Students should care about the goal revision process.

The District 202 Board of Education that oversees our school has two primary jobs: to hire a superintendent and to revise the district goals in keeping with the changing needs of our school and student body.

It’s been years since the last goal revision, and the board is currently working on goals effective fall of this year through 2021. At an all day workshop on Feb. 27, the board will hear community input, and students need to be there.

So why should you care? Simply put, the goals are the foundation of pretty much everything. They guide how our school spends money and where it goes, how we produce data on student success and if we choose to do so, what populations of students we focus on.

For students, parents, and teachers of color, the goal revision process should be especially important. If we want to make systemic changes for equity in this school, it needs to happen within the goals.

In November, my good friend Rena Newman published a piece featured here entitled, “Student voices deserve priority at school board meetings” about a board meeting in which the value of the Pacific Education Group, which provides racial equity training for Evanston teachers, was questioned by several members of the board.

Since then, I’ve had several meetings as a member of Students Organized Against Racism (SOAR) with board members who felt misrepresented or even attacked by students at the meeting and in the subsequent article.

I can speak for other members of SOAR when I say that was not our goal. But we do call out politicking when we see it, and while we recognize that good intentions are important, it’s the actions that count. That’s true for all of us. From students to educators to administrators, we care about making this school better, and the goals are the place to do that.