Education California | The official newspaper of the Association of California School Administrators
Volume 47 | Number 21 | March 5, 2018
Women’s history month excellent
time to look at implicit bias
Women in the workplace contend with
more than the direct, obvious sexism of
decades past. But just as poisonous, gender-
based and culturally instilled bias still qui-
etly holds back millions of women from
achieving their full potential or overcoming
a skewed perception of self.
Confronting these mental setbacks is
just as important as protesting the fact
that American women still receive 80 cents
on the dollar. Find out more at https://
goo.gl/LgKwGv. You can also see the lat-
est Department of Labor data on women
workers at https://goo.gl/I3m9Iz, and take
implicit bias tests at https://www.aauw.
org/?p=49178.
March is Women’s History Month and
a good time to really look at “internalized
oppression,” or implicit bias, the shadowy,
partly unconscious process of an oppressed
group coming to believe that the prejudices
and stereotypes about them are true.
These individuals end up putting this
bias back out into the world by means of
their speech, their treatment of other peo-
ple, their own lowered self-confidence, and
the way they raise their children. This com-
mon phenomenon occurs in part because
the human brain seeks to assimilate to the
dominant culture while also categorizing,
validating, and rationalizing its own experi-
ences.
Without realizing it, you might be
assuming that your male co-workers are
more objective, strong-willed, decisive, prac-
tical and assertive than women. Too often,
when women display these same charac-
teristics, they are viewed as angry, bossy or
worse, even by their female colleagues.
And when colleagues disagree or are
upset with female employees or administra-
tors, they tend to bring their gender into
their critique of the person, unconsciously
punishing women for not being warm,
accommodating, submissive or unobtrusive.
This type of bias can begin even before
you meet a person. In a controlled study,
See BIAS, page 2
Task force formed
on school violence
Jennifer Rowe Gonzales of Fagen Friedman and Fulfrost and ACSA Legislative Advocate Laura
Preston make a co-presentation to administrators during a marijuana summit at Vacaville USD.
Guidance offered on
new marijuana rules
Vacaville Unified School District,
like many districts statewide, is facing
challenges with the implementation of
Proposition 64 and the impact of new
marijuana laws in California.
“Districts are really looking at three
different angles on the marijuana law,”
said ACSA Legislative Advocate Laura
Preston. “How do the new laws impact
students, employees, and facilities.”
VUSD has taken a proactive step
by holding a marijuana summit for
secondary school administrators, coun-
selors and psychologists. The summit
included law enforcement, legal teams,
and ACSA answering questions on
new laws. The goal was to review the
state Education Code and board poli-
cies, as well as how police officers are
responding to the new regulations.
“We’ve been struggling with stu-
dents bringing and selling marijuana
and marijuana products on our cam-
puses,” said Kimberly Forrest, VUSD
assistant superintendent of Student
Services. “Right now there is a lot of
concern for districts – how do we go
about enforcing laws and policies that
are new and unclear.”
Jennifer Rowe Gonzales of the law
firm Fagen Friedman and Fulfrost
gave a presentation on the California
Education Code, which dictates that
students are automatically expelled if
they are caught selling marijuana on a
school campus. Despite changes to the
legalization of marijuana in California,
the Education Code has remained
unchanged.
Several districts statewide are work-
ing with their boards to determine how
See MARIJUANA, page 4
ACSA has announced the formation of a
task force in response to the growing num-
ber of school violence situations.
The task force will be led by ACSA
President-elect Holly Edds. A joint email
signed by Edds, ACSA President Lisa
Gonzales and Executive Director Wes
Smith announced the task force being
formed, and immediately the association
was deluged with ACSA members volun-
teering and wanting to be involved.
“The safety and well-being of students is
an educational leader’s utmost priority,” the
email stated. “We are horrified and outraged
once again, by another school shooting and
outraged by the senseless loss of life and the
devastating impact on the lives of our stu-
dents, faculties, parents and communities.”
The task force will reach out to all
stakeholder groups for participation, not
just K-12 school leaders, and hopes to
include representatives from law enforce-
ment, social workers, medical professionals,
industry experts and students to address
the critical issues related to mental health,
school climate, and gun violence on campus.
“We believe there is a need to have seri-
ous discussions about these issues, and we
will be assembling resources for educators
and a plan of action for ACSA, as well as
our state and federal partners,” Edds said.
As the task force works to improve
school safety, ACSA is asking members to
share any of the best practices currently
in use to prevent and respond to violence
on campus. Please send your thoughts,
ideas and best practices to Naj Alikhan,
ACSA senior director of Communications,
at [email protected].
ACSA resources. With California
students preparing to participate in
actions and protests related to the
Florida school shooting, ACSA has pop-
ulated the Student Protests section of
our new Resource Hub with first-per-
son content and experiences that have
come from colleagues and partners,
with a focus on how districts confront
these events. This content features
resources on student safety, listen-
ing to your students, using student
acti