The Douglas County School Board plans to revisit the equity policy at the Jan. 25 meeting. Given the recent national school board election rancor over educational equity in schools, the new local majority undoubtedly believes they have a mandate to act on their campaign promise to “do something.”

DCSD's current policy was approved in March 2021, and the new Equity Advisory Council (EAC) was implemented on Dec. 8, 2021 with the charge of providing parental input to guide policy implementation.

Recently, the new board majority unilaterally invited FAIR, a New York advocacy group, to the discussion. Given FAIR's opposition to changing race history narratives in schools, it's now incumbent on the board majority to show they are planning to enable the new EAC process by NOT defaulting to FAIR's material content.

Most importantly, the new board should enact policies that are clearly stated in the current manual: “The Board of Education shall not condone, by its staff, students, leadership, or any other community member representing School District interests: a) biased, inequitable, racist, or exclusive practices; b) discriminatory behaviors that disproportionately impact any particular group or groups of individuals based on aspect of their collective identity; c) practices that promote inequality or inequity; d) deficit-focused instructional or operational implementation frameworks; e) perpetuation of racism or discrimination; f) policies and resolutions that support exclusion or intolerance.”

During this last election, all candidates confirmed their shared commitment to listening to local parents. Will they keep their commitments to “keep politics out of our schools” as the equity policy is implemented?

Carolyn Williamson

Parker