PGUSD board approves 3-year contract to provide cultural proficiency training.

It was not the kick off the Pacific Grove Unified School District was hoping for the new school year, but there it was: Two past racist incidents by a student leader from P.G. High School that circulated among the community upset many, and raised questions about how the district is addressing equity issues among leaders, staff and students.

“Obviously this was a tumultuous start to the year, lots of very important issues brought up around equity,” said Superintendent Ralph Porras at the Nov. 18 PGUSD board meeting. “As a former bilingual teacher and [English Learner] teacher it certainly rang true to me there are some reforms we can make, a culture shift we can make. Every district can do better.”

Porras was introducing a promised district equity plan announced after the PGHS controversy, through a proposed 3-year contract with Praxis Lead Equity, LLC, based in Santa Maria, to provide consulting services and training in what’s called Culturally Proficient Educational Practice.

According to the Center for Culturally Proficient Educational Practice, cultural proficiency consists of an interrelated set of tools that when combined “provide a framework for analyzing your values and behaviors as well as your school’s or agency’s policies and practices.” 

Porras said he chose Praxis and its consultant Peter Flores for the company’s “tremendously strong track record” working with school districts in and out of the state. Flores, a senior associate trainer for the center, will be Monterey County Office of Education’s director of leadership and school systems, and he'll be working in tandem with the Office of Education's Roberto Nuñez, a certified trainer associate.

The two will be modeling how the district can improve at cultural proficiency while understanding the role that cultures play in instruction and addressing needs in classrooms through a cultural lens, Porras said.

The three-year plan includes training by Praxis at a total cost of $91,350, paid out of money awarded to the district through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, also known as ESSER III, a part of the American Rescue Plan Act.

The plan does not preclude the district from inviting other speakers and groups, or from taking advantage of other opportunities to add to the ongoing training, Porras said.

“We chose the direction of cultural proficiency because it is a transformative process,” Porras said. He described it as a “growth mindset,” not of tolerance “but acceptance of cultural differences” and a shift from seeing cultural differences as a deficit but rather an asset to enhance the classroom experience. He also said he expected the training to help the district community learn how to engage in civil discussions around issues of race, culture and ethnicity.

There was some concern that teachers already burdened by extra work—more recently helping students readjust to returning to the classroom and catching up with lost learning during the pandemic—would find the training to be yet another responsibility. Porras said they were looking at ways to incorporate the training in ways that would not be challenging.

One principal told board members his staff was excited.

“Our staff is ready to dive in and do this work,” said Forest Grove Principal Buck Roggeman. “I don’t think they’ll see it as an extra burden. I think they’ll see it as a necessary component to us providing the kind of educational setting that is going to allow every single student to thrive.”

The board approved the contract with Praxis with a vote of 5-0.