A Chief Equity and Diversity Officer is needed to help the School District of Indian River County overcome community intransigence and resolve a 54-year-old federal desegregation order, School Superintendent David Moore said last week.
Opponents have spoken out against the proposed position as a waste of money and a threat to Indian River County’s cultural norms.
But Moore said it will take an all-out effort to help the school district get out from under the federal order by hiring more African-American educators and improving the academic performance of African-American students.
“It needs to be all-encompassing,” Moore said last Wednesday about the position during a meeting of the Indian River County Taxpayers Association.
“We need to put more resources into that office, that work,” Moore said. “The design of it is to be determined. I’m just asking for a little trust.
“It’s very unique on how we’re going to have to do it here,” Moore said. “The school system can be an agency within the community that pulls the community together.”
The schools district’s 17,000 students are roughly 54 percent white, 18 percent African American and 22 percent Hispanic, Moore said.
The school district has been under a federal desegregation order since 1967 and was instructed by a federal judge in January to intensify efforts to integrate and bring greater equity to the schools.
The school district advertised the new Chief Equity and Diversity Officer position on Feb. 24, but has not interviewed anyone, Moore said. The job will pay up to $115,000.
The proposed position will be among the topics he discusses during a series of public meetings in May, Moore said.
“I want to create a position for the school system based on the needs of the Indian River County’s community – nothing more,” Moore said.
Improving the academic performance of African-American students will help the school district reach its goal of being in the top 10 of Florida’s 67 counties in all performance categories, Moore said.
