Connections Live at The Little: Degrees of Diversity

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Degrees of Diversity

Education


At the Little Theatre in Rochester, teachers, superintendents, parents and school board members discussed ways to bring more diversity to local teaching staffs. On Friday, WXXI hosted a community discussion to wrap up our week of reporting on teacher diversity. Evan Dawson reports. Brandon White is a teacher in the Rochester City School District – He said that for too many students of color, there are not enough mentors who look like them, and school is not a positive experience. “There was one thing that was said about getting more RCSD kids to be RCSD teachers, and why they wouldn’t want to be, and I returned with the question, ‘Why would the convict want to be the correctional officer?’” Simeon Bannister is a parent and board member in the Rush-Henrietta district; he said that teacher diversity will only get addressed when the community views it as a problem for everyone. “If all of a sudden, graduation rates dipped below 50 percent across the county, particularly outside the city,