Board of Education
Board of Ed Poised To Remove ‘DEI’ from School District’s Goals and Objectives
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In a series of proposed changes that has generated wide community discussion, the Board of Education is poised this week to replace language around diversity, equity and inclusion or “DEI” in the school district’s goals. Board members agreed at their most recent meeting that the following sentences rightly should be added to a draft version of the goals that the elected body has been discussing since July:
NCPS [New Canaan Public Schools] will strive to deepen students’ understanding of a range of differences among people. NCPS will work to foster empathy and respect for all and to celebrate the unique and varied contributions each of us makes. Yet the Board of Ed is divided on a third proposed sentence for the goals:
In this regard, NCPS will seek independent expertise, research and develop next steps to advance this initiative. Four Board members—Secretary Dan Bennett, Julie Toal, Hugo Alves and Phil Hogan—objected to the word ‘expertise,’ saying they were against hiring an outside consultant to assess New Canaan Public Schools and make recommendations.
They stopped short of saying that New Canaan’s lack of diversity is not a problem for the public schools.