Akron Public Schools Board of Education narrowly approved repealing two policies on diversity, equity and inclusion and ending its equity committee during its Monday board meeting.
The board had discussed the move for more than a month after the U.S. Department of Education issued a "dear colleague" letter in February pushing schools to end those policies or risk losing their federal funding. Akron school officials have said the district receives about $85 million.
Board member Diana Autry says she “resented” voting to repeal the policies.
"I will wait patiently for a rich $85 million benefactor, so that I would be able to [vote] 'no' and not worry that our breakfast and lunch program is being threatened, that our special education services are being threatened, or our college access programming and so much more is being threatened by this [directive]," Autry said.
Autry says the district remains committed to serving all students despite the ending of the policies. According to the agenda for Monday's board of ed meeting, the policies were meant to guide the district’s work to address race-based achievement gaps, among other issues facing students of color.
The board voted Monday to repeal the district's equity policy and its working definitions of diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as a broader racial equity policy that was developed after extensive community input.
Board Members Barbara Sykes and Rene Molenaur voted to try to keep the policies in place. Sykes said she and Molenaur, both members of the now-defunct equity committee, worked for “hours” to change the language of the district’s equity policies. Their goal was to remove references to the words “diversity, equity and inclusion” but still try to address issues facing students and staff of color, Sykes said. However, once that language was submitted to the board’s other committees, they never took any action, Sykes said.
"You can't use the words DEI," Sykes said. "Okay, let's not use the word DEI, but let's not discriminate against individuals either. Our students still have rights. Our teachers still have rights. Our vendors still have the rights. And what this committee did was sit down and try to acknowledge that. As a matter of fact, we put those rights within that language. But no action has been taken on that."
Sykes and Molenaur moved for approval of their updated equity policy, called the Comprehensive Operations and Institute Oversight Policy, but the board voted against it.
Board Chair Carla Jackson said the board was informed by legal counsel that it would be best to end the DEI policies to avoid risking losing funding. She added federal laws outlawing discrimination are still in place, while the district still has other policies on the books to try to ensure all children get equal access to education.
"The rules are already in place. Enforce the rules that are in place, hold people accountable on how they deal with our children in these schools, period, off the rules that already exist," Jackson said.
The board also heard an update on a new budget reduction plan that calls for $5.7 million in layoffs, affecting 71 positions total, which will be discussed further during an April 21 board meeting. Some staff could be rehired at lower rates, officials said Monday, so it's not clear how many people could actually lose their jobs permanently.
