During the meeting, racial equity consultant Dr. Lori A. Watson discussed the historical roots of systemic racism.  Throughout the presentation, she provided opportunities for students to share in table groups or with partners about their own identities and experiences in relation to race — including colorism and the idea of race as a social construct. 

Attendees were all members of the Student Equity Committee, which comprises 50 Gunn students who work with the administration to recognize, discuss and act on equity disparities. There are currently six members on the committee board, and students can join the committee after introductory training. The committee also has six subcommittees — cultural event planning, curriculum planning, review and audit, outreach to middle schools, shared learning experiences and communication — that target different aspects of equity to achieve the committee’s larger goals. The committee holds quarterly meetings in addition to the equity trainings. 

According to Assistant Principal Courtney Carlomagno, who advises the committee, the group works on projects to raise student and staff awareness, discusses larger equity-related decisions with administrators and makes the committee’s vision statement. This year, the committee also created the See Something, Say Something form, which allows students to report discrimination and harassment.

The Student Equity Committee has worked with Watson — founder of the organization Race-Work, which aims to cultivate anti-racist leadership — for three years.  Two trainings held earlier in the school year, as well as the March 14 training, comprise Watson’s “L.A.W. Three-Phase Transformation Approach” to address racism and improve representation. 

According to Watson, the first phase is the “learning” phase, in which students think more closely about  race in their lives. The second phase, the “articulating” phase, equips students with the language and tools they need to talk about race. The last phase is the “working” phase, in which students  transform their insights into actionable plans.

In this meeting, part of the “working” phase, students reflected on foundational principles introduced in the two previous meetings, which focused on “learning” and “articulating.” They were encouraged to think deeply about the causes of racial inequities and brainstorm potential action projects.

As in past meetings, Watson aimed to hear from students with different backgrounds.

“What they’re describing are a lot of experiences that they’re having where they do feel marginalized or discriminated against, but they just haven’t had a space to be able to talk about it in a real way,” she said. “And so what this does is give them a space to share, and for us to just be able to process through some things so (students) realize there’s nothing wrong with them.”

According to committee board member junior Nia Porter, the broader agenda of the training is to equip students with tools for activism.

“We always talk about the different parts of activism (and we have) a couple of alliterations for us to remember, like ‘dodge discomfort’ or ‘lean in to listen and learn,’” she said. “We also look at this intersection with mind, body, spirit and heart, and then talk about where we already are in terms of interactions (to) make sure we’re centered.”

The racial equity training meetings will continue to occur three times per school year as the Student Equity Committee gains further traction. Committee member and attendee junior Deegan Trainor believes that meetings can be more impactful with increased student input.

“The meeting broadened my understanding about the magnitude of equity issues, especially their prevalence at Gunn among both students and faculty,” he said. “However, expanding the reach of the committee to a broader audience and encouraging participation from students less familiar with the committee can benefit and enrich these discussions more.”

Ultimately, Watson’s primary goal at Gunn, in cooperation with the Student Equity Committee, is to cultivate anti-racist mindsets. 

“My attempt with the Equity Committee is to really help them become anti-racist,” she said. “It’s just about developing some racial literacy and elevating their own personal racial consciousness, (like) being able to recognize how racism shows up on campus and the world around them and collectively be a capacity to disrupt how racism flourishes untouched.”

Administrators adopted this measure after noticing an upward trend in discriminatory behavior. According to PAUSD’s Uniform Complaint Procedures logs, there was a 21.6% increase in logged reports and complaints of discrimination at Gunn last year, from 37 reports in fall 2022 to 45 reports in fall 2023.

Assistant Principal of Student Equity Courtney Carlomagno, who helped create the initiative, noted that the new reporting method will allow administrators to respond to incidents more quickly and effectively, as well as gauge the true number of cases on campus.

“We (wanted to) take away the obstacle of having to come to the office and speak to an administrator right away,” she said. “Instead you can access this form at any time of day, and you could access it whether you were the one who was impacted by something that occurred or you just observed it.”

This approach also addresses students’ and community members’ dissatisfaction with the administration’s apparent lack of response to discriminatory behavior, according to Principal Dr. Wendy Stratton.

“The perception I think within our community is like, ‘Oh, nothing really happens,” she said. “You hear something, and there’s no visible evidence that we stand against that and that we don’t tolerate that. We need to do more on this to make it really clear that behavior along the lines of hate speech or something like that is really not acceptable here.”

Cases reported to the form through the QR code are submitted to PAUSD Title IX Coordinator and Compliance Officer Robert Andrade, who reviews the report and determines whether it should be further pursued as a district investigation or if the case should be handled at the site level.

The consequences for those who are reported to the form vary, depending on the context. They range from suspension to restorative meetings, in which offenders can learn how to repair relationships with those they have mistreated. As part of the initiative, corrective action focuses less on punishment and more on education and growth.

“The growth is so rich if you can turn around and have a conversation and really get something out of it,” Stratton said.

As of Feb. 6, the form has not yet been used to document any cases of harassment or discrimination. Still, Co-Diversity Commissioner junior Nia Porter anticipates that the form can improve student experiences at Gunn.

“I was pretty happy to see that they had something, because I’ve heard a lot of people sharing their experience and talking to me about how it wasn’t handled well by admin,” she said. “They don’t really know how to ask for help, but I think the form is going to help with that a lot.”

Stratton noted that the initiative emphasizes the importance of educating students at Gunn outside the realm of academics.

“A really important part of being an educated person is to recognize that you can have free speech, … but you need to be respectful of people around you, and that’s part of being a community member,” she said.

Report cases of hate and discrimination at tinyurl.com/GunnSeeSomethingSaySomething

Cheer

Cheer flyer freshman Nia Porter hopes the cheer team can continue to improve in the winter season. “I think the cheer season is going to go well because the fall season went really well,” she said. “I think we’ve come really far and can just continue to improve. I’m looking forward to accomplishing more and seeing how we grow as a team this season.”

Girls basketball

Point guard and team captain senior Mollie Kuelker has high expectations for the upcoming season. “I think [the season] is going to be better than last season because we have a lot of new players who are going to be a great addition to our team,” she said. “We are hopefully going to bond as a team and get wins from that [chemistry]. We’re also looking to just build our program from previous years because we have had some really low numbers [in the past].” Their current record is 2-0.

Boys basketball

Girls soccer

Outside forward senior Sawyer McKenna is looking forward to the upcoming soccer season. “I’m excited to see how we can keep improving by the end of the season after having spent longer building our team chemistry,” she said. “It’s really cool to see how we’ve already been growing as a team after just three preseason games.” Their current record is 3-0.