Exclusive: School district deploys new dog whistle to keep race-based hiring

A Vermont school district has found a new code word to sneak its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitment into its hiring process and continue racially discriminating while skirting federal directives, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

Burlington School District (BSD) states in its 2022-2027 strategic plan its intent to increase 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,” conservative watchdog Defending Education (DE) discovered and shared exclusively with DCNF. The phrase is used to refer to nonwhite races.

One of the priority areas listed in the plan is explicitly titled “Educators Who Look Like Our Students” and states a goal of ensuring “students and families will have a community of teachers, school leaders, and district staff that are representatives of the global majority,” DE found. The plan mentions the phrase “global majority” 13 times in its 20 pages.

Approximately 90% of Vermont’s population is white, according to the state’s demographics.

BSD did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

One of BSD’s objectives is to increase out-of-state recruitment by establishing “diversified recruitment and hiring strategies which will be attractive to out-of-state global majority candidates and reflect the values of our learning community.” Other metrics listed include plans to “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 district even doubled down on its commitment in a February presentation where it said it would be “updating marketing materials to attract candidates of the global majority” and would “actively source and identify candidates of the global majority,” according to DE. The presentation also stated the district’s intention to “establish Affinity Groups to strengthen belonging.”

With the Trump administration promising to crack down on DEI and racial discrimination, schools are getting more creative with the terminology they use. In March, BSD dropped the term “affinity group,” which has come under scrutiny by Republicans, replacing it with “groups of cultural relevance.”

BSD also hosts “unconscious bias training” for employees, materials from the district show, and retains an Office of Equity. The office organizes a “Summer Racial Justice Academy” meant to “address systemic racism,” “dismantle all systems of oppression,” and “provide a healing space for students of the global majority.”

“Youth are financially compensated to serve as consultants to the school district, organize for change, and to share their stories,” the page says.

Despite the Supreme Court banning the use of racial preferences in admissions and hiring decisions, many schools are openly defying the law and finding ways to target certain races to achieve their desired racial makeup. The Trump administration has been unwavering in its commitment to merit-based admissions, opening dozens of investigations into schools and pulling billions in federal funding from schools deemed noncompliant.

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