Taylor Connard

Education 605

Dr. Epling

School Equity Assessment

Section One:

The mission of Clay County High School is to empower students for a 21st century world

through Caring, Leadership, and Advocacy Youth Involvement. When seeking out the vision

statement for CCHS, I had trouble figuring out exactly what it is. The statement is not listed on

any website, in any teacher or student workbook, and the only reply that I was able to receive

from administration said that the vision is come prepared, have high expectations, and show

respect. Every year they have us do an activity with the students where we have them define

what that means to them in your classroom.

Section Two:

When examining educational equity at CCHS, in regards to race, culture, racial identity,

ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc., is challenging. Clay County is a very small county with little

diversity. The high school has less than a 1% population that is not Caucasian (ZOOMWV). At

this point, we do not have a single African American, Asian, etc. student. The school also has a

low population of students that are open with their sexuality, especially if that sexuality is

different from the “normal” of the school. Due to this, being equitable is not something the

school focuses on across the board. It is my goal to approach our administration about the lack of

equity that exists in these categories.

At a personal level in my classroom, I try to expose my students to texts and assignments

that challenge the way they see race and expose them to diverse experiences. It is also important
that students who do come from various ethical and religious backgrounds are able to express

themselves and embrace that background. Policies and procedures in the school need to be

sensitive to race, culture, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. It is our job to make sure that we are

not adding to the systematic oppression of them. For example, we have a no hat or head covering

policy, but it does not have exceptions for a hijab. As teachers, we understand that a hijab must

be worn and is not in the same category as other head coverings, but that needs to be in the

policy. If a parent would come in because we asked their student to remove their hat, they could

argue that the hijab is on the same level and if we do not have a policy for religious exemptions,

that parent could get their way.

One of the more successful aspects of the high school is our Link Up program. Through

this program, we have daily lessons and monthly activities that tackle important topics for high

schoolers. One of the activities we do is Multicultural Day. On this day we have the students

choose a country that they must represent and teach the school about. Some of our Link up

lessons cover prejudice, stereotyping, and privilege. These three topics can be very hard for our

students to understand, so we spend a considerable amount of time going over what they each

mean, how they oppress certain groups of people, and what we can do to overcome and change

that oppression.

Clay County is the second poorest county in the state of West Virginia. Due to this, we

have a significant number of students that are very poor, live with people other than their

biological parents, or are in foster care. Some of the ways that we ensure that they have an

equitable education is to feed them at school and also send food home for students who need it.

We have a backpack program that has food, clothes, and hygiene products that we send home

weekly. The high school offers a dinner option for students that they can come with their
families and get to go meals if they need it. The county works with United Way as well. We

submit students’ names that may need help with housing, utilities, transportation, medical care,

food, and clothing. Ensuring that these students are serviced allows them to focus on school and

receive an education.

For our special education students, we put them in the leave restrictive environment

possible. Special education students are placed in general education classes as long as their IEP

allows for it. Many of these students are in a completely self-contained classroom, but can take

music and art classes. These students often have an aid that travels with them to the classes. The

special education department has funds that allow them to buy additional resources for their

students to create an equitable experience for them.

Section Three:

Clay County High School was built in the 1970s. The school is old and needs updates. As

of this year, we are under a two-year project that is remodeling the school. The current facilities

do not have adequate bathrooms, heating and cooling, or technological access. Our internet is not

reliable and the students do not have access to it. The lack of internet and 1:1 technology makes

us unable to teach 21st century technology standards and has made distance learning next to

impossible. This creates issues with having equal educations compared to other counties who

have this technology.

Sports at Clay County High School serve both male and female students. The teams are

held to the same standards for academia, discipline, and required practices. Each sports team has

a designated “field” that they practice at. Athletes can be removed from teams if they do not have

the grades to play, have been suspended, or get in serious trouble outside of school time.
 The special education program, as stated above, has funds that they are allocated for their

students. They also have designated classrooms for their students to learn in. The self-contained

resource room that has many students with severe and profound disabilities contains a bathroom

and kitchen for the students and staff in that room. They are able to teach them life skills that can

be applied once they are no longer at the high school.

Section Four:

The school’s physical resources at this point and time are not adequate to achieve an

equitable education. The school is often underfunded and struggling due to the age of the

facilities. The current construction project is slated to update our facilities so that students have a

more comfortable and safer environment to learn in. This project will help to improve the

environment, but we still have issues with the lack of technology and money for supplies.

The county needs to acquire funding for us to go 1:1 with technology. If we were able to

be 1:1, we could prepare our students a 21st century world and allow them to better compete with

students from counties who do have that technology. If we would have this technology, our WIFI

and school cable systems would need updated significantly. Students need to be able to have

reliable internet at school to utilize their technology.

References
(n.d.). Retrieved September 02, 2020, from
https://zoomwv.k12.wv.us/Dashboard/dashboard/2056