DEI Hiring: Poudre School District

Documents obtained from a Freedom of Information Act request reveal Poudre School District’s hiring practices prioritize a “diverse workforce” and interview questions that focus on equity and antiracism.

According to Poudre School District’s “Recruiting & Retaining A Diverse & Talented Workforce” document, its mission is to “strategically attract, grow, and retain high-quality team members with a human first lens.” The district’s vision is to “cultivate a diverse workforce, reflecting the intersectional identities and needs” of its students.

As part of the district’s hiring process, interviewers are provided with a “DEI Bank of Questions” to center diversity, equity, and inclusion. Listed questions include asking job candidates “What are some ways you have integrated equity and inclusion into your professional work? What metrics did you use and what was the result,” to “Provide an example of how you address implicit biases of your own in your work or personal life,” “What does anti-racism mean to you? How does it show up in your work,” and “Tell about a time when someone at work said something that is either a microaggression or was discriminatory/biased . [sic] What did you do to address this?”

Also provided to interviewers is a scoring rubric for candidate answers. Under “exceptional answer,” an applicant “shows experience having actually implemented equity work in the past…or answer shows great introspection and self-awareness as evidence that they are ready to dive deeper into equity work.”

A slide presentation from January 24, 2023, makes the case for “diversification” in the workforce by stating that “students of color who are taught by teachers of color” have “improved academic outcomes,” “higher graduation rates,” “fewer unexcused absences,” and “more likely to attend college.” The following slide claims that “white students had positive perceptions of teachers of color” by helping “break down negative stereotypes,” helps “students understand and confront racism,” and “prepare all students to live a multicultural society and workforce.”