Race as the starting place: equity directors addressing gender and sexual diversity in K-12 schools

ABSTRACT

This article examines the role that Equity Directors play in K-12 schools to understand how these roles are structured in districts, the supports and challenges directors experience, and whether and how they integrate gender and sexual diversity topics into district diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. We conducted semi-structured interviews with ten participants from nine school districts across the USA that had non-discrimination laws addressing gender identity and sexual orientation in schools. Main themes identified from the data concern participant positionality; district climate and priorities; professional development; challenges; and gender and sexual diversity. Most participants had leadership supportive of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts and reported that professional development was a central expectation of much of their work, but time, priorities and content varied. We recommend taking a multi-pronged approach to DEI work that addresses structures to support DEI initiatives, hiring priorities and resources. Intersectional approaches to DEI education should be prioritised.

KEYWORDS:

• Diversity
• school leadership
• professional development
• sexual orientation
• gender
• lgbtq

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. This Supreme Court decision struck down racially segregated schooling by overturning the ‘separate but equal’ standard.

2. All participant names are pseudonyms. see Table 2 for detailed information about each participant.

3. Some US states were established with Black-exclusionary laws that prevented people who were not White from living there or owning property.

4. The noose is a symbol of lynching. Lynchings were public hangings of Black men that occurred most commonly in the southeastern region of the USA to assert White supremacy in an effort to subdue and control the Black population through violence and fear during and after the abolition of slavery.

5. This is referring to the student data management system which often presents technical barriers to changing students’ names and legal sex marker in official documentation produced by the district such as transcripts, class rosters, and diplomas.

6. In the USA, enumerated protections are those that list social groups explicitly protected by non-discrimination laws such as by race, national origin, sex, disability, etc.

7. A teacher development programme designed by Robert Marzano. See https://www.marzanoresources.com/

8. A 2014 book by Zoretta Hammond.

9. Courageous Conversations is an anti-racist curriculum based on research by Glen Singleton. See https://courageousconversation.com/

10. An equity workshop focused on racial inequality. See http://www.edequityoregon.net/taking-it-up.html

11. Policy and research centre based at Teachers College in New York. See http://www.centerforeducationalequity.org/

12. A GSD-focused group based at the University of Colorado Boulder. See https://www.colorado.edu/education/queer-endeavour