Hillsborough County Public School (HCPS) students deserve respectful learning environments in which their racial and ethnic diversity is valued and contributes to successful academic outcomes.

This policy confronts the institutional racism that results in predictably lower academic achievement for students of color than for their white peers.  Understanding and addressing institutional racism will increase achievement, including on-time graduation, for ALL students, while narrowing the gaps between the highest and lowest-performing students.

HCPS acknowledge that complex societal and historical factors contribute to inequities within school districts.  HCPS must provide ALL students with the support and opportunity to succeed.

To interrupt systems that perpetuate inequities, the Superintendent shall:

Invite and include people from all races and ethnicities to examine issues and find adaptive solutions, which address the root causes and systems, rather than technical solutions, which provide one-time situational fixes.

Develop the personal, professional, and organizational skills and knowledge of its employees to enable them to address the role and presence of racism; and

Eliminate practices that result in lower academic achievement for any student racial group compared to peers.

The Superintendent shall implement and lead from a system-wide racial equity plan that stands on three critical pillars:  family, student and community engagement, leadership and teaching and learning.

HCPS employees will develop and implement equitable practices for and with our students, their families and other community members including:

Intentionally seeking and including students’ multiple racial perspectives in the development and implementation of culturally responsive teaching and learning practices and curriculum;

Engaging family and community members with staff and students, district-wide and at school and program sites, in the development and implementation of culturally appropriate and effective partnerships between home and school; and inviting and including community members to bring multiple cultural perspectives to examining and solving issues that arise.

HCPS leaders will ensure that racial equity guides employees’ actions and leads to improved academic results by:

Recruiting, employing, supporting, retaining and continuously developing a workforce of racially conscious and culturally competent administrative, instructional and support personnel;

Modeling racial equity in business practices; replacing inequitable operational practices with systems that support implementation of this policy and focusing accountability systems and metrics on racially equitable results.

HCPS employees will work together to increase their individual and collective capacity to effectively teach a racially and ethnically diverse and changing student population by:

Ensuring a positive and academically rigorous school environment that engages ALL students; collaborating as teachers and administrators to create and implement culturally responsive instructional practices, curriculum and assessments; and eliminating practices that lead to the over or under representation of any student racial/ethnic group compared to peers.

The Board directs the Superintendent to develop and implement a system-wide racial equity plan with clear accountability and metrics, which will result in measureable academic improvements for HCPS students.  The Superintendent shall regularly report progress on the plan and outcomes.

F.S. 1001.42

 

Board Approved - 03/07/2017