February 6, 2023 by Ciara Meyer (’23)
In Saratoga Springs High School (SSHS)’s class of 2022, a mere 10% of students were non-white. In recent years conversation around the Saratoga Springs City School District (SSCSD)’s attempts to support those non-white and underrepresented student groups has grown alongside a national debate surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). This discussion has only been amplified following the decision to add more School Resource Officers (SROs) to the SSCSD.
A statement made by Board of Education (BOE) Trustee Erika Borman at the January 10 BOW meeting gained particular traction. Borman alleged, “Dr. Patton did assure us that [as to] the concerns of bias and racism, he did not have any. We do not have those issues in our district and our community.”
“This past meeting (January 26) I had the opportunity to clarify some of these conversations,” Superintendent Dr. Michael Patton said. “When it comes to bias or it comes to racism, I want to make sure that as the Superintendent, I fully acknowledge and I share the concerns that there are issues of bias and racism that not only exist here in our school community, but in every community.”
In regard to specific questions over how the addition of SROs could increase those issues of racism, Patton said that the district aims to mitigate concerns by clearly articulating what is within our SROs power—and what is outside of their responsibilities. “An SRO is a part of our district safety team, but they are not responsible for student discipline,” Patton said. “We don’t want our SROs involved in student discipline.” The district policy aligns with statements the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) has made on the issue of police involvement in disciplinary procedures.
Patton acknowledges that, outside the realm of SROs, the SSCSD still has a ways to go when it comes to combatting racism in our community. “We’re starting make strides, but there’s obviously still a lot of important work to do,” Patton said. This work includes helping mitigate student outcome gaps and working with the SSCSD DEI Committee to make the district more welcoming to students of color.
Arissa Gilanni, a student member of the DEI Committee, highlighted some of the committees efforts to improve inclusion and said, “We’re focusing on aligning our district initiatives through SMARTIE goals designed to produce a more inclusive and equitable outcome. Recently, we’ve discussed making holidays more inclusive for all students and families throughout the school year. There has also been some development of the school district calendar. Lastly, our student led ‘No Place for Hate’ campaign has been working to create activities throughout the district.”
Damian Ubriaco, an SSHS English teacher and member of the DEI Committee’s Hiring and Retention Practices Subcommittee, also noted that the district is working on hiring more teachers of color—a measure cited by Public Impact as key in helping close outcome gaps between white students and students of color. Ubriaco noted that he believes the district has only ever had somewhere between 3 and 5 Black teachers.
As to Black students, the racial group that has the lowest graduation rate (78%, compared to an overall 93%) in the SSCSD, Ubriaco said, “I don’t know if there is anything being done exclusively for Black students, I think it’s more in general being more inclusive.”
In regard to the recent SRO decision, Ubriaco said the committee didn’t discuss it. He did mention, however, that the BOE had agreed “that all of our decisions should go through an equity lens.” Of the SRO decision he said, “I’m not sure if that decision used the equity lens. I’m not saying it wasn’t, but I’m not sure if it was.”