DJUSD Believes It has Made Slight Progress on Hiring Teachers of Color, Incorporating Values of Diversity into District Hiring Process
Data recently obtained by the Vanguard from the Davis Joint Unified School District shows that, despite some effort to recruit a more diverse teaching staff, the district has only made small progress over the last few years.
The data compiled through a records request shows that certificated employees, which includes teachers at all levels, are still 76.7 percent white, down slightly from the 81 percent level. This compares with a 56 percent white student population. The certificated staff is also the least ethnically diverse of the employee groups, trailing both the administration and classified staff.
“The information suggests that we have our work cut out for us in order to achieve diversity among our teachers, administrators, and school employees that is more reflective of our community,” Board President Alan Fernandes told the Vanguard in a statement Tuesday night. “I believe the Board is committed to this effort along with continuing to attract and retain the best and brightest individuals for all district positions.”
Board Vice President Madhavi Sunder was more pointed, stating, “The numbers are striking. People of all racial backgrounds should feel that there is opportunity to teach and work in Davis Schools, and to rise in administrative ranks here.”
The student data is from 2013-14, the most recently available year. It is included for illustrative purposes. The district personnel is compiled from DTA membership lists for the 2014-15 year.
The teaching category extends beyond just teachers, including all certificated staff that serves the students. The racial categories are collapsed from a much broader range of categories for illustrative purposes. District staff was provided a version of this chart prior to publication.
The figures as compiled show that white teachers are vastly overrepresented at 76.7 percent compared to 56 percent of the students being white. Among the major racial categories, Asians are vastly underrepresented, with less than six percent of the teachers compared to 17 percent of the students. Blacks are underrepresented as well – although their numbers are small both in teacher and student populations.
The Hispanic category is interesting. On the surface, the 13 percent of the teaching population represents significant progress, even as it still lags the large and growing 18.5 percent Hispanic student population.
However, some disagree that this is a true measure of progress.
Rick Gonzales, the President of the Yolo County Mexican-American Concilio, has been a longtime critic of the district’s hiring practice. He believes that, while there has been some shift in the percentage of Hispanic teachers, most of that is structural.
He told the Vanguard on Monday, “I believe there is very little movement, hence, the low numbers of teachers of color, except in the Spanish Immersion and Dual Immersion programs where knowing Spanish is a requirement. The start of the Dual Immersion Program is probably the reason that Latino teachers were hired.”
However, the district believes it is making slow progress in this area, both in terms of higher diversity, and also in terms of holding diversity and the teaching of diversity as critical district values.
“We hold diversity as a value,” Matt Best, the District’s Associate Superintendent of Administrative Services, told the Vanguard Tuesday in a phone interview.
He said the district is striving to have a diverse staff in terms of their ethnicity and culture. He added that the second part of that is that they want to have a staff that is able to teach students about diversity.
“A diverse and inclusive culture” is essential part of the mission statement of DJUSD set forth in the DJUSD Strategic Plan.
“Since my time here, I’ve really been working to track ethnic data,” Mr. Best said. He noted that, when Tim Taylor was on the board, he wanted to know their ethnicity and their training that they had to teach diversity in our classrooms. He said, we are “really focusing on who are we hiring and how are we going to support this idea of diversity.”
Matt Best noted that they have diversity curriculum at both the elementary and secondary levels, which is embedded into the social studies curriculum. There is also a social justice course at Korematsu.
He stated, “We expect that teachers and staff can teach the value of cultural diversity to students regardless of their own background and culture.”
Mr. Best stressed that the district is showing progress toward being more diverse. He noted that, in 2011-12, the district was about 81 percent white. That compared to about 72 percent countywide. “Over the last several years, we’ve been working hard to make sure we hire not only diverse staff, but staff that are able to teach the value of diversity.”
Most of the progress has been in the Hispanic category, he acknowledged.
He stressed, “We always look for the best candidates for our positions, but continually look for more ways to expand our recruiting efforts to recruit a more diverse staff.”
Matt Best also told the Vanguard that the district has altered their hiring practices over the last few years. The district used to have a very decentralized process where the principals would have a hiring process that would take place at their site and independent of the district. “As a result I think we hired people that were all like the person that was already at the site which was mostly white with those same skills and values.”
When Mr. Best was placed in charge of HR, he changed the practices. “We developed a standardized screening interview.” Part of that assesses the teaching candidate’s “core values.” Included are questions about diversity and ethnicity.
They have a trained group of interviewers on a panel including administrators who do a short screening interview which gets at core values, including cultural diversity and sensitivity.
Matt Best said that HR staff and principals also attend recruitment events almost anywhere within 100 miles of Davis, to meet and shake hands with a diverse candidate pool and to strongly encourage them to apply. “Those things are what you have to do to shift that culture,” he said.
However, Rick Gonzales disagrees that things are changing.
“There has never been a priority to hire teachers of color,” he said. “If 42 percent of the student population is students of color, then it only seems fair that 42 percent of the teachers should be teachers of color.”
Mr. Gonzales said he has spent the last thirty years serving on committees at DJUSD that address these issues, and he has always made the issue of minority hiring a critical point.
However, he said, in the end it “falls on deaf ears and little, if anything, changes. This topic becomes even more important in the future, because many teachers are retiring and need to be replaced.” He added, “The schools are now receiving more student funding than before, so they can’t counter with not enough funding to hire minority teachers.”
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Exactly. I have a novel idea, why don’t we just hire the most qualified applicants regardless of race.
that’s what they did for decades. the problem is that you have a huge achievement gap and the lack of minority hires is a frequently cited source of complaint from those of us who believe that the lack of positive role models for minorities is problematic. moreover as the district indicated its not that they aren’t going to hire the most qualified applicants regardless of race, they want to have a more diverse applicant pool which would allow for such a hire to be more likely to have greater diversity.
Why don’t we start with the number one role models, parents (i.e., fathers)?
They state that they will hire the most qualified, but we know that’s often not the case. Like civil service / police / fire jobs where they enact “banding” of applicants test scores to say that anyone who scores between 80 and 100 on the test is the same (hence, banded together), when we know that someone who scores a 99 is better qualified than someone who scored an 81.
“Why don’t we start with the number one role models, parents (i.e., fathers)?”
how is that relevant to hiring teachers?
BP wrote:
> I have a novel idea, why don’t we just hire the most qualified
> applicants regardless of race.
They could always just lower the standards until the district gets the racial mix they want (like most colleges)…
Another option would be to fire a white teacher every time they get a resume from a teacher of color…
Like BP I don’t understand why we don’t just do the best we can getting the most qualified people who apply to do their best educating ALL the kids (regardless of race).
“I have a dream” that some day the school will stop asking (or more people will join the ~5 teachers that did not report their race) and we can move ahead not tracking everything by race…
The admin staff with 11.6% blacks is way over represented with only having 2.8% black students. Since that wasn’t brought up in the article is that something that’s also going to be looked into?
you’re comparing a sample of 570 (teachers) to 43 (administrators), that means that it’s probably 4 0r 5 people. i can name three just off the top of my head: roberson, will brown (dhs principal) and mel lewis (climate).
No, I don’t think it’s that. I think the ones that want racial uniformity are willing to look the other way when blacks or Latinos are over represented.
that’s because you personally seem to believe that the numbers are just numbers and this is just a math equation.
We live in a free society. Maybe educated African Americans prefer to be lawyers or federal workers.
Pro hockey is 95% white and pro basketball is 70% African American, both vastly non-uniform, and I don’t see any gnashing of teeth.
There are many factors at play. Free choice, culture, geography, weather, history, …
Yes, if we want uniformity, we need to can a few African American admins, and add a few Asian American admins.
it’s uniformity that people want.
““If 42% of the student population is students of color, then it only seems fair that 42% of the teachers should be teachers of color.”
This is an issue over which I have very mixed feelings.
1. I object to the very over used word “fair” in this context. “Fair” to whom ? Fair to the applicant who may have been over looked in the old decentralized scheme because he or she did not closely enough resemble the person making the selection ? Fair to the students in terms of getting the best possible education in an atmosphere that is respectful of all groups ? How do we believe that “fairness” fits into this hiring decision ?
2. Is shooting for an exact percentage match really a major priority ? Should this ever be prioritized over hiring the best teachers that we possibly can ? Or does choosing by race skew the children’s perception of merit and lead them to be even more cognizant of the power of race in our society ?
I have no answers and am only posing questions since I come from a very different background and have seen discrimination based on gender switch over the course of my career from the assumption that women could not be successful in a surgical subspecialty and therefore should never be hired, to my current fight to ensure that men are not excluded from gynecologic positions because “women prefer to see other women”. In my field, I firmly believe that the job should go to the most qualified applicant regardless of race, gender, religion….
I think that what needs to be addressed here first is the question of priorities. While I firmly believe in the value of diversity, I question whether this should ever be prioritized over hiring the very best candidate possible for the specific teaching position available. What I would recommend is a blinded hiring policy with the individual’s making the final decision not having access to the gender, religion, or ethnicity of the applicant. It has worked in orchestral hiring to obtain both more skilled musicians and greater racial and gender diversity. It should be considered here as well despite the obvious logistical difficulties. We are a very bright, very innovative community. I am sure that we could find a way if we put our minds to it.
My son is an OB/GYN. When he was applying for jobs I can’t tell you how many times he’s felt that he was skipped over for an opening because they were looking for a female.
I totally agree. If there was a way this could be done then they should look into it.
I always hear how great our local schools are, why are we now going to change things? If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Sexism isn’t relevant when it’s a man.
“Sexism isn’t relevant when it’s a man”
Well then, I guess that I have been wasting my time for the last 7 years fighting to hire the most qualified applicant regardless of gender.
Tia Will, how many men and how many women doctors in your OB/Gyn dept.?
” Is shooting for an exact percentage match really a major priority ?”
probably not. but 76 to 56 (and growing) is a big discrepancy. also remember the trend, twenty years ago, 75% of students were white, now it’s just 56%, that’s a big change.
DP wrote:
> twenty years ago, 75% of students were white
In the state 75% of the students are now NOT white
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sd/cb/ceffingertipfacts.asp
As more and more of these kids go to college we will have more “teachers of color” and it won’t be long before we have less white teachers…
not talking about the state.
The statement of 42% students should equal 42% teachers is absurd. Of the people living in Davis, or the surrounding areas, what percentage of people that have a teaching credential are also of color? You can compare that to the percentage hired by DJUSD. You can’t just use students. What if all the “students of color” parents have PHDs and are UCD professors? Is the school district supposed to somehow force them to teach K-12?
Way to compare two unrelated items to try and prove your point.
This “diversity” article cherry picks what is being scrutinized.
1. What is the gender makeup of the teachers? My guess is that male teachers are under-represented.
2. What is the political makeup of the teachers? My guess is that GOP, Independent, and Tea Party members are under-represented.
3. What percentage of teachers have a background in the business world, which would give them a more diverse and varied background than career teachers?
4. Are socialists over-represented and capitalists under-represented? This would be good to know in preparing citizens for our capitalist system.
We may have to wait for African American administrators and female teachers to move on or retire, before we can make progress towards a truly uniform employee base.
I look forward to the follow up article.
P.S. A statistical gap isn’t surprising when we’ve recently had a massive influx of legal and illegal immigrants into our state from south of the border, and there will logically be a time lag while new ethnic groups assimilate, gain an education, and move up the American ladder. In addition we still have the “achievement gap” which also impacts the numbers of college graduates who would have the proper qualifications needed to assume such positions. Common sense.
TBD
“What percentage of teachers have a background in the business world, which would give them a more diverse and varied background than career teachers?”
I was with you until this point . What makes you think that having a background in the business world would provided a more diverse and varied background than say having teachers who had a background in the military, or a religious service background, or backgrounds from various different disciplines in academia or public service. I think that you are making an unwarranted assumption here.
The larger point is that the Left has redefined what “diversity” means, it’s about race, and it’s usually about needing x% of black people. There is a lot of groupthink with teachers, which does no one any good.
LGBT approx. 15 – 20%. Is this represented in parity?
Are LGBT teachers scrutinized more severely?
Are teachers who have overcome their own learning disability fairly represented? Which teaching style is represented the most frequently? I can venture a guess, because teachers usually teach their own learning style. That’s not a bad thing if it’s one of many styles represented.
sisterhood wrote: “LGBT approx. 15 – 20%.”
What does this mean, this is an incomplete sentence. Are you saying the current teachers are 15-20% LGBT, or that they should be 15-20% LGBT for some reason? Any sources? Thank you.
Ah yes, let’s not forget the LGBT community. All teachers should also be screened on who they sleep with. Let’s not forget the cross dresser community either, they deserve representation too. Then we might want to also consider the religious makeup of our community and hire accordingly.
BP wrote:
> Then we might want to also consider the religious makeup of our community and hire accordingly.
I wonder if the school district is trying to have “religious diversity”
Like with race I would hope the district would just hire the BEST teachers and not even ask what their race OR religion is…
Below are the California “religious diversity” numbers from Wikipedia:
Protestant – 35%
Roman Catholic – 31%
Jewish – 2%
LDS – 2%
Buddhist – 2%
Hindu – <1%
Muslim – <0.5%
Other Religions – 3%
Non-Religious/ Atheist/ Agnostic – 22%
i have to tell you when i read posts like this and some of the ones from bp, tbd, and frankly, i realize something – right wingers have no clue why diversity is important or what diversity is important. none. it’s a concept they do not understand and cannot comprehend.