Assessement of Burlington School District's Diversity Recruitment Efforts is Made Public

Stacey Miller and Dennis DePaul of the Consortium for Inclusion and Equity (CIE) were engaged by the District to assess and advise on teacher recruitments to help the District make progress in implementing its diversity policy. Click here to see the full report.

CIE presented their report at a recent Policy and Advocacy Committee meeting.

The report identifies the District's Equity Council as a useful tool to promote diversity hiring. The authors recommend that the Equity Council take over screening candidates from the Human Resources office. The report also underscores the need for all participants in the process to have cultural competency in order to be able to guide this process.

The role of the consulting firm Tri-Focal was discussed at the meeting, and community members noted that the District must integrate diversity goals into ALL of its decisions and hiring. This implies that any consultants hired by the District (as well as all other hires) be both culturally competent and committed to the District’s diversity goals.

Deep concerns were raised in the report and by community members about the lack of diversity knowledge and skills of Tri-Focal , which had been been engaged by the superintendent to guide principal searches at CP Smith, Hunt, and the Integrated Arts Academy.

Book drive for Parent-Teacher Conversations on Race at Burlington's Magnet Schools

Two of Burlington’s elementary schools – the Integrated Arts Academy (IAA) and the Sustainability Academy (SA) – are working to move forward with open dialogues on race.

These schools began on October 19 with a parent-teacher-administrator dialogue, facilitated by Daniel Baron. This is a parent-driven initiative whose goal is to bring the community closer together, and to create the dialogue in our schools that is needed to ensure inclusive education. The discussion was centered on the book, Courageous Conversations on Race, by Glenn Singleton and Curtis Linton.

This important book provides the tools for schools and parents to engage in open dialogue and move to practical actions that can make excellence and equity in schools a reality. The book challenges educators and parents to talk in honest and open ways about race, making clear that to have inclusive equitable schools requires us to learn to engage in this conversation in ways that build bridges of understanding and lead to effective action.



We, Diversity Now, are asking you to help open the doors to putting the book, Courageous Conversations about Race, in the hands of teachers and parents. Ongoing discussions will be based on this book.

You can help by going to the Amazon.com link below to the “wish list” created for this purpose, and purchase a copy of this book. The book(s) you donate will automatically be mailed to IAA. Alternatively, you may purchase and mail or drop off books directly to the IAA at the following address:

IAA-SA Courageous Conversations
c/o Principal Brian Williams
Integrated Arts Academy
3 Archibald St.
Burlington, VT 05401

There is a need for about 25 copies of the book to support this initiative. We hope you can support this important grass-roots effort in the city’s most diverse schools.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html?ie=UTF8&type=wishlistid=1XSE27DHM80TE

An Evening Discussion on Courageous Conversations About Race

There will be an evening discussion for magnet school parents and other interested members of the school district about inclusive parent engagement with Sustainability Academy and Integrated Arts Academy families.


What: Facilitated discussion based on the book Courageous Conversations Around Race with Daniel Baron

When: October 19, 2010, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Where: IAA Cafeteria, 6 Archibald St. (IAA at H.O. Wheeler)


Daniel Baron will be facilitating a conversation with families using the book Courageous Conversations Around Race. This conversation will be the first in a series of conversations to occur over the next year and a half.


This is a parent-initiated event. Daniel is a founding member of the National School Reform Faculty. He is a leader in the development and training of Critical Friends Groups as well as the founder of two progressive elementary schools in Bloomington, Indiana. Through a grant provided by the Bay and Paul Foundation, Daniel Baron has been working with both schools to develop and carry out their transformations into fully realized magnet schools. Periodically, he comes to Burlington for three day visits where he works with staff, students, and parents from the magnets and the district office. He is coming October 18, 19 and 20 and will be back for several more visits both this school year and next.

Burlington School District to Hold Town Hall Meeting on Diversity and Inclusion

Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - 4:30 pm
Contois Auditorium in Burlington City Hall

Community members, district staff, students invited.

The Burlington School District Diversity & Equity Office and Equity Council will be hosting a town hall-style gathering on Tuesday, October 26, 2010 at 4:30 pm at Contois Auditorium in Burlington City Hall on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The event will be an opportunity for the Burlington community to join with BSD teachers, staff, and administrators to prioritize the future actions needed to advance our District to help ALL of our students succeed.

Current diversity initiatives and plans to date will also be shared. The Superintendent, District administrators, and School Board Commissioners will be present to join participants in an open, action-focused dialogue. Questions may be directed to the Diversity & Equity Office at 802-864-8494 or diversity@bsdvt.org.

The dangers of a single story

In this short video, Chimamanda Adichie talks of "The dangers of a single story".



http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/spa/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html


Moise St. Louis, St. Michael's Director of Multicultural Affairs and Assistant Dean of Students, noted, in sharing this video, that "the experience by all of our children in our school system of whom and what they and don’t see, what they read and don’t read, and the information shared and not shared with them should steel our spines to work harder on their behalf. Vermont’s future and the future of our society will be as good as the exposure and education our kids get."

School Board Passes Diversity Task Force Motion 10-3

The Burlington School Board voted tonight to establish a Diversity Task Force to help the Board develop a strategic plan on achieving diversity. The motion passed 10-3. Commissioner Brennan requested a roll call vote; Commissioners Baker, Bedrosian, and Conger voted against the motion. The two student representatives on the Board voted in favor of the motion as did Commissioners Brennan, Chasan, Evans, Lane, O'Rourke, Matson, Pillsbury, King, Werbel, and Moreau. Below is the text of the motion that passed.

Motion to Authorize a Task Force on Diversity & Equity

"The Commissioners of the Burlington School Board hereby authorize the Chair to create a Task Force on Diversity & Equity, for the purpose of promoting student achievement in the Burlington School District through greater cultural competence and understanding of diversity, and to select and appoint members to serve on said task force.

The charge of this Task Force shall be to review, research, and further the Burlington School District's efforts to achieve the outcomes articulated in its Commitment to Diversity policy, which states in relevant part:

"The Burlington School District recognizes and values the diversity of our students, staff and community. The District is committed to a culture of diversity that reflects the voices, perspectives, and differences arising from our diverse community and world. We believe that it is important for students to understand and appreciate human diversity, develop a capacity for cultural competence, and commit to encouraging inclusion in their future lives."

"The District will adopt procedures and implement staff training intended to achieve a diverse and culturally competent school community, inclusive of diverse races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, religious and spiritual beliefs, ages, and physical and learning abilities. The administration shall report to the Board annually on its progress, barriers, and outcomes."

The Task Force will review the District's efforts in these areas: socioeconomic integration, curriculum and instruction; the Hallmarks of Excellence initiative; affirmative recruitment, hiring, and retention; the Equity Council; staff cultural competency, including professional development opportunities and evaluation procedures; school climate; and family and community engagement. The Task Force will also identify areas of need and research strategies for improvement.

The Task Force will include members from the school board, administration, parents, public, and members of the Equity Council.

The Task Force shall report on its finding and recommendations for a multi-year strategic plan to further Diversity & Equity in the Burlington School District at the regular meeting of the Board in February, 2011."

School Board takes a step toward establishing a Task Force on Diversity

Agenda Committee Meeting: Synopsis

September 28, 2010

The Agenda Committee took up a proposal to establish an Ad Hoc Diversity and Equity Committee. Superintendent Collins drafted a charge for this committee that formed the basis of the discussion.

Commissioner Werbel indicated that the Agenda Committee would vote on a charge for this committee, and if it passed, would bring a motion to the Board to form such a committee.

The charge of the committee was discussed. It was agreed the committee’s tasks were more akin to a Task Force than Ad Hoc Committee.

The Agenda Committee unanimously approved a charge for a Task Force on Diversity. The current draft of the committee charge (it is still being edited) indicates the committee will research and review district policies related to, among other things, school climate, curriculum, training, hiring, and retention and identify strategies that move the district forward, enabling the Board to implement its Diversity Policy of March 2009. The Task Force will present a report on its findings and submit a multi-year strategic plan to the Board in February to be discussed and for Board approval.

The Task Force report will reflect collaboration between the Board, parents, and community, on how to structure sustainable progress on diversity for the district.


Discussion

Commissioner Matson made the case the Board should continue to undertake steps to implement its diversity policy, such as bringing a national educational leader to Burlington, while the Task Force in working. In other words, the establishment of a Task Force does not mean the Board will stop working on this issue.

Commissioner O’Rourke agreed with Commissioner Matson and suggested it would be useful to get a report out of the Task Force before the district goes into hiring season in April.

Commissioner Brennan sees the Task Force as a longer-term visionary process, but stated the Board should still work on diversity in the meantime. He also stated that this Task Force needs representation from the community.

Commissioner Lane said it was his intent to appoint people from the community. He anticipates a committee of about 12 people with 3 or more Board members.

It was noted that the Agenda Committee needs to make a recommendation to the Board which meets in 2 weeks, but that in the interim, Commissioner Lane would begin to reach out to the community, so that if the motion is approved by the Board, the Task Force could get off to an immediate start.

Commissioner Brennan noted retention should be in the committee charge.

Commissioner Pillsbury noted that lessons learned from last year’s hiring should be incorporated into the Task Force’s findings. Also, the consultants’ (CIE) findings should be included as part of the background material the Task force reviews.

It was discussed that the Task Force’s recommendations would be used for the Board to make policy, and that the Task Force would not be designed to craft decisions for the Board.

Commissioner Evans indicated she would be willing to be on the Task Force and suggested that there be representation from the Equity Council.

Commissioner Werbel noted that the Board deals with diversity issues on a variety of committees: the Curriculum Committee (Hallmarks of Excellence), Policy and Advocacy (Recruitment), etc. But the Board’s work has not yet been looked at globally. It has not yet reviewed to see what is working and what new initiatives are needed in a comprehensive way. The Task Force will be the opportunity to step back and see the big picture.

Commissioner Evans: Said that the document the Task Force produces should pull together data, and make recommendations on data reporting.

Mercedes Mack is concerned about the demands on members of the Equity Council and questioned asking them to also participate in the Task Force.

Teacher Diversity on the Radar of Two Vermont Newspapers

Two recent articles – one in the Rutland Herald and another in the Burlington Free Press – reported on the release of the Vermont Teacher Diversity Report 2010.

The Burlington School District was identified in the BFP article as having made progress, hiring six new teachers of color this year. This is a major step forward for the district, and suggests there is energy behind its March 2009 diversity policy.

The leadership of key School Board members, the superintendent's stated commitment to this goal, and the indication that more will be done to diversify applicant pools this year and in the future is good news. Diversity Now welcomes this progress.

Generating a more diverse applicant pool for this year’s hires is important and doable. In the New England region alone, urban areas are more than 30% people of color. We can benefit from this rich diversity, should the district successfully network.

As we move forward, it will be especially important to increase the numbers of visible minorities around the table. Students of color (and white students) have an important need to see themselves in administrators, teachers, and guidance counselors. Hiring more teachers of color to reflect the changing complexion of our school district is one piece of the larger goal of ensuring a commitment to the high achievement for all of our district's school children.

As the Rutland Herald article notes, Vermont has 61 full- and part-time teachers of diverse backgrounds out of a total of about 7,000 teachers in the 43 districts that responded to the survey (60 districts were asked to participate). Bud Meyers, co-author of the report, is quoted by the Rutland Herald as saying;

“The report...says the numbers gathered over the last two years by the center are dangerously low…. The low diversity figure puts today’s increasingly diverse Vermont student body at a disadvantage, with many students unable to find someone of their ethnicity or color to relate to, and not seeing someone of a nonwhite cultural background in a position of power.”

All 43 districts that responded to the survey indicated that no strategies are being used to recruit diverse teachers. Burlington Superintendent Collins, however, noted that Burlington School District, which responded to the survey, is engaging in a host of diversity recruitment activities.

School Board to consider proposal for Board-Level Diversity Committee

The School Board is planning on discussing a proposal to establish a Diversity Ad Hoc Committee at its meeting on Tuesday, September 28, 2010.

The steering committee of Diversity Now strongly supports this step. School districts that have successfully addressed diversity issues have largely done so, based on a school board-approved strategic diversity plan.

Such plans address diversity recruitment, retention, and school climate issues. It is an excellent tool for planning, for educating the public, and measuring progress.

Ideally, the School Board would include community members on this committee

Diversity Now is asking those of you who support the establishment of this committee to either:

a) come to this meeting to show your support for this proposal, or
b) send a brief email message to School Board commissioners telling them you support this proposal and urge them to vote yes. Please send emails by September 28.

The emails of school board commissioners are:

kchasan@bsdvt.org, Kpillsbury@bsdvt.org, vbrennan@bsdvt.org, jbaker@bsdvt.org, amatson@bsdvt.org, flane@bsdvt.org, awerbel@bsdvt.org, borourke@bsdvt.org, mwking@bsdvt.org, nmoreau@bsdvt.org, pbaruth@bsdvt.org, haikbedrosian@yahoo.com, congerconsulting@gmail.com, jgevans@bsdvt.org

The meeting is at 5:00 p.m., at the Ira Allen Administration Building 150 Colchester Avenue.

"Provincial or racist?"

Ken Picard of Seven Days published an article about the lack of teacher diversity in Vermont [“The Diversity Test," August 25].

That article stimulated Reuben Jackson of Washington, DC. to offer the following response, published as a letter to the editor in the September 15, 2010 issue of Seven Days.

Provincial or Racist?

I am one of those African Americans who was willing to brave the cold in order to teach in the Vermont public schools — I’m bald, so I didn’t need to worry about getting my hair fixed [“The Diversity Test,” August 25]. I met a lot of nice, committed educators during the two and a half years I sought employment, but I also bumped heads with some of the most overtly patronizing and unabashedly — let’s call them provincial — administrators this side of Little Rock, Ark. Like the principal who, during the course of an interview, told me I had an “odd skill set” (I work as a music critic, NPR commentator and teacher, and was a Smithsonian curator for 21 years). Or the principal who thought I had a “limited education.”

I often ended up wondering why I was selected for an interview in the first place.

While I do think there is some serious racial stonewalling going on in the Green Mountain State, I am also beginning to believe that some of the problem is due to the aforementioned provincialism. (The shabby treatment hurts either way.) I wish Vermont well in its struggle to come to grips with the demographic changes that challenge the entire nation. Still, I think it is important for me to say that it was easier getting a job as a curator at the Smithsonian Institution than it was to land a classroom position in Vermont.

Reuben Jackson
Washington, D.C.

Research on diversity hiring

"Job Applicants and the Hiring Officer's Race'

Michael A Stoll, Steven Raphael, Harry J Holzer. Industrial & Labor Relations Review. 2004. Vol. 57, Iss. 2.

Abstract (Summary)

An empirical observation is documented and explored: establishments where blacks are in charge of hiring are considerably more likely to employ African Americans than are establishments in which whites are in charge of hiring. This empirical regularity is explored by analyzing the individual steps of the hiring process and the role of the race of the hiring agent. The analysis suggests that this pattern may be driven in large part by the propensity of blacks to apply for jobs in establishments where blacks occupy positions of authority. These results suggest that having blacks in visible positions of authority at firms might increase the rate at which blacks apply for jobs at those firms. The results also suggest that employers with black hiring agents are more likely than those with white hiring agents to hire African Americans, perhaps because they discriminate less against African Americans.

The achievement gap, tracking, and "Acting Black": What does the evidence say?

For some time, low achievement in schools has been attributed to socio-economic status.

The most recent evidence, however, paints a different picture. In "Closing the Achievement Gap by Detracking," the authors argue that achievement follows from opportunities. The persistent practice of tracking denies a range of opportunities, and according to the authors, the fact that a disproportionate number of these students are minorities offers one of the underlying reasons that the achievement gap has remained so persistent.What can be done? The authors describe how a diverse suburban district in New York narrowed the gap by offering its high-track curriculum to all students.

In an article entitled "It’s Not “a Black Thing”: Understanding the Burden of Acting White and Other Dilemmas of High Achievement," the authors state: For two decades the acting white hypothesis—the premise that black students are driven toward low school performance because of racialized peer pressure—has served as an explanation for the black–white achievement gap. Fordham and Ogbu proposed that black youths sabotage their own school careers by taking an oppositional stance toward academic achievement. Using interviews and existing data from eight North Carolina secondary public schools, this article shows that black adolescents are generally achievement oriented and that racialized peer pressure against high academic achievement is not prevalent in all schools. The analysis also shows important similarities in the experiences of black and white high-achieving students, indicating that dilemmas of high achievement are generalizable beyond a specific group. Typically, high-achieving students, regardless of race, are to some degree stigmatized as “nerds” or “geeks.”

The data suggest that school structures, rather than culture, may help explain when this stigma becomes racialized, producing a burden of acting white for black adolescents, and when it becomes class-based, producing a burden of “acting high and mighty” for low-income whites. Recognizing the similarities in these processes can help us refocus and refine understandings of the black–white achievement gap.

Diversity and Inclusive Education in the Burlington School District: A Reflection on 2009-10 and Next Steps

Diversity Now is broadening its communication strategy to include this blog as well as a Facebook page . In this, our first post on our new blog, we summarize our analysis of the Burlington School District's effectiveness in 2009-10 in implementing the School Board's diversity policy, adopted in March 2009. The full report can be found at: Full report

Summary
 
Diversity Now, one year from its founding, is broadening its focus to fully embrace the goal of inclusive excellence in our children’s education for all, especially by ability, class, gender, native and immigrant status, race, and sexual orientation. Recognizing historical race relations and exclusion in the US, we are also continuing our emphasis on the urgent need for the District to hire a more ethnically diverse workforce.

The Board and District took several important steps to operationalize their diversity policy, including the establishment of the Equity Office for Employment and Retention to revise processes and procedures for hiring to yield more diverse pools and hires. In addition, the Director of Diversity established the Equity Council, comprised of teachers, administrators, and community members, to serve as an interface with school hiring committees and central administration in the implementation of new hiring processes.

The hiring of two principals, an interim principal, and several teachers this year underscores the challenges the District faces. Despite an unprecedented diverse pool of applicants for two principal positions, two White principals were selected. Overlooked among the pool of applicants were applicants of color with principal experience.

The hiring process and aftermath led to heightened community tensions. On the one hand, the community of color and allies perceived the hiring process to reproduce past inequalities and obstructions in access to key positions. The hiring of a former school board member as principal led to a perception of an unlevel playing field.

In contrast, when the school board voted to delay approval of the principal hires, some parents and teachers at CP Smith and Hunt responded with acrimony that the Board was acting unfairly and responding to “special interests.” Clearly, there is work to be done to communicate and educate on the issue of diversity recruitment and hiring, and it rests with the Board and central office to make clear why this goal is being pursued, and how it contributes to a high quality education for all students in the District.

It will be important in the coming year for the Board and administration to create opportunities to bring the community together, and, as we note below, this will require a clearly defined strategy on their part to achieve this goal.

With regards to the teachers, the District identified six teachers of color hired out of 24. (The distribution of new teacher hires is as follows: one African American, two Middle Easterners, two Latin Americans, and one Asian American). Only one, however, is from an historic US underrepresented group (comprised of African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanics).

US underrepresented groups face the greatest barriers to employment, given historic race relations in the US. Further, a large portion of students of color in the District are from these groups. The addition of a new teacher of color this year, in fact, does not offset the loss of two teachers of color from historically underrepresented groups and it is clear the District has redouble its efforts to make progress in this area. For data on student, teacher and staff distributions by ethnicity, see the following link: Diversity by the Numbers


Diversity Now Goals for 2010-11

Based on our assessment, Diversity Now has laid out the following goals to pursue in its advocacy work this year.


• Continued commitment to work with the School Board, Superintendent, and District

We will continue to provide assistance to help the Board develop a medium- and long-range diversity and inclusive education plan to include 1) development of a long-range, annual, multi-year training program for teachers, principals, and administrators on diversity recruitment and cultural competency; 2) development of evaluation criteria for all staff, based on cultural competency and contribution to the District’s goal of diversifying its workforce; 3) systems to facilitate and improve the networking and recruitment effort, and 4) provides uses the District’s self-study.

• Work with the Board to organize a visit by prominent superintendent to BSD who has worked successfully to close achievement gaps, implemented a diversity strategy, and re-energized his or her school District to provide a 21st century education. The evidence finds that schools that have moved carefully toward providing a high-level curriculum and instruction for all of their students have substantially narrowed or eliminated the racial/ethnic achievement gaps. Examples of these schools include: Southwest Elementary in Durham NC (2002-2007), Project Bright Idea in North Carolina, Southside High School in Rockville Centre NY, and Montgomery County schools in Maryland.


• BSD self-study
We plan to request data to be made publicly available on:

o Graduation rates;
o Grade completion rates;
o Disciplinary actions and referrals;
o Tracking (i.e., participation on Honors and AP classes);
o Percentage of graduating seniors heading to college.

In reference to demographic groups, we refer to ethnicity/race, native status, gender, and other demarcations where appropriate. The data would be used to answer three key questions: 1) How must schools change in order for all children to learn? 2) What are the causes of failure to learn or decisions not to learn? 3) How does bias and prejudice (individual and institutional, conscious and unconscious) affect teaching, learning, and school policies?

• Advocate for a Board strategy for meeting and educating stakeholders on the District’s diversity goals.
There is an urgent need for the Board and administration to get out in front of this issue, meeting with PTOs, the teacher’s union, and other salient groups on diversity, diversity goals, and recruitment strategies.

• Advocate for a pilot student-focused assessment of racial climate at Burlington High School (with input by students of color AND White students) to be replicated with revision at other schools.

• Advocate for a District- and Board-organized series of focus groups that bring together key school leaders, teachers, and parents to discuss issues of race in our schools, targeting to ward hearing from parents with children of color in the schools.