DISTRICT CLOSING IN ON DIVERSITY LEAD
Coordinator will oversee equity, inclusivity; decision by end of April
Royal Oak Schools is closing in on hiring a person to serve as a coordinator for issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in the district.
The new position was posted in February and more than 100 people applied for the job.
Last week, the number of applicants was whittled down to about a half dozen candidates after they were interviewed by a panel of parents, teachers, students and district administrators.
Those candidates will be called back for final interviews on April 12, said Superintendent Mary Beth Fitzpatrick.
School officials are aiming to choose the district’s first diversity coordinator by the end of April.
“We’re hopeful that this new coordinator will enable us to pull our different initiatives together and have a new concentration on diversity, equity and inclusion,” Fitzpatrick said.
A DEI coordinator will support the development of inclusive classrooms free of bias so that all students are able to learn without barriers to learning and growth, school officials said.
Last summer the Royal Oak Multicultural Parents Association in a statement listed three demands for the district on race and inclusion.
ROMPA members said they wanted the district to create a culturally responsive curriculum and address racial disparities in academic achievement and discipline and “a lack of diversity” in district staffing.
ROMPA has been in the district for several years and has met with school officials on a regular basis. Members have been part of forums dealing with race and inclusion.
School board member Lisa-Aline Hanes was elected last year and has been a member of ROMPA. She is also among those interviewing candidates for the new DEI coordinator’s position.
Hanes said the district has needed a DEI coordinator for a while.
“Every child deserves to feel safe, and to be heard and understood,” she said. “I think this person would work along with the district to guide us where we need to be, whether it’s with our curriculum, staff education or community education.”
The goal is to achieve equality in the classroom and learning regardless of a student’s color, or culture, or those from groups that have historically been oppressed or marginalized.
Nearly five years ago Royal Oak Schools created a “Forward Together” plan to ensure district staff engaged in “cultural competence” efforts on topics that affect students and families along lines of race, religion, sexual orientation, special needs, language and poverty.
That effort started under Shawn LewisLakin, former superintendent, after two high-profile incidents in November 2016.
A video of a small group of Royal Oak Middle School students chanting “Build the Wall!” in the presence of some Hispanic students the day after Donald Trump was elected president drew national attention.
Less than two weeks later Royal Oak police were called to the school to investigate a student who made a noose and left it hanging in a stall of a boys’ restroom at the school. The student was removed from
the school.
Later, the district started the Cultural Competence Engagement Committee, made up of parents, staff, school board,
administrators and other community members.
A diversity coordinator for the district will work to improve services and support for all students.
“The coordinator would also bring special attention to things we may still need to improve,” Fitzpatrick said.