Closing San Diego Unified’s Student-Teacher Diversity Gap

Monday, April 14, 2014
By Marissa Cabrera, Maureen Cavanaugh, Peggy Pico

White students barely make up 25 percent of the student population in the San Diego Unified School District, but two-thirds of the teachers and counselors in the district are white.

That lack of diversity among the district’s teaching staff and management is a concern to the school board and school Superintendent Cindy Marten.

A recent report revealed, that while Latinos account for almost half of students at the district, the majority of teachers and counselors are white.

The district says it’s working to find ways to expand the hiring pool of teachers to insure more diversity. That outreach may be tested soon, as the district offers an retirement incentive program which could open up hundreds of teaching jobs.

On KPBS Midday Edition today, we’ll discuss the effort to insure that teachers and management at San Diego Unified reflect the diversity of the student population.

Online article including a short video.