Join our Mailing List!
Please click the link below to sign up for your community paper mailing list. Stay up to date with all the events going on in your community as well as the latest news.Sign Up Today!
School district has mixed success hiring minorities
Effort begun last fall included promotions, job fairs and outreach to four universities
By Ray Weikal
David Stewart, North Kansas City Schools’ human resources director, is looking for a few good teachers who also happen to be minorities.
Recruiting a diverse workforce is proving harder than anticipated, Stewart reported during a July 22 Board of Education meeting. Though nine minority applicants were recently hired for the new school year, another half-dozen candidates turned down offers from the district, Stewart said.
“They’re hard to come by,” he said.
Last September, the district established a minority recruitment committee led by North Kansas City High School Assistant Principal Donnell Mitchell and former Davidson Elementary School Principal Victoria Miles, both African Americans.
Meeting monthly, the committee set out to raise the district’s visibility among minorities in the educational job market, including teacher education colleges. Committee members created promotional material for the district. In November, Miles staffed a district booth at a job fair in the New Orleans, La., Marriott hotel.
The district also sent representatives on recruiting trips to universities with traditionally high minority enrollment, including Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., Harris-Stowe University in St. Louis and Lincoln University in Jefferson City.
“We ended up going to four schools that we hadn’t gone to in a long time,” Stewart said.
Even though the district was able to hire as many minority job candidates as hoped, officials will continue to refine and expand its outreach efforts, Stewart said.
“We feel we’ve laid a good groundwork in that area,” he said.
The school district did manage to increase the number of minorities it hired compared to last year, board member Spencer Fields pointed out.
“So, obviously, the efforts paid off,” he said.
Dwayne Smith was recently hired as the assistant to the principal at North Kansas City High School, Stewart told the Board of Education. Smith switched to educational administration after practicing law for a decade in Missouri and Kansas. He’s also African American.
Minority outreach programs are important for districts like North Kansas City Schools, Smith said. A diverse staff helps create a better educational environment, Smith said.
“There’s always a need to attract differing schools of thought,” he said. “Race is just one aspect of that.”
Smith got a Master of Education from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. After serving on the Board of Trustees for the Derek Thomas Academy Charter School in Kansas City, Smith decided to make the move from courtroom to classroom.
“Dwayne has had an interest in education for some time,” Stewart said.
In general, the district continues to get very high quality job applicants, Stewart said. His office processed 1,289 applications between Jan. 1 and July 1 of this year. A total of 105 new certified employees have been hired.
Staff writer Ray Weikal can be reached at 389-6637 or rayweikal@npgco.com.
printable version
e-mail this story
Recruiting a diverse workforce is proving harder than anticipated, Stewart reported during a July 22 Board of Education meeting. Though nine minority applicants were recently hired for the new school year, another half-dozen candidates turned down offers from the district, Stewart said.
“They’re hard to come by,” he said.
Last September, the district established a minority recruitment committee led by North Kansas City High School Assistant Principal Donnell Mitchell and former Davidson Elementary School Principal Victoria Miles, both African Americans.
Meeting monthly, the committee set out to raise the district’s visibility among minorities in the educational job market, including teacher education colleges. Committee members created promotional material for the district. In November, Miles staffed a district booth at a job fair in the New Orleans, La., Marriott hotel.
The district also sent representatives on recruiting trips to universities with traditionally high minority enrollment, including Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., Harris-Stowe University in St. Louis and Lincoln University in Jefferson City.
“We ended up going to four schools that we hadn’t gone to in a long time,” Stewart said.
Even though the district was able to hire as many minority job candidates as hoped, officials will continue to refine and expand its outreach efforts, Stewart said.
“We feel we’ve laid a good groundwork in that area,” he said.
The school district did manage to increase the number of minorities it hired compared to last year, board member Spencer Fields pointed out.
“So, obviously, the efforts paid off,” he said.
Dwayne Smith was recently hired as the assistant to the principal at North Kansas City High School, Stewart told the Board of Education. Smith switched to educational administration after practicing law for a decade in Missouri and Kansas. He’s also African American.
Minority outreach programs are important for districts like North Kansas City Schools, Smith said. A diverse staff helps create a better educational environment, Smith said.
“There’s always a need to attract differing schools of thought,” he said. “Race is just one aspect of that.”
Smith got a Master of Education from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. After serving on the Board of Trustees for the Derek Thomas Academy Charter School in Kansas City, Smith decided to make the move from courtroom to classroom.
“Dwayne has had an interest in education for some time,” Stewart said.
In general, the district continues to get very high quality job applicants, Stewart said. His office processed 1,289 applications between Jan. 1 and July 1 of this year. A total of 105 new certified employees have been hired.
Staff writer Ray Weikal can be reached at 389-6637 or rayweikal@npgco.com.