Good news this week from our River Forest and Oak Park public elementary schools. Each district made moves which make plain a genuine and urgent determination to build equity in our schools.
In River Forest, the District 90 school board received a consultant’s report – let’s hear it for well-hired consultants – which spelled out just how white the district’s faculty remains even as the student population grows more diverse each year. The study extrapolated those numbers to report that nearly half of the district’s students will never have a teacher of color across nine years in the district.
We understand that teachers stay long and succeed mightily in this high-performing district. That doesn’t mean there are not ways to actively boost minority faculty hiring and the study suggests several.
One school board member called the report “fantastic.” That’s the same word we’d use to describe the administration and board’s focus on this issue.
Further kudos to this board for unanimously adopting an “inclusive” or welcoming resolution for the district.
At Oak Park District 97, the schools presented damning data on just how white its gifted and talented programs remain. Just 4 percent of the 300-plus District 97 students labeled as gifted are African American. That is a stunner for a district which has been making noise about integration and the gap and, now, equity for decades.
To its credit, the district announced immediate plans for change in the next school year and will form an ad hoc committee of community members and district staff to bring further recommendations a year from now.
Studying is fine. Acting is better. The clock on young lives keeps ticking.
