TUSD set to spend $1 million to diversify its teaching ranks

The TUSD Governing Board approved a plan Tuesday that gives principals incentives to recruit educators who improve the racial balance of their schools and it also encourages educators to transfer to certain campuses with the promise of thousands of dollars in rewards.

The teacher diversity plan was drawn up after the federal court overseeing the district’s desegregation efforts ordered that TUSD cut in half the number of schools were racial disparities exist by the fall.

The court also ordered that TUSD eliminate significant disparities in the teaching ranks altogether by the 2017-18 school year.

The schools being targeted to improve teacher diversity are Bloom, Collier, Dunham, Fruchthendler, Gale, Henry, Holladay, Howell, Hudlow, Kellond, Lineweaver, Marshall, Miles, Miller, Myers-Ganoung, Hughes, Roberts-Naylor, Soleng Tom, Steele, Tolson, Whitmore, Booth-Fickett, Dietz, Safford, Vail and University High.

The incentives approved by the Governing Board include granting $3,000 to purchase classroom supplies for each teacher a principal recruits and hires after July 1, only if their presence reduces racial disparity. This component of the plan is estimated to cost $84,000.

Teachers who seek to transfer to one of the target schools and whose presence reduces racial disparities will receive a benefit package of $5,000 that can come in the form of a cash stipend; in technology — a laptop, bag and printer for classroom use and professional use at home; in national board certification support; in master’s degree support; in professional development conferences and training; or through a reduced or modified teaching schedule.

Those teachers will be asked to commit to serve at the same school for two years and the estimated cost of this incentive is $125,000.

Governing Board President Adelita Grijalva is hopeful teachers will select incentives like becoming nationally board certified or pursuing a master’s degree, both of which would be beneficial to the teachers in terms of their earning power and to students who get teachers with advanced degrees. She has asked the district to be flexible in combining incentives that would help make those kinds of choices more appealing.

The district also intends to actively recruit 25 selected TUSD teachers to transfer to schools, offering the same incentives received by teachers who initiate the transfer on their own. That is also expected to cost $125,000.

As part of the teacher diversity plan, TUSD will work to recruit highly effective teachers within the district to transfer to low-achieving schools with vacancies. Those teachers will be assigned to sites in a way that reduces racial disparities. In addition to having high test scores, the teachers will have to have at least five years’ experience to qualify for one of the $5,000 incentive packages being offered to other teachers transferring for integration purposes.

If the district achieves its goal of recruiting 20 teachers, it would cost $100,000.

One of the more costly incentives, with a price tag of $568,000, is a Master Teacher Team pilot program.

The pilot will involve two teams, one at an elementary school and another at a middle school. Each team will consist of four specially selected, highly rated teachers who will receive a $6,000 stipend and a modified or reduced workload. Two-year contracts will also be offered.

The premise of the pilot is to implement a model that allows teachers to focus on their strengths and interests. The model would give teachers time during the school day to plan and collaborate with their peers while still working directly with students.

While the plan boasts many incentives to those who help diversify the teaching ranks, it also restricts those who do not.

According to the plan, the district will not approve transfers that increase racial disparities in any school. As transfers are received by the Human Resources Department, they will be reviewed and checked for the effect on the diversity of that school.

Schools that are denied a transfer will be given a list of applicants that help achieve the goal.

Teachers’ union troubled by plan

The plan stems from TUSD’s decades-old desegregation order, which requires the district to track its teachers by ethnicity and school to identify significant disparities — more than a 15-percentage-point difference between African-American and Latino teachers and districtwide percentages at comparable grade levels.

While 69 percent of TUSD students identify as African-American or Hispanic, that is true for only 31 percent of the district’s teachers. Meanwhile, Anglos make up about 21 percent of TUSD’s student population but 66 percent of the teaching staff.

The Tucson Education Association, which serves as the bargaining unit for TUSD teachers, appreciates the desire for diversified teaching staffs but finds the incentives plan to be troubling.

Both TEA President Jason Freed and Vice President Dan Ireland say issues are likely to arise when incentives are being given only to certain teachers and when teachers are restricted from transferring to schools that they feel fit them best.

“It’s complicated because it makes teachers maybe feel competitive against each other and feel like, ‘Why is this person getting more than me?’” Ireland said Wednesday. “It puts a lot of pressure in an already stressful environment like a school. I acknowledge that it’s nice they’re trying to do something to address this issue, but unfortunately I think it’s going to have more negative effects than positive.”

The district believes that its teacher diversity plan will achieve the stated goal of reducing the number of target schools to at least 13.

Nine other schools — Banks, Borton, Carrillo, Cavett, Manzo, Ochoa, Warren, C.E. Rose and Maxwell — were also identified as having significant disparities compared to the demographics of each of their grade levels, but it was determined that the faculties are racially diverse and will not be included in the list of target schools.

Nonetheless, TUSD will work to foster diversity at those campuses as well.