How Durango School District 9-R’s incoming superintendent would handle issues of diversity, equity and inclusion was the focus of questions Wednesday in a community meet and greet held online.
Karen Cheser, who will assume duties as 9-R superintendent in July, was asked what she thought about critical race theory and the 1619 Project of The New York Times and what curriculum would be required around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.
The district should honor diversity and ensure equity and inclusion of all students, she said. But ultimately curriculum on diversity, equity and inclusion would be the prerogative of individual teachers.
When asked if she supported the board in offering a curriculum to address diversity, equity and inclusion issues – which would include teaching of critical race theory and the 1619 Project – Cheser said the school board is not looking at such a curriculum. She reiterated the practice in 9-R is to allow individual teachers to choose the topics they deal with in class.
A key tenet of critical race theory, an academic movement led by civil rights academicians and activists, is that racism is a common experience faced by people of color in the United States and institutions are designed to benefit whites.
The 1619 Project is a long-form journalistic project of The New York Times that places the consequence of slavery as central to the development of the United States. August 2019 was the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans arriving in the English colonies.
Cheser said the district is currently examining data with a goal of better serving students from different cultures and backgrounds and looking at ways to provide better educational services to them.
“We know it’s an issue – not all of our students are achieving success,” she said.
She said she did not want to derail work currently underway in 9-R to address inadequacies of educational services offered to students from marginalized and historically oppressed cultures, religions and minority groups.
But she said no specific discussion is underway about a specific curriculum that would be put in place in 9-R schools to address diversity, equity and inclusion issues.
Cheser was also asked what she would do to “enforce” diversity training at 9-R.
“I hope it’s not enforcement,” she said. “There may have to be required training at some point.”
In her experience, Cheser said educators themselves ask for training concerning issues of diversity. She said the proper support and training needs to be in place when it is sought out by teachers, principals, administrators and staff members in the district.
If anyone believes they need help in strengthening their cultural competency skills, learning about different historical perspectives of different groups or how to work with families of different cultures, the training and support should be available within the district, she said.
“Rather than enforcement, I’ve found the training is requested,” she said.
At Fort Thomas Independent Schools, the district she led since 2017, a 90-minute training about diversity is required, but it was developed based on widespread requests from teachers and other staff members, she said.
parmijo@durangoherald.com
