Sonoma County School, Community Leaders Convene to support Black Students
Cultivating Belonging Summit
Sonoma County school leaders on Tuesday joined counterparts from local community, government, and faith-based organizations to discuss how our classrooms can create welcoming spaces for learning where Black youth are affirmed, protected, and able to thrive.
The daylong Cultivating Belonging Summit at the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) is part of a larger effort to make school campuses supportive, nurturing spaces for learning in which all students feel like they belong. Presenters worked to foster dialogue between educators and community organizations, recognizing that inequities and bias-based bullying do not begin when students enter school, nor end once they go home.
Eveta Jackson, assistant superintendent of SCOE’s Educator Advancement division, set the agenda with a celebration of Black excellence, highlighting historical figures including Katherine Johnson, Garrett Morgan, Dr. Shirley Jackson, Lonnie Johnson, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.
“What all of these brilliant Black changemakers have in common is they were all once a child in somebody’s classroom,” Jackson said. “But here’s the truth. Although brilliance can and does emerge in the most adverse conditions, … it should not have to fight to survive. Brilliance flourishes where belonging exists.”
Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Amie Carter talked about the many stories she has heard involving the ways our schools and wider community can work against Black brilliance, from hurtful speech in our schools to violence in our community.
Carter talked about the importance of, “really getting after the racist incidents, the incidents of rejection of our Black youth.” She thanked the 22 school districts represented at the event for “having the courage to step into this space” and the dozens of community organizations and faith communities for entering into dialogue.
“We know that this challenge cannot be tackled alone,” Carter said. “We need all of you.”
The presentations, dialogue, and workshops that followed used YouthTruth data to center how Black students are experiencing Sonoma County’s schools compared to students overall, and offered educators concrete strategies to center students' dignity and interrupt bias-based incidents.
SCOE School Culture & Partnerships Director Monique Luke shared aggregated data from Sonoma County schools about how Black students are experiencing public schools, and supplemented the report with anonymous quotes from follow-up interviews to dive deeper into the data. Presenter Dr. Lori Watson highlighted the importance of defining and staying anchored to your values and using them to drive work around student belonging and safety.
Presenter Zetha Nobles, who last fall wrote an article called “Eliminating the N-word from our Schools,” was one of many voices to call out our collective responsibility to interrupt racism. She said that data show that in schools where adults model that racial slurs are unacceptable and move quickly to shut them down, students use them less often.
“If you hear it, call it out,” Nobles said of racist speech. “When I walk on a high school campus and I hear it,” she said of the n-word, “Hey … you’re burning my ears, and the kids immediately, every single time, say, ‘I’m sorry, my bad.’ And our data is starting to show a decline in the use of the word.”
Dr. Candace Cofield, who presented and took part in a panel discussion with Nobles, shared with educators a series of steps and best practices on implementing consistent policies and strategies on how to respond to hateful speech.
SCOE Educator Advancement Director Tenisha Tate-Austin, who leads the 21st Century School Leadership Academy, explored the critical work of rebuilding, focusing on restoring trust, and strengthening community after harm has occurred.
William McGee, deputy superintendent of public instruction at the California Department of Education, reminded the audience to take the learning that they received from this event and incorporate it into their perspective roles. He urged participants to hold the CDE accountable at the state level to provide leadership and support with policies and practices that help all students thrive.
Cultivating Belonging followed 2025’s Seeds of Solidarity conference, which included programming aimed at improving educational experiences for multilingual learners and their families, as well as other student groups.
Other work to foster belonging at SCOE includes funding and working with schools to implement annual YouthTruth school culture surveys, support for student access to behavioral and mental health services, professional development and community work to assist multilingual learners and their families, and Welcoming Schools trainings that empower school staff to interrupt bias-based bullying.