's part of their history, right. And so I just implore people to please do some reading, you know, watch a TED Talk. I'm not saying go out and make a friend. But what I went saying is, when you are making a decision, within the sphere of influence in which you have, it is your responsibility. To seek multiple perspective, it's your responsibility. If you're going to create programming for young people. How can you do that without? How can you do that without the voice of the people you're seeking assert, we can't be saviors out here, man. Like you can't save someone who's a part of a group of culture and history and experience that you've never had. Not until you include those individuals into the context of the conversation willing to have, right you have to have a willingness to change, to transform and to grow, in order for you to be even on a journey. For its righteousness and support of the people that we're seeking to serve. We must serve the people. A part of that group that I consider the people are even those people who are black and brown, they're even those people we may not regard as having the wherewithal and the ability to lead in the similar way that our white and our Asian folks, you know, are presently offered the opportunity really got changed your scope. You got to change the narrative. You got to get in, where hurts I might not be comfortable.

Sarah Williamson:

Yeah, I know

Shomari Jones:

Where fragility really sets in, you have to check yourself, check in with yourself. Ask why am I not? You know, involved in this conversation? Why don't I know this? If that narrative is different than mine? What is it about that narrative that makes that person feel that that's their truth? Which is different from much as question, you know, and you will get answered, someone's going to be willing, don't charge someone with the expectation to be willing to respond to you. But seek to find someone who is, you know, and I'm sure that your knowledge is one and your decisions are ones that are made based on the fact that you've done your research. It's good advice, thanks Shomari I also like Erin Jones. I had her on the show, too. We both love Erin Jones. Thank you. I think you introduced me to Erin. She's the best people. She said What's interesting, she's it's hard in this world of social media filtering, where we're only spoon fed content that we believe and we don't even see content that we would disagree with, because it's not, it doesn't show up in our newsfeed doesn't show us yes, our friends share content that we agree with. So she recommends being friends with everyone, making sure you have different perspectives on those social channels that show up and making sure you're hearing every side of the story so that you're aware of every angle and you're getting every angle, you know, because it's very easy to filter and we need to stop doing that. Yeah, some of the greatest conflict ridden or combative narratives that are out There are just simply, as I stated, the moment though rooted in someone afraid of losing something, losing status, losing positionality losing power. So you hear a lot of that narrative being pushed for, and we are enough people who haven't been educated in a way that they have an understanding of the truth, that that's the narrative that they're willing to adopt and accept, because they know no other. They see no other it's not on CNN all the time, right? It's not on the social media feeds that you have the greatest amount of access to now as that is at the forefront of how many of our people especially like younger people, communicate, and so it is your responsibility. Don't take everyone's word for it. My mom always said minutes like, you have got to figure out for your own so and not put your trust and faith in one person's perspective. Right is not always the truth. It may be their true, they may not everybody.

Sarah Williamson:

Yep. Love that advice. I think that's a good advice to end on. Any other thoughts you want to share? Or should we just talk about where people can go out and find you,

Shomari Jones:

I think as a finalizing thought, I want to suggest understand that as we, you know, adults, once we become adults, anti age just happened naturally with that. There are generations below us, and it is our opportunity. And again, I think it's our responsibility to find a pathway to supporting our society as a whole. You know, like, we're running the race here, man, and I'm not sure we're not 100% winning, because we need more players in this game, you know, more folks on the forefront of change, you know, change from the era of enslavement, we still have ideologies and practices that mimic that of which we found that this country, right, and we have to move forward and beyond. And that is not just my responsibility, you know, and I tell people that you can't lay this on the shoulders of black people and black people, people of color, right, because oftentimes, they're the ones in positions that are in the barrel, trying to get out, right and trying to bring people along with still being suppressed in the barrel. This needs to be a conversation with white folks, somewhat of the creators of the circumstances that we're in within our country. Right, holding tight to the law, and the fabric of the society that has been built to break that society. We've got to find a way to be more inclusive. I put that on all the people, especially comparing on white.

Sarah Williamson:

Yeah, okay, I'll take it. You know, what I also want to take, I think we should create an equity organization for equity leaders across the country, you and I, let's do it.

Shomari Jones:

I'm down for that. I'm totally down for that. No, I and I have a lot of colleagues and a lot of different places who would be ridiculously excited for such an opportunity to have national conversations.

Sarah Williamson:

Yeah,

Shomari Jones:

I think it's important. I think it's important to take ideas from one another. I think it's important for us to have, you know, a nationalized presentation or perspective that can be tapped into for resources. You know, if we want folks to go out and find a way to, you know, create a pathway for their involvement, we may have to create that pathway first, you know, for them to find a space that they feel comfortable with, and engaging and so I'm about that life. Let's go.

Sarah Williamson:

Let's go okay, we got work to do. Love it. Where can people hear about you Shomari, or find you or track you down?

Shomari Jones:

I'm happy to receive emails from people at work all the time, man. It's JonesS joness@BSD. That's boy, sierra, dog 405 dot org. So joness@bsd405.org. I'm have a podcast that's currently running. It is called coffee with a little bit of cream, Me and, my boy Paul Sutton who launched this, is a white male and it was really great opportunity to hear know this discourse between a black male and white male about subject matter. That's really important to learn and understand, and really helped to mold fashion away for folks to figure out how to be in conversations like this with counterparts from the opposite race or a different race. And you know, on LinkedIn Shomari Jones, I'll see you and I'll be looking for you.

Sarah Williamson:

Okay, people you heard it. All right. Thank you so much Shomari. This has been really fun. I appreciate you coming by.

Shomari Jones:

My pleasure. Thank you a lot.

Sarah Williamson:

Thanks so much for tuning in today. If you enjoyed the show, if you wouldn't mind leaving a review, we'd be so grateful. This helps other listeners find and learn about our show. And please reach out if you're interested in learning more about how we can elevate the leaders of your organization with our PR services. If you'd like you can even shoot me a direct email Sarah sarah@swpr-group.com I look forward to hearing from you and we will see you next time