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MCPS leaders say anti-racist audit work is being embedded in the strategic plan; director role to be filled
Summary
Dr. Naya Hamlet and MCPS colleagues told the Education and Culture Committee that anti-racist audit commitments are being integrated into strategic plan scorecards and school improvement plans but implementation remains uneven; officials said a director of systemwide equity has been sought for months and they aim to name a candidate by February, while council members pressed for clearer trackers, mandatory professional learning and responses to discipline disparities.
Dr. Naya Hamlet, the district's new equity and development leader, told the Education and Culture Committee that the anti-racist system audit action plan is moving from a time-limited charter into MCPS's strategic plan and school improvement processes so commitments are written, assigned to division-level owners and monitored.
"Anti racist commitments only move when they are grounded in written expectations, monitored for implementation, and tied to outcomes," she told the committee, saying some work has progressed while other areas remain stalled and need clearer accountability and public tracking.
What MCPS described: Hamlet and colleagues said the district has embedded many audit recommendations into strategic-plan scorecards and cross-functional teams and is building a modified action-plan tracker or landing page to increase visibility. They described cross-functional teams (CFTs) and equity specialists used to reduce siloed work, but warned that implementation fidelity varies across the district's 211 schools. Officials said they now have six equity specialists and 13 professional learning specialists (seven of whom have restorative-practices training); a hate-bias education and prevention coordinator is funded by grant and the district hopes local funding will absorb the role next fiscal year.
Vacancy and hiring plan: Committee members pressed about a vacant director of systemwide equity position that has been open for more than a year. Hamlet said the position has been posted, applicants screened and the district has administered robust candidate performance tasks; she said the goal is to name someone in February and bring that name to the school board soon.
Discipline, code of conduct and data: Council members raised disciplinary disparities and recent changes to the code of conduct. A council member cited Board of Education figures showing an 80% increase in in-school suspensions and a 28.7% increase in out-of-school suspensions comparing September 2024 with September 2025; MCPS officials said part of the apparent in-school suspension increase reflected misclassification of in-school support periods and that discipline patterns still show disproportionality for Black and brown male students and students with disabilities.
Professional learning and community engagement: Officials described a range of PD (PDO) offerings and mandatory leader learning for principals and teacher leaders; they said participation and assessment are being tracked and that the district is exploring ways to link PD completion to observable outcomes. Hamlet and colleagues said schools are now required to hold public school-improvement-plan monitoring meetings with community members, a move intended to increase transparency and give parents clearer access to school-level progress data.
Closing and next steps: Officials said they will refine the tracker/dashboard to make anti-racist audit progress visible and will continue to embed outcomes into strategic-plan scorecards and school-improvement plans. Council members requested data on training participation rates, discipline metrics and proposed budget implications for any expanded equity staffing. The committee adjourned after the anti-racist audit discussion.
