Even in this mountain resort town — traditionally seen as a more liberal blue spot within red conservative Utah — talk of equity in schools has proved divisive.
The Park City School District offices in Park City on Tuesday, March 22, 2022.During a spring spirit week, Park City High School was celebrating the various cultures of its students when one teenager yelled out.
District parent Lisa Wall claimed at the meeting that the children who are most discriminated against in the district are “those who hold ideological and political beliefs different from the majority,” and objected that “freedom of speech” was not listed in the original policy draft. A diversity program — which he gestured to put in air quotations — would be a “black hole” for money and resources, he said. Hiring from diverse candidate pools, as the draft policy calls for, would put people in classrooms that are not qualified to teach, he claimed.Debate over the proposed policy continued at subsequent meetings, but the board will look to adopt the policy sometime this month, according to board vice president Wendy Crossland.
It added that equitable resources would include “funding, programs, policies, initiatives, and support that recognize each student’s unique background and school context to guarantee that all students have access to high-quality education.” In 104 emails to the group who drafted the policy — dubbed the Inspiring and Supporting All Student Equitably Committee — 78 supported it, with 26 people against it.
When Hernandez spoke at the April board meeting, he said the equity policy would ensure that students like him would have someone to turn to ask for help, especially when they are in situations like the one during spirit week where they don’t feel safe. It’s important to have policies that specifically mention the protections of groups like the LGBTQ+ community, different races and ethnicities, and disabilities, Yoon said, like Park City Schools did in its draft.
She said she feels that legislators have been wrongly focused on trying to pass “symbolic bills,” like targeting critical race theory —Instead, she said, she believes they should be fighting educational inequities such as students dealing with homelessness, poverty, and transportation and geographical disparities.
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