Board hears proposed edits to educational and racial equity policy 0550; talent recruitment flagged as only partially compliant
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Summary
On June 17 the Yakima School District board reviewed Policy 0550 (educational and racial equity). Staff said three of four policy pillars are in compliance; talent recruitment and retention is only partially compliant and staff proposed wording changes.
At the Yakima School District Board of Directors meeting on June 17, district staff presented monitoring information and proposed language changes for Policy 0550, the district’s educational and racial equity policy. Kirsten Fitterer, who presented the report, said the policy aligns with the district’s strategic plan and outlined four policy pillars: climate and culture; leadership and partnerships; talent recruitment and retention; and teaching and learning.
Fitterer told the board the district is in compliance with three pillars but is "partially in compliance" with talent recruitment and retention. She said Assistant Superintendent Anthony Murrieta proposed specific edits to the policy’s language, including changing a requirement phrasing from "engaging all school personnel in cross cultural reflection and dialogue…" to "strive to engage all school personnel in cross cultural reflection…" and a grammatical revision to the professional-development sentence to read "provide relevant professional development to enhance employees' knowledge of and skills for eliminating racial and ethnic inequities." Fitterer summarized the submission: "In summary, the proposal is for those language changes that we are partially in compliance, and still working toward compliance in number 3, and that we are in compliance, for, the other 3."
Board members asked whether a redline markup of the proposed edits had been provided in the meeting; staff responded that the changes were available in BoardDocs and that a SurveyMonkey regarding the policy would be sent to board members with a return deadline of July 14. The policy had been on the May 19 agenda and was tabled twice before returning for this discussion; staff said this presentation served as the monitoring report and the board would discuss or propose additional changes after reviewing the posted materials.
No formal board action was taken on Policy 0550 at the meeting; staff sought board feedback and flagged talent recruitment and retention for continued work and monitoring.