A week after a record 2,000 educators came to work wearing Black Lives Matter t-shirts in Washington state’s largest school district, some in Seattle are hopeful that change is on the way for greater equity and access at Seattle Public Schools.

From the disproportional allocation of education dollars and experienced teachers in the region to the widening achievement gap between students of color and their white counterparts, conversations are ongoing to address inclusiveness and equity in education, Rita Green, education chair of the Seattle King County NAACP, told Rewire.

“We are really banding together and building these relationships,” to connect administrators to groups and programs to help better educate all students equally and access higher learning, she explained.

Green said she helped connect several teachers who participated in the October 19 rally to Social Equity Educators, a group within the 5,500-member strong Seattle Education Association dedicated to expanding equality for students.

Organizers used the planned day of unity to lead discussions about institutional racism and teach about Black history in class and in their communities.

Jesse Hagopian, a history teacher at Garfield High School and one of the lead organizers of the Black Lives Matter effort, told Rewire it is hard to put into words how “huge and impactful” the action was. For instance, special education teacher Janett Du Bois publicly shared the story of how her Black son was killed by police, reflecting a key issue in the Black Lives Matter movement.

“It was a transformational moment because it helped people see that this isn’t just about Ferguson or North Carolina, it’s about the teacher down the hall,” Hagopian said.

Parents and students of color were heartened to see the overwhelming support across a diverse school system where more than 50 percent of the students are not white and where Black students make up more than 16 percent of the population.  

Black students in Seattle Public Schools are suspended four times the rate of white students. Hagopian said he advocated last week for restorative justice as an alternative to the punitive measures that compound the school-to-prison pipeline problem.

Educators at the rally discussed the need for a culturally relevant curriculum focused on systemic racism, slavery, and contributions of Black people in the United States.

“It was truly an unprecedented event. Never have so many teachers stood up for our students and institutional racism in the schools,” Hagopian said.

The action was organized after two Seattle elementary schools hosted similar events last month. One school, John Muir, received a bomb threat from an opposer and authorities considered canceling the school rally for safety reasons. It was eventually held without any issues, Hagopian said.

A few days later, the SEA teacher’s union Representative Committee passed an unanimous resolution encouraging all schools to celebrate October 19 “as a day of solidarity to bring focus to racial equity and affirming the lives of our students—specifically our black students,” according to a statement on the SEA website.

The hope, explained Green, is that actions spread to other school districts nationwide. Some schools in Washington and California have already expressed interest in holding similar actions, Hagopian said.

For Precious Manning, 17, president of the Black Student Union at Chief Sealth International High School, the rally helped get the word out beyond the club and her school, and allowed her to be part of a greater community that cares.

“It meant a special bond with the community for me because teachers and students came together to show what it means when we say Black Lives Matter,” she said in an email to Rewire. “I noticed that a lot of our educators work behind the scenes and make it possible for students like me and my family to feel like we are as equal to them as much as possible. It told me that those teachers are fighting for our definition of an international school.”

“I hope people see that we work together as a family instead of a club because we know we are all fighting for each other.”