Nice White Parents and Dual Language Education

The first episode of the podcast ‘Nice White Parents’ documents the experiences of a school that experienced an influx of white parents in response to its efforts to create a French dual language program. (Chapter 11 deals with the same school and podcast episode in greater detail.) What happened next is something that those of us who have worked with schools with dual language programs in gentrifying neighborhoods know all too well – white parents, enthusiastic to be involved in the school community to ensure that their children receive a quality education, steamrolled the existing leadership structure led by people of color and transformed the school in ways that made the families of color who had long been the primary clientele of the school feel unwelcomed and unheard.
In this spirit, I lay out some principles that white parents might consider when thinking about how to engage with schools that have an existing dual language program or (as in this case) how to engage with a school to advocate for the development of a new dual language program.