At the beginning of the spring term, Roseville High School paused the regular intervention schedule as teachers gave students a series of presentations focused on “cultural sensitivity” during priority period.

Aiming to better equip RHS students to respond to and discuss sensitive cultural issues, a team of RHS teachers developed the set of three lessons following incidents in the fall with racist overtones.

Teachers presented the lessons on Jan. 17, 19 and 20, with a different theme each day: “Celebrating Diversity,” “What is Racism?” and “Becoming an Upstander,” respectively. The presentations included slideshows, videos and discussions, and teachers concluded the three lessons by asking students to pledge to become an “upstander.”

English teacher Amy Mowrer presented the lessons to her first period AP Literature and Composition class, and recognized the trials and benefits that can come with continued dialogues about touchy topics like racism.

“The mix of video and questions and then opportunity for students to share made these lessons work,” Mowrer said. “But kids didn’t share or speak as much as I expected. And I think that’s because they don’t want to say the wrong thing. The more we talk about diversity and community, the easier and better these conversations will be.”

At a November faculty meeting, the RHS Black Student Union spoke with staff, sharing their dealings with racism on campus.

The team that created the lessons for ROAR, which consisted of four RHS staff members – Valerie Erb, BSU adviser Keshila Jones, Debbie Sidler and KC Worden – began developing the lessons after the meeting, collaborating multiple times before the presentations, according to Jones.

Jones worked with BSU members who created a video shown during the Jan. 19 lesson in which club members spoke about their experiences with racism.

Jones said that incidents – including students allegedly using racial slurs at a football game and a student defacing a 900 building with swastikas – and a lack of student understanding prompted them to begin this dialogue.

“We want it to be a positive experience,” Jones said. “We want all students to feel supported.”

Mowrer sees value in the lessons amidst what she describes as “decreasing levels of civility in our public discourse.”

“It has always been vital that Roseville High School be a place where our students and staff feel safe, but it seems even more essential now that we be explicit about what that looks like and how we can create and maintain our community,” Mowrer said.

Jones said that the lessons were the first set and the development team anticipates more going forward.