Schools Seek Teachers of Color

As private, independent schools see the diversity of their student bodies increasing, they are on a push to recruit more minority teachers who mirror those students and society.

The Cincinnati Independent Schools Consortium–composed of Seven Hills School, Summit Country Day School, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, St. Ursula Academy and St. Xavier High School–will hold its first Educators of Color Career Fair noon to 2 p.m. Feb. 28.

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“In all of our schools, we believe that everyone benefits from being a part of a diverse learning environment,” said Michelle Alexander, committee chair and Seven Hills’ director of diversity and community outreach.

“As our world becomes more diverse, it is important that our faculty and staff reflect the demographics of the society in which we live. To that end, all of our schools are seeking diverse candidates for various administrative, faculty and staff positions in our schools.”

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Yngrid Thurston, director of diversity and inclusion at Summit Country Day, said discussions among the schools revealed that they are attracting a diverse student population, so it’s important that these students see more teachers who are like them.

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Twenty-two percent of the student population at Summit is non-white. The number of minority teachers wasn’t available.

“The challenge is these schools don’t have a high degree of turnover in teaching positions, and there’s not a large pool of minority candidates,” Jellig said. “We just have really struggled, as many schools have, to get a lot of faculty of color.”

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