Madison students ask for more teacher diversity

Students in the Madison Metropolitan School District are calling on administrators to hire more teachers of color.

Students gathered outside Madison West High School earlier this summer with signs reading, “Stop whitewashing our schools,” and “The more the variety, the better the society,” The Capital Times reported.

Data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction show that nearly half the students at the school are non-white. But less than 10 percent of teachers are people of color.

In the district, almost 90 percent of teachers in the 2016-2017 school year were white, while less than 50 percent of students were white.

Students used signs, speeches and spoken-word poetry to show that they want teachers who could relate to their experiences and connect with their identities.

“I’m sick and tired of learning about oppression from someone who doesn’t understand my struggle. How can someone who is not black tell me how to succeed in life if they don’t know my struggle?” said Zenab Nafid, who will be a senior this fall.

Ayomi Obuseh, a senior who helped organize the rally, said teachers of color have different approaches to connecting with students.

“A teacher of color might have a different perspective or way of teaching that might help you learn better,” she said. “Not all students are going to be able to learn the same way because they are diverse, but if the teachers aren’t, you are not going to be able to reach as many of the students as you want to.”

Research shows that having diverse teachers can help students of all backgrounds and students of color to graduate.

Deirdre Hargrove-Krieghoff, the district’s executive director for human resources, said changes in the district’s hiring practices have resulted in 45 new teachers of color for the upcoming school year.