Today’s #ChauvinTrial verdict is a long-overdue step for accountability, yet tremendous work remains if we want to eliminate the systemic racism that persists in all of our institutions - including schools - and which has denied students and communities justice for generations.

It is also important to remember that despite today’s verdict, our students, educators, and families have experienced extraordinary trauma as they’ve struggled to make sense of this tragedy, the trial, and everything that transpired in between.

I encourage all of our schools in the coming days to create space for open, honest dialogue for students and adults to process their emotions and use their voices to create lasting change.

In the months since George Floyd’s brutal killing, I have pushed the @CADeptEd and our state’s schools to harness this moment of reckoning and use the power of education to end all forms of hate, bigotry, bias, and racism.

We have helped schools identify alternatives to campus policing while confronting the disproportionate suspensions and expulsions of Black and brown youth. And my Education to End Hate Initiative has put grant money in the hands of schools to better train educators in anti-racism

Today is an opportunity to renew our commitment to ending systemic racism and using our power to level the playing field for all students.