Ross County NAACP and Chillicothe City School District agree on plan to bring diverse teachers to Chillicothe

CHILLICOTHE― The Ross County NAACP and the Chillicothe City School District have reached a crossroads after months of debate and discussion over teacher diversity in the school system.

Over the summer, members of the local NAACP and Chillicothe City School District (CCSD) met to discuss tactics to bring more historically underrepresented groups to the county. However, NAACP President Adrienne D'Souza said the school year started without any changes to the staff.

The Chillicothe City School District posted a photo on Facebook captioned, "We are delighted to welcome thirty-five new teachers to our Cavalier family!" D'Souza said the photo showed that only one new hire was a person of color.

Miscommunication cited

D'Souza said she was left confused after Alissa Putnam, executive director at CCSD, attended three meetings with NAACP members, but then never reached out again. Putnam said there was a miscommunication and she was unaware that she was supposed to take action moving forward.

Members of the NAACP came to the Aug. 23 school board meeting and expressed their frustration. Liz Corzine, president of the school board, said she would like to meet with the NAACP to make a plan moving forward.

NAACP members said, once again, no one from the school district reached out afterward. Corzine said there was a miscommunication over who was in charge of setting up the meeting and the school board did not intentionally ignore the NAACP.

The NAACP revisited the school board meeting on Sept. 26 to show, "we are going to continue to be a thorn in their side until they meet with us to address the issue."

The same day, D'Souza said she heard that there was a possibility of the CCSD hiring an outside consulting firm to create "a strategic plan for training for the administration and the board and the entire staff on diversity inclusion and equity and also to map out a recruiting and retaining retention of minorities for the district."

D'Souza felt that the district was "bypassing working with the community" by considering the consulting group.

Consulting group considered

In a proposal letter to the CCSD, the Knight Consulting Group said they could assist the school district with a culture assessment through focus groups, recruitment and retention of historically underrepresented groups and strategy, pipeline development of historically underrepresented groups and cultural competency professional development.

The goal would be to create a plan for a recruitment and retention strategy that focuses on historically underrepresented groups, including racial minorities and those with disabilities.

The Knight Consulting Group would cost the district about $49,000. Board member Bill Bonner said he did not support bringing in the consulting group until meeting with the NAACP and board member Kelly Dennis agreed.

"I think we take a moment to meet with our community partners and see what see what options are all out there," Dennis said. "Listen to what we need to listen to and then that contract can come in a few weeks as needed."

Bonner made a motion to pull the Knight Consulting Group from the agenda. Dennis seconded the motion.

D'Souza announced during the September meeting that the NAACP formed a strategic planning committee to bring more teachers of color to the district without relying on the school board. The committee is formed of NAACP members, former educators, Ross County residents and parents of former and current students.

Moving forward

During an Oct. 5 meeting with the strategic planning committee, members discussed ideas such as creating a booster club to benefit new teachers in the district, creating scholarships for students who may want to teach in the CCSD and attending more in-person recruitment events.

One idea that was discussed thoroughly was creating a mentorship program to welcome new teachers to the area where participants would befriend the newcomer, acclimate them to the area and show them what Chillicothe has to offer.

The Ross County NAACP and the CCSD met again on Oct. 12 to discuss solutions. Attendees included members of the NAACP strategic planning committee, members of the school board, superintendent Debbie Swinehart and attorney for CCSD, Jason Stuckey.

Patrice Allen-Hussey read a statement from the Ohio Department of Education website titled, "Diversity Strategies for Successful Schools Policy." One paragraph from the statement read, "districts are required to continue to promote equal employment opportunities for staff and encouraged to develop strategies to recruit, hire and retain diverse staff."

Stuckey said that everyone, including members of the NAACP and the CCSD, is working towards the same goal of racial diversity and the only difference is the desired approach.

Stuckey advocated for the Knight Consulting Group, saying the group would "put the district in the best possible position," for finding qualified applicants, especially considering the national teacher shortage. He said collaboration between the consulting group, the CCSD and the local NAACP would be the best way to create a strategic plan.

"The district wants the input, they want the collaboration, and I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page that if the board does approve this contract and the staffing studio and Knight Consulting Group that there's going to be input from the community," Stuckley said. "The only way that they could do their work, is if they have input from the community. So I don't I just want to make sure that the expectation or the thought isn't that you all would be completely excluded from that because that's not the case at all."

D'Souza said she was not against the consulting group, but didn't want the CCSD to bypass the NAACP and other stakeholders in the community, especially considering the group is based in Columbus.

Swinehart also advocated for the consulting group, saying that the diversity training provided by the group would be invaluable to the CCSD, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic halted diversity training the school participated in through Ohio University- Chillicothe.

"There's a lot of challenges more than probably what you've realized," Swinehart said.

Both groups agreed the conversation will be continued in the future.

The NAACP plans to continue working independently to recruit and retain diverse teachers in Chillicothe. Potential partnerships with the Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce, Ross-Chillicothe Convention & Visitors Bureau and more are in the works.

Both groups agreed that the Knight Consulting Group could help hire diverse candidates. Members of the NAACP, along with other stakeholders in the community, would contribute their input to create a comprehensive plan in collaboration with the consulting group. If hired, a recruiting plan would tentatively be in place by February and the entire strategic plan would be completed by the end of the school year.

Hiring the consulting group will be revisited at the next board of education meeting.

Megan Becker is a reporter for the Chillicothe Gazette. Call her at 740-349-1106, email her at mbecker@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @BeckerReporting.

This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: NAACP and CCSD agree on plan to bring diverse teachers to Chillicothe