Board directs Kane to move forward with equity policy

Survey results discusses

BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

With community survey results on Douglas County School District’s equity policy showing support for the current guidelines, the school board directed Superintendent Erin Kane to move forward with creating an implementation plan.

During the March 28 meeting, Kane told the board she plans to bring forth an implementation plan, also called a regulation, for the equity policy on April 25 that will be informed by feedback from the survey. Kane added that she doesn’t expect to recommend changes to the policy.

“We will be producing a regulation around (the equity policy) and (the regulation) will cover the following areas: academics, student wellness, human resources, resource allocation and parent engagement,” she said.

e district has been discussing potential changes to its equity policy since the board voted 4-3 in January 2022 to direct the superintendent to make recommendations on the policy. e policy states the district will work to provide an inclusive culture and equitable educational opportunities for all students.

In February, the district contracted with Hanover for $75,000 to conduct the survey with the goal of gathering feedback to inform the recommendations.

During the meeting the board also got a presentation from Hanover Research, which conducted the survey and focus groups. Findings were based on responses from 3,970 parents, sta , students and community members, which Hanover determined to be valid participants and not spam respondents. A majority of the participants were parents.

More than half of respondents believe the implementation of the current equity policy would have positive impacts on the district, with 52% saying the policy might contribute to decreased bullying and greater respect among students. Another 49% said the policy could better academic growth and achievement.

When it comes to hopes for policy implementation, 68% of respondents want curriculum that promotes critical thinking and problem-solving, and 62% want historically-accurate and comprehensive social studies. e third most popular response was the hope that implementation would increase student growth and achievement.

e top concerns with the policy implementation were politicization of school curriculum and the school environment, as well as a loss of focus on core curriculum.

Suggested metrics for policy implementation included student growth and achievement data, student perception data and sta retention and recruitment data. Focus group participants shared that the policy is a good starting place and praised its inclusivity, but also said it lacked speci city and ex- pressed varying perspectives on the policy de nitions and implementation. Students also pointed to issues with reporting potential violations of the equity policy.

Kane said the results show many of the clarity issues center on implementation, not the policy itself, which she hopes to address with the regulation.

“When we come back with our implementation plan and action steps, we’ll draw direct lines between key ndings of the presentation you’re getting tonight and the resulting implementation plan and action steps,” Kane said.

Board members were supportive of Kane’s plan, but also discussed making changes to the equity policy. Board member Christy Williams said she thinks the focus group comments show the policy is too ambiguous.

“I do think that from (the results) we got, there does need to be some language changes,” Williams said.

Board member Mike Peterson also supported potential language changes. He gave the example of wanting to expand the de nition of diversity in the policy to include personality di erences, cognitive di erences and skill variation.

Unlike Williams, board member David Ray said he didn’t think the survey results “provide a compelling argument that the policy needs to be changed.”

Ultimately, the board decided to look at potential changes after hearing more details on the implementation plan.

“I’m really concerned that if we start working on the policy revisions prior to the superintendent bringing us her recommended potential changes then we are not following our process,” board member Elizabeth Hanson said.

Hanson also suggested the board rescind or revise the Jan. 25 resolution that directed the superintendent to recommend potential changes to the equity policy since the board plans to do so.

It’s unclear how many other board members support taking action on the resolution. e board will have a rst reading of the implementation plan on April 25.

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