Policy committee keeps educator diversity policy in district handbook

The Wallingford School District Policy Committee agreed Jan. 14 to retain a policy that documents the district's educator diversity plan and to require an annual review of that plan.

The committee discussion centered on whether the written policy should remain in the district policy book now that the district has submitted an educator diversity plan to the state as required. Committee members who spoke said keeping the policy would increase transparency and make an annual review explicit.

Ms. Latour, a district staff member who presented the item, said she initially proposed removing the policy because the district had met its state obligation to create an educator diversity plan. "I felt like it might be good to keep it because it speaks to what's in our diversity, our educator diversity plan, which is a nice layer of transparency for the public," she said. Latour outlined that the policy describes steps the district has taken and its values in recruiting diverse educators.

Committee members raised implementation questions, including who would be responsible for the annual review and whether adding the requirement would create a burdensome extra task for central office staff. One committee member said the review could be done through an existing personnel report and recommended holding the annual report in September after the hiring season to capture application and recruiting data. Latour said she would include an annual report item on the September full-board agenda and have a member of the personnel department give a brief report.

After discussion, the committee indicated agreement to keep the policy active and remove it from deletion consideration.

The committee's decision leaves in place language requiring annual review; staff will coordinate how that review is scheduled and reported to the full board.