Marin Voice: Attracting multicultural teacher population is a worthy challenge

The student body in the schools served by the Marin County Office of Education is composed of 48% students of color. Yet only 1 in 10 here are teachers of color. That is very concerning. It’s true that racially and culturally knowledgeable and sensitive White teachers can be effective when working with non-White students.  But the racial gap still makes a significant difference.

Numerous educational research journals have noted that students of color who have at least one teacher of color do better on tests and will be less likely to have disciplinary issues. Research also suggests that White students show improved problem-solving, critical thinking and creativity when they have diverse teachers. These findings have become conventional wisdom for educators.

Although the absence of teachers of color doesn’t necessarily reflect prejudice on the part of leaders in our public schools, it does reflect the difficulty of attracting quality teachers of color to teach here. The obstacles are significant. As one of my best interns at San Francisco State told me, “Why would I want to teach in Marin when I can’t possibly find a home I could afford in this county?”

But the problem goes further. Marin is highly segregated. Most teachers of color are not comfortable living or teaching in a highly segregated community. As Wesley Cedros, assistant superintendent of the Tamalpais Union High School District put it, when teachers of color “arrive on most of our campuses in Marin for an interview, they don’t see much representation in the faces they see around them. It’s a big risk to commit to a lengthy commute if you don’t feel comfortable or question if you will be accepted into a new community.”

Cedros notes that we must support existing staff and faculty of color and expand educating our entire communities on equity and race. We must make these potential hires comfortable and welcome here. Clearly this bears on the retention of teachers as well.

There are some possible solutions to meeting this challenge if the goal of attracting more teachers of color is a high priority.

There are efforts being made. The Marin County Board of Supervisors and the Office of Education have helped create the Oak Hill housing project to provide housing for school and county employees. Efforts to create teacher housing are also underway in San Rafael and in Novato. The dedicated and effective nonprofit organization, Marin Promise, has made this one of their priorities.

Every act to attract more teachers of color, with the creation of housing and a multicultural community, should be highly applauded. These present plans are highly pragmatic but, based on my researching multiple similar efforts nationwide, they appear to not address some attendant problems. They lack a breadth of vision that some of the best exhibit.

I think housing should be both multicultural and multi-occupational. The plan must prioritize housing for teachers of color, or the new housing will not help solve that problem. Additionally, most teachers do not want to live in an all-teacher community. Other professionals who have a special interest in education should be included.

There are other models that should be carefully examined. A project for San Francisco Unified School District teachers, Shirley Chisholm Village, is just opening and is worth a look, though it has some of the same limitations as the Marin project. On the other hand, a visionary project in Newark, New Jersey utilizing  world class architects Illustrates much of what I suggest and should be explored.

Keep in mind the statistic I started with: 48% of children in Marin’s public school system are children of color. The funding needed to create a teacher-centered village as good as the one in Newark will require considerable external funding. This may seem daunting, but funders are drawn to proposals with a compelling vision. This needs a major commitment from school leaders and those working for equity in our schools like Marin Promise. It’s a goal worthy of that commitment.

Mark Phillips of Woodacre is a professor emeritus of education at San Francisco State University.