Recently, there was a district resolution for the Committee Advancing Black Achievement, Wellness, and Excellence. This committee was formed as a way to address hateful, racially biased, and anti-black behavior. CABAWE is the successor to the Combating Anti-Blackness Working Group (CABWG), and will serve as an advisory committee to SB Unified by monitoring and providing feedback on resources that will ensure that there are safe and enriching educational experiences for black students, family, and staff.

“[CABWG] came in and they talked about and discussed things and had … honest conversations about the importance of making sure that we are very intentional about supporting a group of students who have had historical harm,” said SBUnified Board President Wendy Sims-Moten.

After a series of racial incidents, a third-party group conducted a survey that prompted the district to create the CABAWE resolution.

“We’re going to make sure that our students feel safe, seen, and heard,” Sims-Moten said. “We cannot continue to create … [a] history of harm to our Black and African-American students.”

A recent report from the board recorded that there have been seven racial incidents in a month. Dean of Student Engagement, Bethany Bodenhamer, pointed out that because this report included elementary, middle, and high schools, this was likely inaccurate and that the district likely has an underreporting issue.

“I looked at the most recent board report and this shows that district-wide there were seven racial incidents in a month and I can tell you that that is absolutely not accurate,” Bodenhamer said. “What this tells me is that we have an underreporting problem.”

The committee is set to be made up of 15 people who will serve a two-year term. Those people include five parents, three teachers, two classified staff members, one representative from a community organization, one SBUnified Board Member Representative, and three Black Student Union representatives from each high school.

However, DPHS student Saron Oboli (11) who is the president of Black Student Union said that she “knew nothing” about the CABAWE resolution.

Aside from the district having an underreporting problem the CABAWE resolution has also sparked controversy with community members calling the resolution performative, asking what consequences there will be for students who initiate racial incidents, as well as pointing out how long it took for the resolution to be approved. In a press release from SB Unified, Board Member Gabe Escobedo addressed this briefly, saying that the district had to “make sure that this is not performative,” and called this an opportunity to acknowledge and embrace where the district falls short in relation to anti-blackness.

In the Nov. 12 district board meeting, parent Belma Micheal Johnson said that when there are no consequences nothing changes.

“It’s been … however many years that we have been asking for this,” Johnson said. “There are no consequences for these kids, for the kids who are taking these actions.”

Racial incidences can range from biased and racist remarks to racist actions.

“The situation then will be addressed based off of its level of seriousness,” Bodenhamer said. “We always strive to start with education, we really try to work with empathy. So [we] try to get them to feel how it would feel if it were projected towards their race or their demographic, and then we talk about commitments moving forward.”

According to Bodenhamer, the main type of racial incidents that DPHS deals with are those regarding language.

“We’re certainly talking a much more egregious ed code violation in which we’re talking more serious consequences, whether it’s, you know, suspension, removal from class, referrals to agencies, et cetera,” Bodenhamer said.

Oboli explained that racially biased language, including slurs, is the main type of racial incident she has experienced.

“I feel like personally, I haven’t been attacked, but I’ve definitely been stereotyped before at DP,” Oboli said. “People have said the n-word around me or to me, so it’s more implicit bias.”

Bodenhamer encouraged students to report any incidents either directly to a teacher or administrator or on the “Safe-to-Speakup” app which has an option to report anonymously.

Sims-Moten said she believes that the resolution is a step in the right direction, and that the district will have to continue to hold themselves accountable and look out for everyone who may be experiencing harm.

“We recognize that we have to build trust, certainly to the students and families and the community,” Sims-Moten said. “We have to build the trust that we really are going to to maintain this and maintain the intentionality … [and] I firmly believe that this is one of our finest moments as we start to address this, and hopefully that this is an indicator for the community.”

*Edited for clarity on Jan. 8, 2024