COVID-19 highlights inequities in education during pandemic

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Updated: 7:29 AM CST Nov 9, 2020

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Editorial Standards ⓘ

Matt Flener

KMBC 9 News Investigative Reporter

Nejmadin Ahmed is a senior at East High School. Last spring, and this fall, Ahmed has learned virtually, along with more than 15,000 other students in the Kansas City Public School District, since the district has not reopened for face-to-face instruction.

“Most of the students here are low-income students, immigrants or black, and so that impact[s] whether we open school or not,” Ahmed said about his school. “It's a difficult situation.”

KCPS has remained in a virtual learning mode while other schools in the Kansas City area have opened for face-to-face instruction. The district’s leadership has often cited high cases of COVID-19 in lower income communities and black populations the district serves.

Ahmed came to the United States in July 2017. Before coming to the United States he lived in a refugee camp after fleeing violence in Sudan.

“When you look at Black people, immigrants, refugees, and poor people, those people that know they have to work hard to get access to education and with all of that there difference in the level of education they get than [for] example white middle class families,” he said. “This morning, my sister, she's in first grade, she had math test today. And she missed it because the internet wasn't working well.”

Non-working internet should never be a problem for students. But the pandemic has exposed how students whose lack of internet, or homelessness, or ability to get healthy meals has caused even more trouble for them in school.

The former head of the Lee's Summit R-7 School District, Dr. Dennis Carpenter, fought to highlight these problems the past few years even before the COVID-19 pandemic. He says the pandemic has magnified the inequities students of color, or students living in poverty, face every day.

"We did not deliver last spring across this country,” Carpenter told KMBC Chronicle. “We did not deliver instruction to children. What was magnified was if a family has resource and opportunity, the child is in many cases already ahead.

"But if a child is economically disadvantaged, if a child lives in a marginalized community, lacks resources and the like, it's going to be tough. Then you compound that by saying ‘Congratulations parents, you’re learning what it's like to be a teacher,’ but now the parent who's working on the front line at Walmart or working at the Home Depot, or working at the fast food joint, or at the grocery store. All of these issues are issues of inequity that have to be grappled with.”

Carpenter said while COVID affects everyone, “Yet again it affects African Americans disproportionately. And it seems like every system in our country for whatever reason lands upon black Americans disproportionately.”

To highlight those issues, along with many others for students lacking institutional support, Dr. Carpenter pushed for years to bring equity training to the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District before he resigned in 2019. The district’s board of education ultimately approved and renewed a contract with Educational Equity Consultants out of St. Louis, but not before very contentious meeting in May of 2019.

The meeting included a motion to fund equity training for district staff from Educational Equity Consultants. Various board members shared their concerns with the consultants’ plan to bring equity training to the district at the meeting.

The board eventually voted down the plan during the meeting, leading Dr. Carpenter to ask the board to fulfill a clause in his contract as he called out the district’s leadership.

“Stand up if you're a person of color and you're on the leadership team in this district,” Carpenter said to his team at the meeting.

No one stood up.

“Folks, we got work to do,” he told the board. “You all have work to do because I respectfully ask that you fulfill my contract and let me work with a community that wants to work with me in this area.”

A few weeks later, in June, the Board of Education voted 6-1 to approve Educational Equity Consultants contract.

Dr. Carpenter resigned from the district in July 2019.

Lee's Summit superintendent resigns after reaching deal with school board

E.E.C. began training in the district in August of 2019, and the board approved an additional $85,000 to expand training for the district’s equity plan in July 2020.

KMBC asked for specific responses from the board members quoted at the initial May 2019 meeting who did not initially agree with funding the equity training.

Board member Mike Allen said he wishes he would have asked to table the motion to approve Educational Equity Consultants at the meeting.

“It could’ve been a lot of hot air let out of that balloon by all of us being a little bit more calm and taking it a little bit more slowly,” he said in a phone interview with KMBC. “I think all of us have learned quite a bit from it, from communications with Dr. Carpenter up to that point and beyond, to communications with the folks at E.E.C. and a variety of student led groups and community groups.”

When contacted by KMBC about her comments from that evening, Former Board President Julie Doane sent the following response by email:

“The implementation of LSR7's Equity Plan has provided great impact and benefits for LSR7's students and staff, as well as board leadership. Participating in equity training has helped me understand even more now that there are inequities in the world and in our school district that we must work together to address. I'm proud that the Board of Education made using an equity lens in our decisions, actions, practices and resource support to support students a top board priority for the 2020-21 school year.”

In a phone interview with KMBC, board member Kim Fritchie said, “It was unfortunately that it fell out the way it did.”

Fritchie said she is in full support of the district’s equity plan. “I feel very good what we’re doing,” she said. “Our plan is a good positive plan”

Lee’s Summit Board Member Judy Hedrick did not respond to an email from KMBC asking for any more clarification of her thoughts from that evening.

KMBC Chronicle asked Dr. Carpenter about his time in Lee’s Summit and what he learned.

“What I learned from my time in Lee's Summit is...that's a heck of a question and have to be careful about answering it,” Carpenter said. “What I've learned is it's hard to change the hearts of minds of human beings. I learned how difficult it is to change the hearts of minds of human beings.”

KMBC Chronicle asked the district’s current equity leader about Dr. Carpenter’s thoughts regarding his time in Lee’s Summit.

“I have zero doubt that the hearts and minds of our staff are 100% rooted in what's right for kids and being equitable,” said Dr. Christy Barger, Lee’s Summit R-7 Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Student Services. “Does that mean that we all come with new opportunities to learn to understand perspectives that we haven't thought about before to think about biases that we might not have thought about before, of course, but the hearts and minds of our employees are here for kids, for their families and for our community.

"And I think in this era of COVID, we've seen teachers and community members and nutrition service workers demonstrate that in a way that we would never have thought we would be expecting them to demonstrate it."

Meanwhile, Dr. Carpenter is now hosting online conversations about equity during the pandemic.

He’s also consulting with school districts across the country on equity training.

“To expect those who are impacted by the problem and who are already marginalized, already disenfranchised, to solve the problem is problematic thinking,” he said. “We don't do that in any other area except inequity and race relation. Those are only problems when I just got to stop and listen to some people more. That's what we are hearing now. And no, you don't. Get in the game. Get busy.”

One organization very busy during the pandemic helping low-income Kansas Citians is Operation Breakthrough.

“I think there's a disparity between the allocation of funds to urban schools versus those in suburban schools,” said Operation Breakthrough Education Manager Roberto Diaz.

KMBC Chronicle met Diaz during a “Learning on Wheels” appointment at a child’s home. The organization is taking learning activities to students during the pandemic.

“COVID-19 kind of just brought to the surface all the inequities that have existed and will continue to exist,” said Diaz. “You know, right now, during this time, like COVID-19 has presented some challenges where some of the children are not getting their academic needs met."

Diaz said the lack of educational support is not often provided to Black and brown communities.

“And that's why COVID-19 has kind of, you know, just put our people to the fence. It just reinvigorates my passion and purpose to be able to do what I need to do, you know?”

Meanwhile, Nejmadin Ahmed has an idea for continuing to help marginalized students during the pandemic.

“I think the ways to close these gaps is to create laws that give more support to the students who are in need,” he said. “We are really in great need of funds to access quality education.”

“It has been difficult you know?” he said. “I take my classes very seriously because you know I know that's very important. Because I want to get out of this situation.”

Hear more from all of these people in the full special, "Chronicle: A Systemic Pandemic," on KMBC.com.