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Superintendent proposes cultural‑liaison hiring check; board refers details to personnel committee
Summary
Superintendent Schmidt reviewed evidence‑based 'what works' for equity and proposed adding a cultural‑liaison check to the district hiring process so flagged background or social‑media concerns can be reviewed before board approval; the board agreed to refer the proposal to the personnel committee for further work.
Superintendent Schmidt presented an evidence‑based list of practices the district can adopt to improve equity and explained several practices that research suggests are ineffective. As part of that presentation he proposed adding a step to the hiring process: administrators would consult a cultural liaison to review flagged background or social‑media items that could affect Black, Indigenous and other students of color, and that liaison would advise administrators before candidates proceed to board consideration.
Schmidt said the materials supporting the "what works/what doesn't" list were compiled from multiple sources, including Scientific American and other reviews, and he emphasized the list is a synthesis rather than reliance on any single paper. He suggested the personnel committee discuss a draft job description for a cultural liaison and the committee’s role in the hiring review step.
Board members asked clarifying questions about what information could legally be considered in hiring, how long‑past incidents (for example, juvenile arrests) appear in background checks, and how social media checks would be handled. Schmidt said there are legal parameters that administration follows and that the proposed step would be another internal check before a candidate reaches the board for approval.
The board agreed this item should move to the personnel committee for further development; administration was asked to bring a refined recommendation and any sample job description back to the committee.
Notable public comment
During the meeting a public commenter urged the board to scrutinize research cited for equity planning and asserted that multiple academic works by Francesca Gino have been retracted or are under review. Superintendent Schmidt responded in the meeting that the board’s packet relied on multiple sources and that the materials would be reviewed carefully.
What’s next
Personnel committee will review the hiring‑process addition, refine a job description for the cultural liaison if the committee supports it, and report back to the full board.
