Residents will get a chance to voice their opinions soon on the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools proposed equity policy. After more than a year of discussions, the school board’s policy committee members voted to send their recommendations to the full board for discussions and public hearings.
The equity policy will guide district officials in their efforts to close the achievement gaps between white students and students of color, and opportunity disparities between low- and high-income students. The policy, which hasn’t been updated since 2010, calls on school officials to identify and measure disparities between schools and find ways to make them equitable.
“I’m feeling what we take to the full board will be voted on in a positive, let’s move forward way,” said Ruby Jones, chair of the committee. “I don’t foresee big glitches around what was presented. We have a good product.”
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The goal of the equity policy is to make sure all students have access to the same resources and quality of teachers, courses, facilities, school leadership and emotional support. It also addresses the outcomes of student assignment decisions and would require officials to track discipline and ensure that cultural training is provided to staff to prevent bias in how it is handed out.
School officials would be required to provide separate reports annually to determine where disparities exist based on race and economics and provide recommendations on how to fix them.
Char of the Black Political Caucus of Charlotte’s education committee Dee Rankin said he likes the policy overall and is glad to see it finally moving forward. But he said he thinks the policy needs to be beefed up in how it proposes to increase family engagement in schools.
“There could be a little more specifics when it comes to the family engagement piece,” Rankin said. “That’s very difficult to measure, but they need some kind of metrics. I think it’s important. Right now, the way it’s written it’s vague.”
Some committee members shared this concern. Another item where there is sure to be a lot of discussion among board members is the policy’s call for trained media specialists in all schools. There was not total agreement on its inclusion because of the cost, but Jones said the disparity between schools on this is too large to be negotiable.
“I’ll never agree to a policy unless we specify a media specialist. I’ve been in the schools and seen where it’s a sham," Jones said. "And then I go into a school with a media specialist and a high-quality media program and it’s a haven of learning and just enlightenment."
The school board will hold two public hearings on the equity policy before a final vote is taken. During that process, some or all of it could change.
