St. Charles schools weighing $119,000 price tag for staff equity training

Despite a recommendation from district administrators to hire a firm to better address the needs of an increasingly diverse student population, the St. Charles Unit District 303 school board continues to debate the subject and hear from the community on both sides of the issue.

At Tuesday's learning and teaching committee meeting, the board listened to a presentation from representatives of Deep Equity, a company that trains school staff on equity, diversity and inclusion. Deep Equity - which also has worked with Batavia High School, Elgin Area School District U-46 and West Chicago Elementary School District 33 - was chosen by district administrators over two other firms and would be paid $119,000 for its services.

While some board members expressed reservations because of the lack of specific program information provided, they still recommended advancing the proposal for the Deep Equity program and the hiring of a district director of diversity, equity and inclusion to a vote at the March 8 board meeting.

The proposal is based on a directive from the school board last summer for administrators to present a plan by March that addresses equity, diversity and inclusion. If the proposal doesn't pass on March 8, district administrators will need to come up with an alternative to present.

"If I don't have the data in a timely manner and if I don't have the materials in order to review it in a timely manner, I don't feel that I can do it," said Board Member Ed McNally of the March 8 vote. "That's stuff that I wish I had already seen."

Parent groups such as D303 Move Forward and Parents 4 Progress have voiced opposition to hiring Deep Equity, but others in the community support the firm's hiring to help bridge the learning gap with the district's minority groups.

"Given that this disparity in subgroup performance has existed for years, it would be foolish to think that this will change without self reflection and without learning," said Debbie Baron, a middle-school reading specialist in the district. "Equity training can provide what we need."

Others questioned the need to pay an outside firm for work that could be done in-house.

"I don't need an expensive program to tell me some of the issues that are going on in this district," parent Danielle Penman said. "I don't need you to hire an equity officer to tell you guys some of the things that we already know."