The New Paltz Central School District’s Board of Education last week received an update on its continuing efforts to prioritize equity and antiracism.
During a School Board meeting held on Wednesday, March 29, trustee Heather O’Donnell, a member of the district’s Racial Equity Initiative Advisory Committee (REIAC), reviewed what happened in a committee meeting a little over a week earlier. O’Donnell said the biggest news coming out of the committee meeting was the formation of a District Equity Inclusion Committee (DEIC).
“Members of REIAC were invited to take part, assuming that they could make the scheduled times,” O’Donnell said. “And that was really appreciated by all in attendance.”
While details about the DEIC are still unclear, involving the REIAC early on is a step that some in the committee felt was overlooked last year when the Board of Education approved an equity training program run by the Due East Educational Equity Collaborative for the 2022-23 school year.
The Due East program cost the district roughly $25,300 and includes a six-part monthly educational equity leadership collaboration meeting for district leadership and members of REIAC. There will also be educational equity programming on the second Thursday of each month throughout the school year, and a three-part educational equity leadership series for district and building administrators. Critics of that plan lamented its creation without input from the REIAC on some of its details. That oversight has since turned around, said O’Donnell, who noted that Due East coordinators were seeking input from REIAC members to help guide their remaining sessions.
O’Donnell also discussed the role of reintroducing students as members of REIAC, and engaging other community members as well.
“A plan was set to explore creating a description of the student role, and then the committee would review it at the next meeting,” O’Donnell said. “And ideas were shared for creating public forums with administration where parents can come and share concerns with the administration in order to build the community and resolve issues.”
The REIAC also reviewed prospective district policy 3430, which focuses on antiracism. While the language in the initial policy draft was approved, committee members discussed how language and organization in the Schenectady City School District’s antiracism policy might be used in New Paltz.
“This committee started to discuss the two differences (between the NPCSD draft and the Schenectady policy) and that conversation became very interesting and intense,” said O’Donnell. “And so we made some progress and then decided that everyone would read both policies and come back to the next meeting to continue that.”
The REIAC also discussed teacher retention policies in other school districts, including Kingston, which includes teacher recruitment and support for staff of color through regular social and support events to foster a sense of community. The Ithaca City School District’s teacher recruitment policies were also noted for their efforts to nurture student teachers in an effort to get them to stick around. With SUNY New Paltz in the same community, REIAC members thought this was of particular interest, O’Donnell said.
Efforts along similar lines by the Shenendehowa Central School District were also deemed effective.
Hiring and retaining employees of color has been an issue for the NPCSD in recent years.
Former Superintendent Angela Urbina-Medina resigned from her position last summer, just two years after she took the helm and helped steer the district through the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to Urbina-Medina’s resignation, Assistant Superintendent of Business Sharifa Carbon officially resigned in April after being placed on administrative leave one month earlier. Carbon has since taken a similar role in the Kingston City School District.
Other educators of color have since followed.
REIAC is continuing to review policies and will further discuss an organizational system to streamline the policy process.
“The organization of the materials that REIAC reviewing was discussed,” O’Donnell said. “And time was spent discussing a system that makes sense for everybody so that we can be organized with what we’ve looked at and the ideas that we’re sharing, so that that can then go to the policy committee further discussions.”
The next meeting of the DEIAC is scheduled for Tuesday, April 11, at which review of reports from Due East and the initial DEIC meeting are planned.
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