Ephesus Elementary Racial Equity Belief Statements: 

In Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools, race continues to be the most significant predictor for academic and discipline data across a variety of measures. We, the Ephesus community,  are committed to working to eliminate racial inequities by challenging and/or changing systems (policies and procedures) that negatively impact marginalized students and families. We are committed to having open and often uncomfortable conversations which value one another, call others into the work and recognize racial history and power. 

As such, we acknowledge and affirm the following

• Black and Brown lives matter. In fact, they more than matter.
• Systemic racism impacts our classrooms, curriculum, relationships, academic and discipline data, and school community. Therefore, we are committed to challenging systemic racism in all these areas.
• We must work to racially affirm marginalized students throughout our school. It is essential to recognize the importance of racial and cultural identity.
• Our curriculum must incorporate the experiences, voices, contributions, and perspectives of historically marginalized individuals and groups across all subject areas. Students of every race benefit from a racially heterogeneous environment. 
• We all have implicit biases, and we recognize that overcoming our implicit biases is part of the educational process.
• We will hold each other accountable to these beliefs and we commit to this ongoing work.