The Chattanooga NAACP said it was greatly disturbed by the Hamilton County school board’s plans to consider eliminating its educator diversity policy.
In a statement Wednesday, the NAACP urged Hamilton County Schools to halt any action that would “weaken its commitment to lawful, inclusive and nondiscriminatory educational practices.”
“We call on the district to affirm its full compliance with federal civil rights statutes and school law, to protect educators from arbitrary and unclear enforcement standards, and recommit to policies that ensure all students, especially those who have been denied equal opportunity, receive a high-quality education to which they are legally entitled,” said the statement, signed by the group’s president, the Rev. Ann J. Pierre.
The NAACP’s statement comes after the school board’s February meeting agenda included a proposal to rescind the educator diversity policy. School board member Felice Hadden, R-Ooltewah, said at that meeting that she was planning on discussing it further at the next policy committee meeting March 5.
“The whole thing’s red-lined, and a point that I plan to make and I’ll make right now is that … diversity is mentioned in quite a few other policies,” she said.
(READ MORE: Hamilton County school board to consider rescinding educator diversity policy)
The policy defines educator diversity as a teacher workforce that “reflects a broad range of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, language, socioeconomic backgrounds and pathways into the profession.” It states that the school board is committed to educator diversity and directs district officials to take several steps to support inclusive educator recruitment and retention efforts.
The policy was first formed in 2021 in response to a 2019 Tennessee law that required school boards to set goals for educator diversity that took into consideration the diversity of the students it serves.
That law remained on the books until May, when Tennessee lawmakers passed the Dismantle DEI in Employment Act, which aimed to end initiatives in school districts, public universities and local governments that promoted considering race, gender, national origin, age and other characteristics in hiring decisions. It also repealed the previous requirement for districts to have an educator diversity policy.
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The Hamilton County school board updated its policy in July to reflect the change in state law. Since then, the topic of educator diversity has come up at school board meetings at least twice, with some members questioning the need for the policy. One called it a “racist policy” in December.
Regardless of whether the board decides to eliminate or rebrand diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, the NAACP statement said, the district’s legal requirements remain the same. Complying with federal civil rights and education law, it said, “cannot be avoided through vague and ambiguous rhetoric, covert rebranding or policy elimination.”
The NAACP called on the school district to release evidence related to the policy ahead of it being formally discussed. The requested data included teacher demographic information, student disciplinary numbers and whether schools have equitable access to resources.
During the 2024-25 school year, the most recent data published by the Tennessee Department of Education, 76.6% of Hamilton County teachers were white, 7.9% were Black and 3.3% were Hispanic. That year, 45% of students were white, 29% were Black and 22% were Hispanic.
— Compiled by Shannon Coan