Alumni say this southwest IL district needs to improve diversity. Here’s their proposal

A group of Edwardsville Community Unit School District 7 alumni wants the district to create a new administrative position: a diversity, equity and inclusion coordinator.

“The hiring of the DEI coordinator is necessary, but it’s not sufficient,” Henry Lu said in an interview, echoing the message the group laid out in its materials. “We need this, but it will only be the first steppingstone.”

More than 200 people, including Edwardsville 7 graduates, students, parents, educators and community members have signed a petition in support of the group’s request.

The alumni envision the DEI coordinator to be similar to an assistant superintendent position, focused on setting a vision for equity in the district while supporting school-based administrators, providing support in response to bias incidents and complaints, and holding leaders accountable.

Edwardsville 7 currently has two assistant superintendents, making up to $130,175 each last year.

In December, the group leading the efforts, Racial Justice and Equity in District 7, asked the school board members to sign a pledge detailing their commitment to creating and filling the DEI coordinator position by the first day of the next school year. The group — which includes Lu, Kristen Dowell, Paige Diak and Emily Ash — asked for this commitment by the second board meeting in January, which is scheduled for Jan. 25.

There was no mention or discussion of the position at the first school board meeting this month.

School Board President Jill Bertels said the district administration was working on a recommendation, and the board would discuss it as an agenda item when it was complete.

Superintendent Jason Henderson said Friday that the administration was still in the evaluation process and had not made a decision as to whether the position would be created or whether some of the duties a DEI coordinator would be charged with could be filled by an existing administrator.

“We realize that the position is important,” Bertels said. “The equity task force that was established by the district has shown the importance of the position as well.”

Henderson said he believes a decision will be made by the end of February.

Why do they say this is necessary?

Edwardsville 7 is a mostly white district — about one in five of its 7,548 students are students of color. The demographic breakdown has been consistent since at least 2016, according to data from the Illinois Report Card.

While signing the petition, people were able to leave comments or testimony about what they experienced or witnessed as students in the district. A copy of the testimonies, as well as state data about student outcomes, was provided to the school board members at the board’s Dec. 21 meeting.

The testimonies included complaints against both students and teachers. In her testimony, Dowell noted an incident in her high school art class when the teacher referred to white skin as “normal skin” during a lesson on self portraits.

“If white skin was normal, then what was my skin?” wrote Dowell, who is Black, in her testimony. “I was very upset. To top it off, she never showed what colors to pick or how to blend for my darker complexion. I had to figure it out on my own.”

Data from the Illinois Report Card details many areas of disproportionate student achievement. Statewide and national achievement gaps persist, but in some cases, the gap in Edwardsville is larger than the average in Illinois.

Black students in Edwardsville were more than twice as likely to drop out in 2019 as their white peers. Black and Hispanic students in Edwardsville are consistently less likely to meet or exceed state standards in English and language arts and math proficiency tests.

In 2020, 90.5% of white students in the district were on track in ninth grade, compared to 65.8% of Black students. Statewide, 78.5% of Black students were on track — a nearly 13 percentage point difference between Edwardsville and all of Illinois.

Students of color — and, in particular, Black students — have historically been disproportionately disciplined with in-school and out-of-school suspensions, both in Edwardsville and nationally. In 2020, students of color accounted for 39% of in-school suspensions and 47% of out-of-school suspensions at Edwardsville High School, despite comprising only 19.4% of the school’s population, according to an analysis of state data conducted by the Belleville News-Democrat.

While 7% of the students at the high school are Black, those students received 25% of in-school suspensions and 27% of out-of-school suspensions in 2020. Biracial students were also disproportionately disciplined.

Regardless of race, nearly three-quarters of in-school suspensions were noted as being for some “other reason.” That is, something that didn’t include violence, a dangerous weapon or an alcohol, tobacco or drug offense, which cover all the other categories for incident type.

The Illinois State Board of Education does not provide the exact number for demographics that have fewer than 10 incidents due to student privacy and exact numbers for Hispanic or Latino, Indigenous and Asian students are not available for this reason.

Illinois as a whole is more diverse than Edwardsville 7, but also disproportionately disciplines students of color. Statewide, just over half of the students are students of color, but received 67% of in-school suspension and 73% of out-of-school suspensions.

Next steps

The Edwardsville school board has been facing two major decisions this year: navigating a pandemic and finding a replacement for Henderson, who is resigning at the end of the school year.

Lu said COVID-19 and racial equity go “hand in hand.”

“Those who may not be able to have the best learning environment at home will be more negatively impacted,” he said. “COVID really exacerbates these racial issues.”

Throughout the pandemic, people of color have been more likely to contract the virus, nationally and in the metro-east.

In Bertels’ opinion, creating a DEI coordinator position and finding a new superintendent are separate processes. When the current administration’s recommendation comes in, she said the board would move forward independently of the superintendent search.

Hiring a new superintendent could provide Edwardsville 7 with an opportunity to address diversity issues, according to members of Racial Justice and Equity in District 7. In a report detailing the results of a survey sent to school board members, staff, parents and community members, “successful experience in understanding diversity” was identified as one of the biggest priorities for school board members.

For other staff, parents and community members, experience with diversity landed closer to the middle of the 22 key points in the survey.

“I do feel comfortable that they’ll hire someone with those ideals in mind,” Dowell said, while noting she felt diversity should have been one of the top two or three priorities.