January 21, 2021

Dear RIMSD #41 School Community,

Recently, it has come to my attention that there have been some shared concerns regarding conversations taking place within social media platforms. These conversations have been around mainstream social justice issues (support for our law enforcement officers as well as the Black Lives Matter Movement) and have included comments from our RIMSD students and staff. While these incidents happen online and outside of the classroom, it impacts all of us as a school community, and we need to be transparent in addressing those issues as they surface. Schools are microcosms of their communities, where there are many people on both sides of an issue. It is only through opportunities for discussion that we can truly gain understanding of each other.

So, why a message from me about this now? Because there is no better time than the present. Certainly, issues of race are prominent in our state’s and nation’s public discourse, particularly in recent months and even including the presidential campaign season. We see the significant weight and impact these events have had, and continue to have on our community and now within our schools. For many, finding the words to comfort a friend may be difficult. Finding the words to kindly disagree with a loved one may be uncomfortable. Finding the words to respectfully communicate one’s own personal intentions is tough and can be misconstrued. Silence, however, is not an option at this time.

The Rock Island-Milan School District has been engaged in racial equity and cultural competency work for many years, yet we, like many districts, are continuing to learn and build upon the skills necessary to engage in tough, meaningful conversations that lead to understanding. In our current work around implicit bias, research shows that everyone has biases towards a number of things. Our biases become a problem or cause issues, when we are not aware of the unintended impact that our actions are having on others. This is a large part of the discussions that took place on social media.

The focus of the racial equity work in our school district: 1) to provide common language skills and communication tools to help us engage in tough conversations; 2) to uncover personal bias that could have unintended impact on our interactions with students and families; and 3) to realign our practices that seem to be obstacles for our students and building respectful relationships. I am committed to providing the spaces needed to have these much-needed conversations and will rely upon school leaders to assist in moving this work forward. It is my hope that we can grow to become a community that understands support of one is not necessarily opposition of another.

We welcome the continued opportunity to grow and learn together in RIMSD #41.

Sincerely,

Dr. Reginald Lawrence, Superintendent, Rock Island-Milan School District