LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. — The Lee’s Summit School Board held an emergency meeting Wednesday to discuss the district’s equity plan and its next steps amid a battle over Superintendent Dennis Carpenter's proposal to bring diversity training to teachers and staff.
"What it's created is division. It has brought no one together and now we are here,” said Corey McDonald, who organized the Commuity Solutions Focus Group, which hopes to work with the district.
McDonald has three children in the district and has called Lee’s Summit home for nearly two decades. Currently, he’s frustrated with the way the conversation has gone at the school board meetings.
"What has happened is that the race narrative has taken over the whole conversation,” McDonald said.
The conversation began when the school district identified an academic achievement gap. To improve the gap, Carpenter proposed diversity training for all teachers and staff.
Megan Marshall has two children in the district and is in support of the proposal.
"To be able to see this come into play, that was exciting,” Marshall said.
Others like McDonald believe the training is needed but do not agree that it’s the solution to the achievement gap overall.
"If it's about the achievement gap, it has to be about the achievement gap. We can't bring in another company focused on one thing but not really helping the gap,” McDonald said.
McDonald formed the Community Solutions Focus Group, and more than 500 people from the community have joined. The group's goal is to work with the district to fill the gap, but through a different approach.
"We need to put focus on these kids and we need to put focus on the things that will help them get caught up,” McDonald said.
On Thursday, the board voted down the proposal to spend $97,000 to hire a firm, Educational Equity Consultants, to conduct the diversity training.
EEC is the same firm that does training for the Belton and North Kansas City school districts.
The meeting generated outcry after several comments made by board president Julie Doane, including one in which she equated having blonde hair to the experience of being an African American. Doane later apologized for her remarks.
After the vote, Carpenter suggested that the board should not renew his contract and instead find someone "they can trust."
