Summit School District pays equity consultant $11,000 for training

Parents Defending Education previously reported on training provided to Summit School District administrators in January 2024 by Jesse Tijerina who is the director of federal and state programs at the Thompson School District. Summit School District’s superintendent claimed that he was “drained from privileged white people” during this training. Tijerina’s objective from this training was “how do you get from woke to work.” Parents Defending Education submitted a public records request to Summit School District seeking more information on involvement with Jesse Tijerina. PDE found from a record of payable checks that the district appeared to pay Tijerina $3,500 on March 15, 2024, for this training.

PDE additionally found through the records request that the district previously paid Tijerina $7,500 in August 2023 for more training that occurred the previous month in June 2023. This training included “coaching and systems equity development support(s),” “strategic planning on professional development redesign,” and “consultation services management and administrative costs.”