List of MN Principals Who Pledge to ‘Decenter Whiteness’ [UPDATED]

UPDATE: The list of 162 principals who have joined forces to “decenter whiteness” in school structures has been found. Here is the list.

Information on the Good Trouble Coalition can be found here. Part of the group’s statement includes: 

We declare that we are not leaving white children behind by lifting Black, Brown and Indigenous children up. But that we, not only have the collective capacity to hold all of our children up and into the light, but our White children have been done a great disservice by sustaining white-centered schools in America over all these years. And it is to their equal benefit to thrive in schools where they are not spoon-fed the poison that they are better because of their skin color, where they have principals and teachers who boldly lead them to both humility and pride, and where they have the beautiful privilege of thriving while their classmates of color thrive as well.

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Minnesota public school leaders are welcoming staff back-to-school by announcing their focus on “whiteness.”

The Hopkins Public School superintendent asked staff to “examine” their “whiteness,” the Intermediate District 287 superintendent told staff “confronting systems of whiteness” should be the “norm,” and principals have announced their aim to “decenter whiteness” in school structures, reports Kare 11 news.

Over 150 school principals announced Tuesday they were joining forces to launch a coalition aimed at “dismantling racist policies and practices that exist within the state’s educational system.”

The “Good Trouble” coalition aims to “decenter whiteness” in school structures.

According to Kare 11, the following list of “goals the coalition aims to achieve” was revealed in a press release.

  • De-centering Whiteness. Understanding that traditional organized Whiteness ensures domination through forms like PTAs and Unions. We purposefully call out and lift up historically non-represented voices of color in our spaces to hold weight and power.

  • Dismantling practices that reinforce White academic superiority like bias in testing and the labeling, tracking and clustering that reflect an Americanized version of a caste system in our schools.

  • Reconstructing “school” upon our full in-person returns where business-as-usual, like schedules and staffing, are open to drastic changes. and engaging in that preparatory work now.

  • Speaking truth to power. Where our commitment to holding ourselves and those who serve under us accountable to this work is just as importantly extended to those who serve over us.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. The Center has heard from numerous school employees and teachers that schools’ focus on “whiteness,” “white fragility,” and “racial justice” is undermining — and limiting — educators’ ability to prioritize academic success.