PRESS RELEASE FROM THE OFFICE OF DR. STEVE GALLON III
June 8, 2020
At the School Board Meeting of June 17, 2020, School Board Vice-Chair Dr. Steve Gallon III will ask the School Board to affirm its commitment to promoting and supporting social justice for Blacks and among all students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and throughout the community, state, nation, and world.
Recently, the community, state, nation, and world have been rocked by protests around issues of racial division, discord, disharmony, and distrust, and have begun to question the fairness and integrity of systems of government and criminal justice as they relate to the Black community and communities of color and poverty. Persons from these communities have expressed and articulated the sting of marginalization, dehumanization, trauma, and disenfranchisement they feel and their belief that too often vex people who are Black, minority, and poor.
The brutal, public, and inexplicable death of George Floyd, a Black man whose life was taken by a white police officer, has resulted in the explosion of protests around the nation and even abroad in places such as Germany, Portugal, Italy, and France. Mr. Floyd’s slow, painful death occurred as the officer maintained his knee lodged into his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, and as a crowd of onlookers watched and pleaded and recorded the callous denial of his citizenship, devaluing of his humanity, and eventual slow, painful, and horrific taking of this unarmed Black man’s life. The issue reportedly arose from a call to police regarding the alleged use of a counterfeit $20 bill. Mr. Floyd’s eventual death was over twenty dollars.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) remains committed to not only the provision of educational services to students, but to supporting the paradigms, principles, and practices of social justice, unity, fairness, equity, and equality. Consistently, the School Board and the Superintendent have been a strong, unified voice of advocacy on such issues.
Ensuring that all students know, believe, and realize that they have an equal and equitable opportunity for learning and life-long success, regardless of race, is not only a guiding tenet of public education, but an obligation of each person and entity responsible for its delivery and dispensation. It has also served as the fulcrum of how students’ education in and across Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) is to be provided and how, within the structure of the school system and greater community, they are viewed and treated. Despite the inequalities and injustices historically sewn into the fabric of this country, M-DCPS remains committed to issues and practices of social justice fairness, unity, equity, and equality, and maintains the goal of eliminating disparities and educational barriers in its continued quest toward racial parity and diversity in its schools and throughout the nation, and world.
To read full item go to: http://schoolboard.dadeschools.net/documents/agenda/h10.pdf
