WPS Statement on Equity & Advocacy
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June 4, 2020
WPS Statement on Equity and Equality
Wildwood Public Schools have been and will always be committed to issues of equity and equality. This commitment is made even more relevant as the nation has united in protest over the past few days, and will fuel and inspire our efforts as we continue in pursuit of this goal until it is met.
Our work toward this goal is well documented. It can be found in our testimony regarding the pipeline issues that negatively impact the preparation of minority teaching candidates, the negative impacts of standardized assessments and high school graduation, and the negative effects of funding inequities on our students.
We have never just talked the talk, but have returned to the district to develop programs that address the issues that we travel to Trenton to call into question. Some evidence of this work includes the following:
- We have partnered with Stockton University to develop a teacher preparation program as a response to the minority pipeline issue.
- We worked with our Chief of Police to build a CTE Law Enforcement program in response to the small pool of minority candidates applying to our local police department.
- We petitioned the NJDOE to be admitted into the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program as a response to how the program impacts our funding and our demographics, as our district is the only high school district in the county that does not have choice seats.
- We have been members of the New Jersey Network of Superintendents, an organization committed to equity in schools. Participation guided us to completely overhaul how students gain access to our Advance Placement and Honors courses, which has resulted in more minority students sitting for this higher level coursework.
- Our board has approved a resolution to become a party to the most recent desegregation lawsuit against the state of New Jersey. Only two districts in the state are included as plaintiffs and Wildwood is one of them.
Our actions and commitment to the work speak for themselves. We feel that all of our efforts and an explanation of what we are advocating for needs to be a living resource on our website, as we need a forum to highlight our efforts, and it can now be found on the designated page known as “Equity and Advocacy”. As stated earlier, we will continue the pursuit of equity and equality for our students until the goal is met as our students deserve nothing less.
Sincerely,
J. Kenyon Kummings
Superintendent
Equity
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Minority Candidate Pipeline
Minority Teacher Pipeline Testimony , Joint Committee on the Public Schools, April 2019
Equity Testimony Assembly Ed, May 2019
Joint Committee on the Public Schools Transcript “Minority Recruitment and Pipeline”, April 2019
WHS Teacher Preparation Program (link coming soon!)
WHS Law Enforcement Program (link coming soon!)
Assessment
Wildwood School District Equity Goal
ESSA Testimony JCPS, October 2016
CMCASA PARCC Resolution, September 2016
Assessment Testimony -Assembly Ed, May 2019
High School Graduation Regulations Testimony -JCPS, May 2019
New Jersey Interdistrict Public School Choice Program
Formal Request to NJDOE to Include WPS in NJ Interdistrict Public School Choice Program, March 2020
Desegregation Lawsuit “Latino Action Network vs. State of New Jersey”
LAN vs. State of New Jersey Complaint, May 2018
Board Resolution to Enter Suit, March 2020
Wildwood Board of Education Brief in Support of Intervention in LAN v. State of New Jersey, April 2020
Order Granting Wildwood Board of Education's Motion to Intervene, April 2020
Advocacy
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We continue to look for opportunities to highlight the work of our district. Please note that many of the advocacy resources intersect with those found in the Equity section of this page.
Funding
CMCASA Adjustment Aid Advocacy Paper, May 2017
S2 Testimony Senate Budget, 2019
S2 Testimony Assembly Budget, 2019
S2 Testimony Senate Budget, 2020
S2 Testimony Assembly Budget, 2020
Program Advocacy
Career and Technical Education
CTE Testimony Assembly Ed A3902, June 2018
NJSPOTLIGHT CTE Op-ed , May 2018
District Highlights
ESSA Testimony NJDOE, September 2016
New Teacher Advocate Article “Technology”
PDK Article “Community Garden/Outdoor Instruction”