| Wicked Local
Concord Public Schools have less than 10% of its faculty that identify as people of color. At Concord-Carlisle Regional High School, it’s about 3%.
During the virtual meeting of the Concord Public Schools and Concord-Carlisle Regional School District committees on Jan. 12, plans to increase those numbers were shared.
“We know what the research says,” said METCO Program Director Andrew Nyamekye. “All students benefit from having teachers of color in their classrooms, and that is especially true for students of color.”
The districts recently hosted focus groups to gather qualitative data on on-boarding, working with supervisors, school culture, relationships with colleagues and mentoring.
All teachers of color new to Concord schools within the last five years were invited. Ten participants agreed to be part of the focus group and participants were well represented across all levels of education.
Data was collected regarding onboarding processes, relationship with supervisors, school culture, working relationship with colleagues, and mentoring.
The data was gathered from participants in their own words and also organized by themes. Participants were given full anonymity.
Looking at stats
The number of students attending Concord Public Schools who identify as people of color is 524, or 25.89% of 2,024 total. At CCHS, the number is 309, or 22.99% of 1,344 total.
The number of faculty at Concord Public Schools who ID as people of color is 17, or 9.39% of 181 total. At CCHS, it’s nine, or 3.07 of 112 total.
The number of support staff who ID as people of color at Concord Public Schools is 11, or 9.48% of 116 total. At CCHS, it’s four, or 11.43% of 35 total.
Nyamekye said growing the diversity among faculty is important for both the student and the educator.
“I know at numerous points along my elementary and secondary path, when I had a teacher of color I felt safe. I felt respected and I felt like I belonged. Now, as an adult, in this profession where the majority of my colleagues do not look like me, I know that ultimately teachers of color must be represented, respected as professionals and more importantly as people.”
Moving forward
According to Director of Teaching and Learning Kristen Herbert, more meetings are planned to work on increasing diversity among faculty.
Focus areas will be hiring, partnerships, interview committees, mentoring and support and faculty discussions.
“We have a lot of training for ourselves on how you hire well for a more diverse workforce,” she said. “Two things that we learned is that we have to get our job postings out very early so that we can cast a wider net. Then we have to cast our net in the right places.”
Partnerships to help with proper casting include The National Alliance of Black School Educators, The New England Minority Network, and Handshake, a website focused on diversity and inclusion hiring.
“We’ve had a lot of good luck in the last three years, four years,” Herbert said. “We hope that that will continue.”
