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Why I’m Supporting Dr. Jennifer Moore
A perspective from Matt Hughes
I’m a proud product of our local education system. From kindergarten to 12th grade, I was educated in Orange County Schools. I’m concerned about our local schools, but not in the way some people talk about our schools. That is why I’m supporting Dr. Jennifer Moore in the May runoff for Orange County School Board.
There’s a tendency to talk about low student achievement without context of nationwide and even worldwide learning loss that we’ve seen post-COVID, and county-wide growth of charters that have drawn the most well-resourced students and families away from Orange County Schools. Instead, we’re subjected to a false choice. The false choice is that rather than have an equity mindset when it comes to our school system, policies, and curriculum that we should be singularly focused on raising student achievement for all students. The inconvenient truth is you cannot do one without the other.
Shortly after I graduated from Cedar Ridge High School in 2009, I was asked to join the Raising Achievement and Closing the Gap Subcommittee for Orange County Schools because of concerns I had after serving on a School Improvement Team for two years as a student representative. The data and trends have been apparent when it comes to student achievement and high school graduation rates, especially for students of color. Back then we were singularly focused on the data and that students of color were lagging, sometimes far behind, their white peers. It was rarely asked why this gap persisted. We now acknowledge that the issue is not an achievement gap but an opportunity gap.
In order to close the opportunity gap and thereby raise student achievement, we must have an equity focus on our schools. There is no denying that our students of color do not have the same opportunities afforded to them as many of their white peers. Learning disabilities can often go unnoticed or ignored. Enrichment activities both in the schools and in the community can often exclude those who cannot afford them or do not have access to them. And when students of color are disproportionately disciplined and taken out of the classroom then those disparities have collateral consequences for students.
I know this from personal experience. I was often the only person of color in many of my AIG, honors, and AP classes. I was a candidate for valedictorian when most others were white. There were several decks stacked against me, including being economically disadvantaged. I got lucky. Our students shouldn’t have to rely on luck to get ahead.
That is why in order to improve student performance we must have an equity focus. They are not mutually exclusive. However, there are those who believe that equity comes at the expense of student achievement rather than enhancing it. That is why I’m supporting Dr Jennifer Moore.
In the last four years, Dr Moore has shown the expertise, experience, and thoughtfulness needed to address these two interwoven and interconnected issues. And her leadership has shown that we can do both and should do both and her service as a former employee in our school system helps inform her work. For all the talk about how our schools are failing it is no coincidence that by having an equity focus we have seen more student growth in the previous academic year than anywhere else in the state.
Some people confuse leadership with the amount of grandstanding you do or if you are the loudest voice in the room. I can tell you from personal experience that that is not leadership. Leadership is about what you advocate for and in the smartest ways to be more effective. I believe Dr Moore’s leadership has more than demonstrated she deserves another four years serving our community, serving our students, and serving our teachers and staff.
Please join me in supporting Dr Jennifer Moore in the May runoff for Orange County School Board.
“Viewpoints” on Chapelboro is a recurring series of community-submitted opinion columns. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work or reporting of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.
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