Burlington School District’s strategic plan includes DEI hiring metrics that aim to ‘increase the percentage of faculty (teachers and principals) of the global majority’ and appears to be facilitating staff affinity groups

SUMMARY

The Burlington School District’s (VT) strategic plan features diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring metrics such as increasing the “percentage of faculty (teachers and principals) of the global majority each year and ensure that every school has multiple staff of the global majority” and increasing the “percentage of students of the global majority who say they see educators who look like them.” The district also appears to be facilitating “groups of cultural relevance, (formerly known as ‘affinity groups’).”

STRATEGIC PLAN: PRIORITY AREA 4

The district’s 2022-2027 Strategic Plan includes Priority Area 4 titled “Educators Who Look Like Our Students” and states that “students and families will have a community of teachers, school leaders and district staff that are representatives of the global majority.”

The strategic plan includes “metrics” such as to “increase the percentage of faculty (teachers and principals) of the global majority each year and ensure every school has multiple staff of the global majority,” “increase [the] percentage of staff of the global majority who say they feel they belong in their school and in our district,” and “increase [the] percentage of students of the global majority who say they see educators who look like them.”

The plan “objectives” include the establishment of “diversified recruitment and hiring strategies which will be attractive to out-of-state global majority candidates and reflect the values of our learning community” and revising “hiring practices, policies, and procedures at the school and district level to better support individuals of the global majority.”

A February 2025 district presentation on Priority Area 4 notes progress on the core metrics including “updating marketing materials to attract candidates of the global majority” and training to “actively source and identify candidates of the global majority.”

The presentation also states that the district will “establish Affinity Groups to strengthen belonging” and “create a plan to reduce barriers to candidates” such as “access to housing availability, relocation costs, and licensing support.”

Other slides show that the “percentage of teachers and principals of the Global Majority is up one percentage point” and that the district gave a survey to students that asked for a response to the statement “At school I have a teacher who is the same race as me.”

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A March 11, 2025, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee Meeting included a discussion on Priority Area #4 that noted progress toward the goal such as “groups of cultural relevance, (formerly known as ‘affinity groups’),” “Professional development stands,” and “Developing ways to support African-American and New American staff – acknowledging different needs/supports.”

Other things noted in the minutes include “what to do if there’s only one person of the global majority at a school,” “pool hiring,” and “unconscious bias training is happening but the training needs to be improved.”