Berkeley County School District establishes diversity office to implement “racial equity”

The Berkeley County School District has an “Office of Diversity” established in an effort to develop “goals and strategies for moving Berkeley County School District toward its goal of diversity and multicultural inclusive excellence.” Diversity offices are often used by school districts to introduce gender ideology and racial equity initiatives into the curriculum taught to students.

The school district also has a presentation posted online titled “Focusing on Diversity and Inclusion in Berkeley County School District” from June 12, 2018. The presentation explains that the “Chief Diversity Officer” position was approved in November 2017. The presentation states that “organizations need both diversity and inclusion to be successful.” Teachers are also encouraged to be “prepared to include differing viewpoints and philosophy in the curriculum.” The following are some examples listed for activities of the district’s diversity office:

• Researching what diversity and inclusion look like in BCSD (students, teachers, staff, programs, etc.)
• Learning what other school districts, companies, groups and organizations are doing to focus on diversity and inclusion
• Determining the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead based on research about the district and information learned thus far
• Assessing and Shaping Workforce Culture (College of Charleston)
• Leading for Racial Equity (Seminar)
• Equity in Education (USC)
• Furman University’s Riley Institute’s Diversity Leaders Initiative

The presentation also breaks down the percentage of administrators and teachers by race and gender and appears to compare that with the percentage for students. A proposed goal to implement diversity is to “increase the use of culturally responsive teaching strategies and curriculum.” The phrase “culturally responsive teaching” is often used to describe a method of teaching that includes the race and ethnicity of students as part of the lessons taught in classrooms. Another goal is to “increase the overall level of diversity in the district’s workforce.”