In response to a San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury report which outlines a lack of diversity in school faculty that matches student demographics, school districts across the county have begun offering responses with the bodies largely agreeing with the findings and promising to improve hiring practices.
“It’s
a really important issue in our county and our community and really digs into
what that looks like here specifically,” San Mateo-Foster City School District
Trustee Noelia Corzo said during an Oct. 7 meeting.
The
civil grand jury, an independent investigative body made of up 19 county
residents, surveyed 19 of the county’s 23 school districts on each
jurisdiction’s hiring practices, knowledge of the San Mateo County Office of
Education’s workforce diversity goal and challenges and strategies for hiring
diverse teachers. Officials of three other school districts were interviewed.
Through
their study, “Building a Racially and Ethically Diverse Teaching Workforce: A
Challenge for Our Schools,” they found that that while about 72% of public
school students enrolled in the 2018-19 school year came from non-white
families, only 25.8% of credentialed teachers had similar ethnic groups,
according to date provided by the county Office of Education.
Of
the 6,082 teachers employed across the county in the 2018-2019 school year,
more than 69% of them identified as white. The next largest demographic were
Latino and Hispanic teachers who accounted for 10.14% of the total number,
followed by Asian teachers with 8.45%.
Comparatively,
white students only made up about 25% of the student body that same year,
surpassed by Latino and Hispanic students who accounted for nearly 38% and
followed by Asian students with 15.7%.
In
response to the major divide, the grand jury made three recommendations. The
body called for districts to include a commitment to teacher diversity within
their strategic plans or objectives in alignment with the SMCOE’s plan as a
guide and to make the document publicly accessible.
The
report also recommended that the SMCOE routinely sponsor teacher diversity
forums for top district officials to touch on recruitment challenges faced by
the industry. Regionally, districts have struggled to recruit staff during a
shortage the grand jury said has been exacerbated by a high cost of living,
tough housing market and strained teacher pipeline.
“Recruiting
teachers, specifically teachers of color, who reflect the diversity of students
enrolled, is a formidable task according to interviews with school district
representatives. School districts across California and the nation experience
these same challenges,” read the report which also asked that SMCOE share
demographic data with school districts once it’s gathered.
Districts
are legally required to respond to the report in a letter in which they note
the points they agree or disagree with. While some districts have yet to
respond, others have drafted and approved their letters with little discussion.
Before
approving the letters though, some school board members took issue with the
grand jury’s criticism of an online Equity Network program hosted by the San
Mateo County Board of Education in 2020. Given that the 20-hour program was
held online due to the pandemic, the grand jury asserted it was limited in its
ability to facilitate “thoughtful, equity-driven decisions.”
But
Ken Chin, president of the San Mateo-Foster City School District Board of
Trustees, said he found the program very helpful. Carrie Du Bois, vice president
of the Sequoia Union High School District Board of Trustees, shared
disappointment that the group would single out the program, noting the Board of
Education is only one of many advocacy arms conducting equity work.
“I’m
surprised the grand jury would point that out. I do feel that the work is
ongoing,” Du Bois said during an Oct. 13 meeting. “I don’t believe that the
pandemic disrupted that work.”
Still,
the letters were approved and largely mirror each other in agreeing that
districts could do better, declining to agree or disagree in areas where
studies are referenced, noting what work has already been done in each
respective district and acknowledging more must be done.
Such
comments were made by John Baker, a member of the South San Francisco Unified
School District board, during an Oct. 8 meeting in which he noted that while
the language in the letter is “boiler plate” the district still recognizes
there’s room for much improvement.
“While
this is not clearly defined, what the grand jury is saying, we do need to do
better,” Baker said. “And we do recognize that and the way that it’s stated in
the response may not necessarily reflect that but I do want to let the public
who follows us know that we are aware of the issue.”
Sue
Wieser, San Mateo-Foster City School District assistant superintendent for
Human Resource, said that the district is committed to implementing the
recommendations in the report by June 30, the deadline set by the grand jury.
“What
we’re hoping is that we’ll be able to continue work in the district around
increasing workforce diversity and that perhaps it will be incorporated into
the strategic plan,” Wieser said.
Much
of the work the district’s Equity Taskforce has conducted has overlapped with
the grand jury’s recommendations, noted Trustee Shara Watkins.
Corzo
shared appreciation for the grand jury’s work. She also noted that while the
district has already begun some of the work called for in the report, she would
like to see the board and district administrators continue to investigate the
matter.
“There’s
a lot here but I also think that our district has been making moves on a lot of
these issues internally already,” Corzo said. “So while we have to respond
legally to this grand jury finding and we have, I hope that we continue to dig
into these issues.”
The
Daily Journal
Sierra Lopez
November 1, 2021
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