[ST. PAUL, MN] --  After racist events in Minnesota and incidents within PELSB over the past year, PELSB has sought to be reflective about its duty to increase equity and access to educator preparation and high standards in Minnesota. 

PELSB has made errors of not addressing problematic exchanges and explicit micro-aggressions in real-time and because of that, we have fallen short on our mission and duty. 

While we rely on our stakeholders to hold us accountable, the fact is, we strive to become adept at preventing and calling out these moments. We understand that upending oppressive systems takes time and effort and we are committed to this work. To date, we are diligently embracing this necessary challenge by:

• Increasing the Board’s awareness and accountability to equity and inclusion - beginning with cultural competency training for PELSB staff and Board members;
• Pinpointing and revising systemically racist rules that prevent or make accessing teaching a barrier;
• Continuing efforts to collect stakeholder feedback for additional strategies to improve our systems and processes;
• Considering a Board meeting schedule that would serve to increase educators’ access and participation;
• Firmly establish outreach to underrepresented and disenfranchised communities to engage with the work of the board;
• Facilitating conversations with Teachers of Color and American Indian Teachers to publish action steps to best recruit and retain a diverse educator field;

As always, we welcome you to share your thoughts on additional actions we should consider as we strive to achieve equity in education in Minnesota. George Floyd’s death may have been a catalyst for action but we cannot let it end there. PELSB can do better: We must and we will.