Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.The teachers union president says teachers in the Omaha Public Schools should have flexibility in how they use a controversial cultural training sensitivity book.
Chris Proulx, president of the Omaha Education Association, said he supports cultural proficiency training for teachers but hopes it can be done in a manner that doesn't increase teachers' workload.
OPS Superintendent John Mackiel, in an email interview Friday, also defended the Omaha school board's decision to buy a copy of the book for every OPS employee — from administrators to teachers to custodians.
Mackiel declined to say if he personally agreed with the authors' viewpoint that white privilege exists in America, that "white" is a culture and that teachers should advocate for social justice and reject a color-blind approach to teaching.
However, Mackiel said he sees the book as a professional development tool to help the district with efforts to instruct staff in cultural proficiency.
The district began looking at research on diversity and cultural proficiency in 2006 in response to forecasts that the already racially diverse district will grow even more so.
The district, like most across the country, has struggled to close stubborn achievement gaps between whites and minorities.
"Every effort OPS can make to overcome the national status quo, and create an environment where achievement cannot be defined, predicted or tracked on the basis of race, ethnicity and any such category, must be made," he said.
He said achievement data shows the nation's schools are "generally most effective teaching middle class white students."
Mackiel's comments are his first since controversy erupted after The World-Herald reported earlier this month on the book's selection.
The school board spent more than $130,000 in federal stimulus money to purchase 8,000 copies of the book, "The Cultural Proficiency Journey: Moving Beyond Ethical Barriers Toward Profound School Change."
Proulx said he has pitched specific ideas to district officials about how the book should be used, but he does not want to make details public until officials come up with a plan they support and believe will work.
"What I presented allows for a lot more options for people so they can approach this in a manner that meets their needs and can be done in a way that won't be offensive," he said.
District spokeswoman Luanne Nelson said Friday an OPS committee that recommended the book as part of a diversity initiative is having an "ongoing discussion" on how it will be used and distributed.
"The committee will determine a plan in the best interest of all staff," she said. "All options and suggestions are on the table."
Initial plans outlined in a district report, in briefings to the school board and by the district's human resources officer called for every OPS employee to read a couple of chapters each quarter and then meet in study groups to discuss the book using a study guide produced by the district.
Some viewpoints in the book, however, have drawn criticism.
The authors assert that American government and institutions create advantages that "channel wealth and power to white people," that color-blindness will not end racism and that educators should "take action for social justice."
Proulx said he supports training teachers in cultural proficiency, but teachers in different buildings might benefit from different approaches.
"As a hypothetical, maybe it is that the book is optional," he said. "And maybe what really needs to happen in a building isn't that the book is what gets read, but topics of discussion happen in a building that come from the book."
Those topics, for instance, might include the topics of white privilege or white culture, he said.
Proulx said the discussion will be good for the district, although people shouldn't set expectations too high that cultural proficiency alone will close achievement gaps.
"There is no silver bullet," he said. "This alone isn't going to fix anything."
Efforts to improve student achievement must be comprehensive, he said.
The Omaha school district has a racially diverse enrollment. Last year the enrollment was 35.7 percent Caucasian, 29.9 percent Hispanic, 29.7 percent African-American, 3.1 percent Asian-American and 1.6 percent American-Indian. Students speak 93 different languages, OPS officials say.
"When you have highly trained and highly proficient teachers working with kids, and kids who are still struggling to make the necessary achievement on the state test, you can't tell me it's because that teacher needs more training in science," Proulx said. "You've got to begin looking at how we teach."
Mackiel said the book is being used in school districts across the United States and Canada and is one of the few books specifically designed to be used by all staff members who have contact with students.
He said the book is intended to "provoke discussion" and not as a means of making sure teachers conform to a particular point of view.
"The discussion will generate approaches to successful teaching amongst people who may see issues of race and privilege very differently," Mackiel said.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1077, joe.dejka@owh.com
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