School Board forms a Diversity Committee, but will it matter?

So the Cedar Rapids School Board is creating a “Diversity Committee.”

It will be a 10-member panel designed to provide “independent review and oversight of the district's diversity, inclusion, and equity polices and initiatives,” and “a forum separate from administration in which diversity and equity professionals, community leaders, and other interested parties have the opportunity to address concerns.”

Tough to be against that. And not long after the board voted Monday night, it got a reminder of the district's top “diversity” issue: the achievement gap between minority kids and their white classmates.

The board heard that 658 students in the class of 2012 took the ACT, or about 56 percent of all seniors. That included just 44 African-Americans, or 27 percent of the 158 black students in the graduating class; 57 percent of whites took the test.

So, clearly, the achievement gap is also an aspiration gap. On the bright side, 44 is up from just 21 four years ago.

“We need to move the needle, and we're not moving it,” said board member Mary Meisterling, who was among several who were troubled by the numbers.

“What's lacking?” asked board member Nancy Humbles.

Well, we now have one fewer successful elementary school in a core neighborhood that was making progress with students who tend to fall into the gap. Polk Elementary was known for its “We're going to college” program. That aspiration was replaced by “We're going to stabilize general fund reserves.” Less catchy.

If I were to allow the shadow of cynicism to seep into my heart, I'd say this diversity committee is a makeup call for the board's Polk decision. But I'm trying to kick my cynicism habit. Got an optimism patch on my arm.

This could amount to something more than public relations. Maybe words such as “independent” and “oversight” will mean something. It's possible that this diversity committee will actually stand up and be heard the next time the district makes a very big decision without seeming to think much about how it might widen that stubborn gap.

Committee members will be nominated by the administration, so I'm nagged by doubts. The parents and community leaders who stood up for Polk comprised a pretty strong, vocal diversity committee, but it was no match for the quiet, closed-door panels steered by the superintendent. The diversity committee will be open, but will the administration?

And a committee doesn't change the fact that, in the end, it's the school board that must “provide independent review and oversight.”