by David B. Snow
The Paducah Sun
July 2, 2021
Used with permission.
Shonda Hollowell-Burrus began her term in a new office in the Paducah Independent School District, as her tenure as the district’s chief equity officer started Thursday.
A former dean of students at Paducah Tilghman High School for the last two years, Hollowell-Burrus said she was excited about the job and what it can mean for the district.
“What I’ll specifically be doing — which is what I’m excited about — is I’ll get the opportunity to go to all sites, to meet with students, to meet with staff, just looking at all things: curriculum and hiring practices,” she said. “Student voice is going to be a huge one, and I’m taking over as the (site-based decision-making councils) coordinator, just making sure that we are adhering to the standards that oversee pretty much how a school is run.”
Hollowell-Burrus said there is a misconception the school board governs the district, but the site-based decision-making councils play a big role in how things are done at the schools.
“I get the opportunity to be the coordinator for that and just meeting with those committees,” she said, “just making sure that everything gets best practices for all students and all staff.”
Hollowell-Burrus said she has not had a chance to assess the district in its needs that fall under her purview, noting the input she gets from students at every level will be important to how her office manages issues.
“One of the things that is already in place — even prior to having an equity officer — was having a student voice present and participating at the board level,” she said. “So, even though they don’t get to vote, the things that come across the table — issues, concerns relating to all things at school — the two students that are now going to be the representatives have the voice.
“We started with high school, but there will actually be student representatives at every level. Even our elementary will have a fifth-grade buy-in, and our high schoolers will oversee that by going to the middle school and the elementary schools.”
Hollowell-Burrus said she will not coach the student representatives, but will encourage them and listen to them as they give their responses to the board agenda.
“I did a little bit of equity work in California, so the work is not new to me, but the title and being able to develop what we’re going to have here is exciting,” she said.
“Different people have different ideologies about what an equity officer is, but what we’re trying to promote is the encouragement piece, the empowerment piece and just the voice for not only the students but the community, our staff, our teachers and our faculty. I think now, just five hours into it, what I’m more excited about is just to be able to have conversations, communication to conversations.”
Hollowell-Burrus said she would watch what is happening in the community to help guide her at her job, because it affects students.
“How do we bridge those gaps to be able to have changes that heal the community?” she said. “Any role that I could play in that is probably something that’s on the forefront.
“And, also, sometimes the conversations with a chief equity officer can be uncomfortable, but to allow people a seat at the table even when they don’t see this as a beneficial place — and that’s OK because we all think differently.”
Hollowell-Burrus said the goal of an equity officer is to be able to talk with those who agree or disagree with issues at hand.
“One of the things that I think a lot of people’s perception about the equity officer is that it’s about Black and white,” she said. “So, when we talk about equity and equality, equality means that, for example, I’m going to provide a pair of shoes for everybody — everybody gets a pair of shoes — but in terms of equity, it’s super-important to make sure those shoes fit. When we’re talking about making sure the shoes fit, everybody is a different size, so we have to cater to that.
“Whether we’re talking about equity for our lower socio-economic students or if we’re talking about curriculum or professional development — there are so many things that encompass that. We need to get to a level playing field in education.”
The Paducah school district board approved a position of chief equity officer as well as positions of district instructional specialist, district instructional coach and Community Work Transition Program employment specialist at its April 20 meeting.