Kutztown’s School District equity committee begins its work
Kutztown School District’s Educational Equity Committee has begun work.
It’s mission is defined as ensuring educational equity through the fair and just allocation of resources, opportunities and treatment of students.
“I am extremely proud of the group of individuals we have volunteering their time to serving the Kutztown Area School District,” said Superintendent Christian Temchatin.
The committee membership for 2022-23 was approved by the school board on June 6.
The committee falls under the controversial Educational Equity Policy, which has a history of being heatedly debated among school board members and residents.
The previous educational equity policy adopted in September 2020 was suspended in June 2021 after elementary morning announcements by the equity team led to a community outcry.
After a labor-intensive effort, the Policy and Curriculum Committee presented the revised policy to the full board in October. The board approved the first reading in November and adopted the new policy in December.
The board adopted the policy to tie together the various policies that seek to ensure that the principle of educational equity through the fair and just allocation of resources, opportunities and treatment of students based upon each individual student’s needs remains a priority of the district, states the policy.
“Society as a whole benefits from all students meeting their goals, dreams and full potential,” states the policy. “The pursuit of educational equity requires the continuous and collaborative effort of identifying various aspects of district programs and operations in which consideration of educational equity shall be analyzed, incorporated and prioritized.”
The goal of this policy is to maximize the student achievement and success of all students after high school, and that such success not be limited by their being part of either a mainstream or minority group, states the policy.
To facilitate educational equity for all, the district committed to promptly identify and address barriers that cause achievement or opportunity gaps for students; develop meaningful relationships with and among students, staff and families; and provide curriculum, instruction and assessment that is adaptive as well as responsive to and reflective of students, states the policy.
The new policy also included that an Educational Equity Committee be established by the superintendent that will advise the board and work to develop an action plan to address inequities, subject to board approval.
The committee will report regularly to the board, according to the policy.
“The Educational Equity Policy states that the superintendent will recommend committee members based on various stakeholders’ roles, including teachers, students, support staff, parents, a business owner, and a local religious leader,” Temchatin said. “I approached people representing the entire district with various viewpoints and perspectives but with the common interest of the best interests of the district and our students.”
The policy adopted in December provides a framework for creating the committee and its role in developing an action plan to be presented to the Board annually, explained Temchatin.
The new equity committee held its first meeting on July 25 with 12 members in attendance.
“The ultimate goal is to prepare a data-informed action plan for presentation to the board of directors. Identifying the specific goals in that plan is the committee’s work throughout the year,” Temchatin said.
During his report to the board on Aug. 15, Temchatin said the first meeting was an opportunity for members to get to know one another. The goals of the meeting were to review the committee’s role and review enrollment data, as well as set a timeline for committee meetings.
The committee will meet approximately every six weeks over the course of the year with the intent of making a recommendation to the board at the end of the school year, said Temchatin.
“We’re looking at really high level enrollment data of the district, including getting some observations and looking at how enrollment is changing in Kutztown over time,” he said. “Then we really just discussed potential questions and data items that any members of the committee would be interested in the future. It gave me a roadmap of what type of information they were interested in looking at so it was a good meeting.”
The equity committee is scheduled to meet again in September and November.
“Each time we meet, in the subsequent committee reports, I’ll report out the things we discussed. We’ll do a mid-year update and then the end of the year would be a time when we would be recommending from that committee an action plan,” said Temchatin.
Superintendent contract extended
Also, the board approved a four-year superintendent contract extension for Temchatin, effective July 1, 2023, at a salary calculated using the 2022-23 base of $180,320.
Board President Randy Burch congratulated Temchatin.
“We’re looking forward to your ongoing service with the district,” said Burch.
“I’d like to thank members of the board for your faith in me and our team,” said Temchatin thanking current board members and previous board members. “I’m proud every day to be a part of this learning community and excited for what we can do for our students and our community over the course of the next four plus years.”