Black history curriculum changes at Lakota Local Schools

Lakota Local Schools is changing its curriculum surrounding Black history this year.

NEW THIS MORNING...ONE OF THELARGEST SCHOOLDISTRICTS HEADSBACK TCLASS TODAY.

THEYDON'T JUST WANT A SAFEENVIRONMENT FOR KIDS...BUTALSO A CULTURALLY WELCOMINGONE.

.WCPO 9 NEWS REPORTER JASMINEMINOR IS LIVE TO EXPLAIN WHATTHINGS ARE IN STORE FOR LAKOTALOCAL SCHOOLS STUDENTS TODAY.GOOD MORNING JASMINE.JULIE, I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU,BUT WHEN I WAS GROWING UP THEEXTENT THAT I LEARNED ABOUTBLACK HISTORY OR RACE ANDCULTURE WAS VERY LITTLE.

WELLFOR MANY OF OUR LOCAL SCHOOLDISTRICTS, THE BLACK LIVESMATTER PROTESTS SERVED AS AWAKE UP CALL FOR THE LACK OFCURRICULUMIT'S A CALL THAT'SLED TO CHANGE FOR LAKOTA LOCALSCHOOLS.A PANDEMIC DOESN'T MEANTHERE'S TIME TO WASTE.

SOT[Elgin Card, Senior DirectorOutreach Lakota Local] "Ithink now's the time for us tohave these conversations.

Evenmore and more people arelistening." SENIOR DIRECTOR OFOUTREACH, DIVERSITY ANDINCLUSION FOR LAKOTA LOCALSCHOOLS, ELGIN CARD, SAYSSTUDENTS ARE GOING TO SEECHANGES IN THEIR CURRICULUMTHIS YEAR.

SOT [Elgin Card,Senior Director OutreachLakota Local] "Make sure thatour literature shows differentpeople and different types ofpeople." CARD SAYS HE'S BEENWORKING HARD TO CHANGE THECURRICULUM AND RETRAININGTEACHERS TO BE ABLE TO TEACH AMORE IN-DEPTH, INCLUSIVEHISTORY.

SOT [Elgin Card,Senior Director OutreachLakota Local] "Hire morediverse staff.

I wantteachers, I want people ofdifferent color, religionsAND IT'S DEMANDS THAT AREBEING MADE ACROSS THE TRI-STATE.

NAT POP: "The state andwell being of your blackstudents is highlythreatened." IHSAN WALKERWROTE AN OPEN LETTER TO HISALMA MATER ST.

X DEMANDINGMORE BE DONE TO TEACH BLACKHISTORY IN CLASSES.

SOT [IhsanWalker, St.

X Alum] "This isvery much this has been thevirus that has been plaguingus longer than COVID." AVIRUS, HE SAYS, THAT FORCEDHIM TO LIVE A DOUBLE LIFETHROUGH HIGHSCHOOL.

SOT [IhsanWalker, St.

X Alum] "Youunderstand that ChristopherColumbus did not discoverAmerica.

But you alsounderstand that you have toput that down as your answeron the test in order to getthrough this institution."WALKER SAYS HE WANTS ST.

X TOHAVE MORE DIVERSITY ON THEIRBOARD, A BLACK ALUMNIASSOCIATION AND MORE RESOURCESAND PROGRAMS TO TEACH ABOUTRACISM.

AND HE SAYS IT'S NOTSOMETHING THAT CAN WAIT.

SOT[Ihsan Walker, St.

X Alum]"It's often labeled as is notthat important, we can putthat on hold, and nothingcould be even more dangerous."AND FOR THOSE SCHOOLS WHO MAYNOT HAVE THE RESOURCES TOSTART NEW CURRICULUM ORPROGRAMS?

CARD SAYS BRING INSOMEONE NEW.

SOT [Elgin Card,Senior Director OutreachLakota Local] "Find a guestspeaker...I truly believe it'shard to understand otherpeople's experiences if youknow nobody that has thoseexperiences."WELL WALKERDID GET A CHANGETO SPEAK TO THE PRESIDENT OFST.

X.

WHO GAVE US ASTATEMENT.

PRINCIPAL TIMREILLY SAYS QUOTE, "When Ireflect on my own years at St.Xavier, it is obvious we havecome a long way, includinggrowing our diverse studentpopulation to over 20percent..Please know that wecontinue to have conversationsaround our current initiativesand the opportunities toimprove or change thoseprograms."SOME OF THE PROGRAMS INCLUDEIN-PERSON CIVIL RIGHTSSPEAKERS, A STUDENT RUNORGANIZATION ON CULTURALEDUCATION AND A COURSE CALLED"OTHER VOICES" WHICH STUDIESTHE WORK OF PEOPLE LIKEMALCOLM X AND MAYA ANGELOU.I'VE GOT THE FULL STATEMENT ONMY TWITTER, AT JASMINE MINORTV.

REPORTING LIVE, JASMINEMINOR, WCPO 9 NEWS.