Springfield Public School District 186

 The provision of the Desegregation Order provided for the appointment of a District-wide Affirmative Action Committee as representative of the community as possible, and appointed by the Superintendent of Schools.  The committee’s charge would be to gather research materials and receive input from various community groups and present to the Board of Education for final adoption.  The committee’s goal was to present a plan to the Board of Education to recruit and employ African-American certificated staff at a ratio to what African-Americans represent in the Springfield community

 The Board of Education commissioned a committee of board members, District administrators, teachers, and citizens to study the number of minority employees in the District and to develop a plan to improve upon the ratio of minority employees to those non-minority.  The committee was chaired by Robert Davis and began meeting in October 2001.

 The committee met bi-monthly throughout the year and concluded its discussions on Monday, May 1, 2002 for future presentation to the board.  The committee conducted an employee race survey of all the schools and facilities in the District.

 Major points of concern were gathered from the survey based on data from the school year)  Only 7% staff were African-American teachers.  21% staff are African-American building level administrators.  21% staff are African-American teacher assistants.  12% staff are African-American employees.

 There were no African-American middle school principals or assistant principals.  There were no African-American guidance deans at Springfield or Southeast.  There were no African-American teachers at Enos, Fairview, Laketown, Lindsay, Southern View, McClernand, or Pleasant Hill.

 MRAC developed recommendations/strategies to Meet the Goals  Implement a “Grow Your Own” Teacher Program.  Revise the current District 186 video for the purpose of recruitment and distribution to potential African- American teachers.  Continue to recruit potential African-American teachers at colleges and university job fairs.

 Improve late hiring practices in the District.  Evaluate placement on the salary schedule of newly hired teachers with previous teaching experience in other school districts.  Develop and implement a mentoring program for new teachers.  Employ African-American male teacher assistants.

 Develop an on-line electronic application for employment on the District’s web-site.  Develop financial incentives.  Connect with other civic and community groups to build support for the mission to recruit and retain African-American teachers for the District.

 The committee also recommended goals for the District to achieve in the hiring of African-Americans.  Each elementary school will have at least two or more African- American teachers on the staff.  All middle schools and high schools will have two or more African- American teachers in the academic core subjects.  There will be one or more African-American administrators on the central office/cabinet level staff.  There will be one or more African-American guidance deans in each middle school and high school.

 At least 25% of the elementary school principals will be African-American.  Encourage and appoint African-American teachers in administrative training programs and positions. At least 25% of the principal’s assistants shall be African-American.  Appoint an oversight committee to monitor and evaluate the progress of the implementation of the approved minority recruitment plan.

 MRAC evolved to the current council with the leadership established in 2005 of co-chairs Mr. Robert Blackwell and Ms. Gail Simpson.  The District’s Coordinator of Recruitment provides staff services to MRAC relevant to recruitment, retention and employment information.  The local branch of the NAACP operates as the regulatory, compliance, and consultant in supporting the district to incorporate the goals of the Consent Decree

 In December of 2006 the Board of Education approved the “Finishers” document titled District 186 Rules and Regulations- Professional Personnel – Minority recruitment and hiring. This document codified the district plan for recruiting African American certified staff to the district.

 In 2006, Implemented a “Grow Your Own” program now in partnership with IBHE. We have graduated 5 teachers and employed 4 thus far.  Ongoing partnership with UIS Mid-State Student Support for Teaching (MSS) program. Have employed all Springfield graduates of the program.  Implemented Service Learning Teacher academy established at LHS to.

 Continue to recruit African American teachers at colleges and university job fairs... ... through Historically Black Colleges job fairs, ... By developing partnerships with Historically Black Colleges Schools of Education, ... through IASA job bank, ... through social networking,

... through National and State Education Conventions, ... as a presenter for Career Services at BU, ISU, UIS, UICC, ... by recruiting students through the Professional Development School Showcase of ISU, ... by networking with Greek Organizations,

... by networking with Minority Educator organizations ... developed strategies and a team of mentors to improve teacher retention, ... connect with civic, fraternal, religious, business, and community groups to build support and the connections to the overall community. ... and most significant, hosting potential candidates minority and non-minority in the district and scheduling interviews with Principals with potential vacancies.

 Reports to the MRAC, HR department, school board of relevant recruiting outcomes.  Professional Development to Administrators and Hiring managers.  Completion of Minority Reports to the Court.  Creation of and enforcement of policy related to minority recruitment and employment.

 Enforcement of SEA contractual agreements related to minority hiring, employment, and retention.  Enforcement of SEA contract as it relates to staffing buildings.  Identification of minorities who apply for positions in the District.  Implementation of Singleton Rule

 Implemented Board Policy that, The District in compliance with applicable law will actively recruit and hire qualified minority personnel, both certified and non-certificated, in all areas of employment.

# OF CERTIFIED TEACHERS # OF MIN TEACHERS # SEPARATIN G FROM DISTRICT # OF NEW MIN STAFF % OF INCREASE % OF M DISTRICT STAFF # OF ADMIN # OF MIN ADMIN % OF MIN ADMIN # OF CENTRAL OFFICE # OF MIN CENTRAL OFFICE % OF MIN CENTRAL OFFICE FY %6.60%691623%26519% FY %7.20%711724%17318% FY %8.00%681421%21419% FY %9.27%681421%21419% FY %9.70%681624%25728% FY %10.00%772026%27726% FY ? %9.70%691928%25728% FY %10.00%691928%24729% FY %10.38%842631%21733% FY * %9.80%822733%19526% Goal: 18.4%  * Pending Data  Information taken from the reports to the Court.  Minority staff numbers include Hispanic, American or India, and Asian/Pacific Islanders.  Note: The Coordinator of Recruitment position started in October 5, The first year the position is responsible for recruitment data is  Since 2005 the percentage increase of minority staff is in the double digits.  The district has implemented RIF the last three years.  The data is reported as of March of each year.

 Lack of enforcement of Consent Decree  The cancelation of scheduled job fairs, potential candidates visiting the district and interviews due to the “potential for criticism”.  Decentralized hiring

 Not holding administrators accountable for violating tenants of the Consent Decree  Lack of budgetary priority  Placement of the recruiting budget and oversight in the appropriate department  Restrictions on offering “Letter of Intent” to qualified candidates

 Late hiring practices  SEA contractual language which gives recall rights to teachers who have fulfilled their contracts.  SEA contractual language that places minority hiring at the same level of those teachers who have fulfilled their contracts.

 While continuous progress has been made, Springfield Public School District 186 has not yet reached the goal of the 1976 Consent Decree, that the recruiting and hiring of African-Americans maintain a minimum requirement of staffing at the percentage African-Americans represent in the Springfield community, that of 18.4%.  Reaching and maintaining the goal by recruiting and retaining minority certificated and non-certificated staff depends on embracing this philosophically as a priority at all levels of the organizational structure and a sincere commitment by the school board, administrators, faculty, community and all stakeholders.