During its meeting on Thursday, January 18, the Livingston Public Schools Board of Education discussed the results of its recent equity audit of the district. Board members shared their ideas on how to apply the audit’s recommendations into practice.At the beginning of the meeting, superintendent of schools Matthew Block stated that meetings with administrators, advisors, and equity coaches in regards to the audit, are being conducted.“We’ve met with the anti-bullying specialists, as well as implementation teams of administrators and supervisors,” he said. Child study teams are also scheduled to meet this month, and parents of the building equity team will have an opportunity to have a conversation with their coaches during their scheduled meetings this month.During the meeting sessions with administrators, supervisors, and other staff, Block stated that the groups worked together to incorporate the recommendations posted in the initial audit, using the recommendations under the categories of: academics; climate and culture for students; climate and culture for staff, community, and family; community collaboration; and general diversity, equity, and inclusion items.“We took each element and asked each group from each meeting to go around the room and think of the action items that they could come up with for short term, for slightly longer term, and then for long term.” Block said.One short term action item on Block’s list included having gifted and talented and other level courses’ descriptions, and how to get into those courses on the website. A long term action on his list was looking at the district’s grading system and how students are informed about it.Further into the meeting, Board member Seth Cohen stated that he was concerned about the path that the Board was taking.“I’m fearful we’re headed down the same path we’ve been on,” he said, “Look at the feedback in the equity report and more the full report, less the addendum. The thing I took away when we had Doctor Zion present, was ‘inconsistent and disconnected’... What I fear is if we’re talking about tactics already, we’re missing the strategic element. We’re missing the overarching part that’s missing. What are we trying to achieve with our equity audit?”After hearing feedback and concerns from the board, Block agreed with the sentiments.“I hear the feedback that we may have jumped in at step two or step three, as opposed to step one,” Block said. “The district goal is to engage all stakeholders, families, students, and ...
