WSESU Diversity/Equity Committee minutes—November 3, 2010
Present: Scott Tabachnick, Ron Stahley, David Schoales, Stuart Strothman, Nancy Johnston, Mikhaela Simms, Curtiss Reed, Andy Davis, Carrie Doggett, Itoro Udofia (intern with Bill Holliday), Carole Rayl, Absent: EES
Approved minutes of September 10.
Scotty plans to have Mr. Adamek (tech support) come in to present on assistive tech.
No new curriculum for the diversity website, but it has been updated and looks great—the PRIDE curriculum is up.
Looked at a letter to the Reformer (11/3/10) from a black physician who was denied services by a Bellows Falls barber. Disturbing. Good as a wake-up call, and in some senses, we should have one of those every day.
Moved into a discussion led by Curtiss regarding the need for recruitment of a more diverse workforce. Burlington has been a leader in this regard, but it has been slow to start, and other areas of Vermont are still way behind. This has been an area of focus for Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, which has helped to develop strategy around this effort. The Burlington approach is very straightforward (we reviewed their official charge/commitment to this effort). Burlington slowed the process down by creating multiple committees. Some aspects of the process lead to blocks in successful hiring. Burlington has also offered to pay for travel for candidates, and that has been a small number, and not a great expense.
We reviewed aspects of the process. One issue is that hiring committees should have the services of a ‘diversity coach’ to help them work with applicants. Training for screening committees is key. A number of tacit, racist perspectives often come into the discussion—“they’re only looking for black applicants,” or “if we take this approach, we admit we’re all racist.” They might think “black people don’t like the cold weather” but the person may be from Buffalo! This is the sort of very inappropriate discussion that happens in hiring committees. These comments are not illegal, but they are very ‘unskilled.’ The main point here is it takes more than a change on a piece of paper to transform hiring systems. Many of us have the perspective that we are actually in a period of time when racism is on the increase, and more overt expressions are becoming accepted. We need to work against this system. We have to step outside of our comfort zone to make this commitment.
How can we generate applicants at little or no cost? Whom can we co-recruit with to make it more likely we’ll draw people in (fire departments, recreational groups etc.)? We can also develop relationships with historically black universities, and that sort of thing. One thought was to connect with UMass, UConn, Central Connecticut, so we can get student teachers in the mix that are more diverse, whom we can get to know and like (and so hire!).
Through SchoolSpring, we do get applicants from all over the country. We discussed the process of narrowing the field, and how knowing people gives them an advantage. Also, many are not close to qualification, and that’s a problem.
It’s important to remember that this is a slow process—we’d like it done yesterday, but it will really be a multi-year endeavor. Steps include changing the candidate pool within the first year, and within two years, changing the culture of the hiring committees. Ultimately this should be part of performance evaluations for administrators.
Ron plans to share this material with his leadership team, and working on making these changes.
Unfinished business—follow up with Ron re: leadership meeting.
Plans for the future:
December—Mikaela Simms and Karen Saunders on bias in curriculum
January—Mary Goodemote on the inclusion
February—principals coming to talk about diversifying
March—tech ed teacher showing short film about a project he’s been working on
April—planning for Diversity Day
May—debriefing on Diversity Day
June
Submitted by Stuart Strothman