ISCA Weekly Chair Post
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What's New?

April 15, 2021


ISCA Member Survey Results
Diversity and School Culture committees

In March, ISCA administered a survey to members inquiring about how their boards were organized to address DEI and school culture. Questions had been circulating on our Online Forum, including this week, about whether boards should have DEI committees or school life committees.

Maybe we should first distinguish between school 'culture' from school 'life' and be mindful of how we are defining each for our own use.
How students, staff and families experience the school - do they feel safe, do they feel welcome, do they feel they can be their authentic selves, do they feel supported...this all speaks to school culture. Boards have a responsibility to understand the culture of their school with respect to these issues for all constituents. School 'life' can include a wider range of issues including how students experience sports and academics, what offerings there are in these areas, etc.

When boards get more involved in school 'life' business, this is where things can get messy and boards start to creep into operations. Focusing on issues of school 'culture' on the other hand, is absolutely where focus needs to remain.


DEI and school culture are very much interconnected and DEI could be considered one aspect of school culture. Based on our member survey, 61% of boards had a DEI committee and only 15% had a 'community/student life' committee. 47% of the respondents indicated they receive administrative reports on school culture and discuss school culture as an entire board. About 9% of respondents revealed that their boards are not intentionally talking about school culture. 38% of the respondents indicated they don't have a committee to address school culture but that it's embedded in the work of all committees.

So what is the take away? Boards are all over the place in how they are organizing themselves to address DEI and school culture, with some not addressing school culture at all. We can't assume that because a school has a DEI committee, other school culture issues are being addressed like the prevention of bullying or sexual harassment. So where are those conversations happening? There are different options to structure your board's work in these areas, but the most important question for your board is, are you asking the right questions, are you getting informed to actually do the work and are you doing it adequately to insure a healthy school culture at your school?







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Weekly Chair Post written and compiled by
Bethany Di Napoli, ISCA Executive Director

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