Speakers urge equity safeguards as Alachua board walks through broad statutory policy changes
Summary
Community speakers at the Jan. 12 Alachua County School Board workshop warned that recent statutory updates'from arrests-based self-reporting to streamlined rulemaking'risk disproportionate harm to Black educators and students and urged race-disaggregated reporting and equity reviews.
Members of the public used the board's public-comment period at the Jan. 12 workshop to press the Alachua County School Board to add equity protections to a slate of statutorily driven policy changes.
Dr. Michael Buoy, speaking for the Beta Pi chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated, told the board that changes to bylaws and program policies could "disproportionately exclude black educators and leaders" and that efficiency in rulemaking should not come at the cost of community engagement. He urged the district to "require race dis disaggregated reporting, guard against bias tracking, and fully support educators in delivering accurate, inclusive instruction." (transcript punctuation as spoken.)
Michael Perkins, also representing Omega Psi Phi, urged the board to monitor staffing and discipline data by race, to avoid escalating attendance enforcement for absences caused by transportation or housing instability, and to protect supports such as tutoring and counseling. "State law is the floor, but equity must be the standard," Perkins said.
Board members and staff repeatedly replied that many of the changes are statutory and therefore required; Attorney David Delaney and staff said some language is straight from state statute and that the district must adopt updates to remain in compliance. Board members nonetheless asked staff to consider operational guardrails, transparency measures and monitoring so that mandated changes do not create unintended, disparate outcomes for students and staff.
The public commenters asked the board to use the policy adoption process to preserve notice, workshops and meaningful public input, and to require equity reviews before reallocating categorical funds. Staff said they will incorporate these concerns into policy drafting and that many proposed changes will return to the board for a first read on Jan. 20 and a second read March 3.
