FROM STAFF REPORTS

When educational consultant Baruti Kafele asked staff members at Statesville High School to share a “win” from the day, one educator replied with heartbreaking honesty:

“My win is that one of my students didn’t get shot today,” the educator shared.

Recent incidents of gun violence have spilled over into the school environment, even as educators also struggle with closing academic gaps, addressing students’ trauma needs and improving engagement and outcomes.

In response, Iredell-Statesville Schools is bringing in a series of experts to observe three target schools — N.B. Mills Elementary, Third Creek Middle, and Statesville High — and provide guidance toward effective solutions. Last week, the district hosted interventionists who focused on anti-gang strategies in schools and the community.

On Wednesday evening, Kafele, a longtime urban educator, author and expert on transforming school culture, spoke to educators, parents and community members at the Bentley Community Center. Kafele stressed the necessity of professional development centered on equitable and culturally relevant teaching practices.

“One has to be a teacher of the children from the zip codes that appear in your classroom,” he said. “We have to expose teachers to a different paradigm. The teacher can’t be color blind, can’t be culture blind. They’ve got to have a sense of history and an understanding of (students’) worlds.”

While Kafele acknowledged equity has become something of a buzzword recently, he explained that providing an equitable education simply means “meeting young people where they are … as they are.”

As an example, he highlighted a teacher he observed at Third Creek Middle School leading a small breakout group that needed more individualized instruction during a reading lesson. “Equity is just great teaching,” he explained.

Kafele also emphasized the need for educators to truly believe in the potential of their students and center learning around them.

“You’ve got children in those classrooms who are brilliant, amazing, phenomenal, extraordinary. The question is — do they know it? When’s the last time someone told them?” he asked.

These efforts also involve recognizing the significant challenges students face before ever arriving at school.

“You’ve got students who are grappling with stuff happening in the community, and the implications of what then happens in school,” he said. “A youngster born into some of the most overwhelming odds imaginable is supposed to come into your math lesson and be excited?”

Educators need to help students find a purpose in their learning, as well as create lessons that reflect the communities and realities that those students experience, he explained.

“I walk into buildings every day, and I’m questioning, does that youngster have a purpose for being here, or is that youngster just here?” he said. “That purpose has to be nurtured and we all have a responsibility to help that youngster sustain it through challenges.”

In addition to the experts focused on anti-gang interventions and professional development based on culturally relevant teaching, the district will host educational consultant Bill Daggett next week to explore a Rigor/Relevance Framework in schools, Superintendent Jeff James said.