What’s at stake?
Fresno Unified’s A4 office, created to address disparities in student Black/African American student achievement, will host a public forum to inform parents about its restructuring to align with district goals and federal guidance that cuts funds to schools with race-based programs.
Fresno Unified is hosting a community forum and asking for parent feedback on the restructuring of one of its equity departments.
The district’s Office of African American Academic Acceleration, or A4 office, is morphing into the Office of Advancing Academic Acceleration & Achievement. Created in 2017, the A4 department was created to improve disparities in student performance and graduation rates for African American and Black students.
The department serves multiple student groups, including foster youth and English learners.
Lisa Mitchell, the executive director of the A4 office, says the restructuring is being done to align the department’s work with the district’s goals and guardrails. It’s also being done to align with federal guidance from the Trump administration that restricts federal funding to schools with race-based programs and policies.
“We have so many goals across our district; now we are in a line, so we have to do some looking back at what we’re currently doing and seeing if it’s aligned with the new district goals and guardrails,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell explained that the forum is also an opportunity for parents to understand the department’s initiatives and to provide the department with feedback on what student supports are needed in the district.
The forum will be hosted on Nov. 18 at the Farber Center for Professional Development. Click here to register for the forum. Food and childcare will be provided for children 5 and older. Click here to attend through Zoom.
Continued work under a new name
Despite the office’s new name, Mitchell says their work will continue to provide services for historically underperforming student groups.
“We still have a population of students historically that are not performing at their best and the data is guiding us in continuing to provide those resources and supports,” Mitchell said.
The name change also comes after a recently dismissed lawsuit against Fresno Unified’s A4 office. A complaint was filed in February by the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation on the behalf of district families who alleged that non-Black students were excluded from the office’s programs.
After failing to file an amended complaint, the lawsuit was dismissed in September.
According to the A4 office’s 2023-2024 impact report, of the 3896 students that participated in its various programs, only 45.9% of participating students were African American/Black.
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