Board rejects staff training over the words equity and implicit bias

What happened

On June 22, 2026 the board voted down a $25,000 long-term professional development plan with Living Yes LLC. The plan came out of stay interviews in which staff asked to present their own training, and would have trained administrators, brought in a keynote speaker and built staff presenter cohorts over six months. Members objected that the vendor's standard contract listed topics that 'may include' equity, implicit bias and restorative practices, which one member called controversial, and that the contract came before a detailed scope. The superintendent replied that the contract was below the bidding threshold and he had brought it to the board precisely for transparency, and that he had offered to have the presenter attend a committee meeting. Five teachers and the education association spoke against the rejection.

Why it matters to families

Professional development is how teachers keep current, and staff told the board this was the training they had asked for. A month later the same board debated removing the phrase 'the basic tenet of multiculturalism' from Policy 2260 on equity in classroom practices, wording other members pointed out is taken from the state code definition. The education association told the board this was becoming a pattern in how curriculum and training decisions get made.

The evidence

The June 22, 2026 meeting recording contains the debate, the vendor's topic list, the superintendent's response and the roll call in which item 12.17 failed while the rest of the education consent items carried, followed by five public comments opposing the decision. The July 27, 2026 recording contains the Policy 2260 multiculturalism debate and the association's response.

The source