The Independence student body is half minority. But school district leaders? All white
Minority school children in the Independence School District make up nearly half of the district’s enrollment. But you’d be hard-pressed to find any representation for students of color among district leadership.
Inclusion issues in Independence don’t end there. The seven-member Independence City Council continues to lack diversity. Billy Preston, an African American, finished dead last in a five-person race in February’s primary municipal election.
The Independence School District Board of Education is all white, as is Superintendent Dale Herl’s leadership team. No person of color holds a position of authority in a district in need of diverse voices. Concerns raised by marginalized students in Independence schools have been routinely ignored.
In Independence, school board terms are for six years. Board members can serve as long as they please. The structure of how board directors are elected in the district is worth reexamining.
Over the last decade, demographics in the district shifted away from a white majority, according to data from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. In 2012, 69% of district students were white compared to just over 51% last year, a decline of 18%. District leadership has remained noninclusive.
Meanwhile, the white student population in the nearby Lee’s Summit School District dropped less than 4% over the same span, but voters there have been more progressive at the ballot box. Two African Americans were elected to the Lee’s Summit Board of Education in recent years. Why has little progress been made in former President Harry Truman’s hometown?
Voters could change the makeup of the school board in April’s general municipal election. Anthony Mondaine is the first African American to run for Independence School Board. Mondaine, a married pastor and singer, is among five candidates running for two open seats.
Incumbents Jill Esry and Matt Mallinson are on the ballot with Mondaine, Jason Vollmecke and Greg Gilliam, who was a district administrator for 31 years before retiring last year.
Independence is considered an urban school district in Missouri, and the largest district where board members serve six-year terms. If elected, Esry could potentially be in the same seat for 18 years. Mallinson, a former mayor of Sugar Creek, was first appointed to the board for a one-year-term in 2009 and elected to a full term one year later. He won once more in 2016 and could possibly serve 19 years in office if reelected this spring.
Two-term director Greg Finke has spent 10 years on the board. Blake Roberson, the district’s longest tenured director, was term limited in 2012 after 12 years on the board. He was reelected in 2014 and 2020. How could one individual serving so many years be in the best interest of any child? It’s not. Board President Denise Fears is a two-term director, having been elected in 2014 and 2020.
Most Kansas City-area school boards have three- or four-year term limits. New perspectives provide unique insight, which only helps a public body address the needs of an ever-changing student population that includes nontraditional and nonconforming children. Herl has operated in this protective bubble for far too long. Diverse leadership is needed in Independence.
Independence is one of the state’s largest cities. White residents account for 79% percent of the population and 83% of the city’s workforce. People of color have little influence inside Independence City Hall, where all 11 department heads are white.
Only 13.5% of the city’s registered voters cast ballots in the primary. A higher turnout is expected in April. Even if Independence voters elect a minority candidate to public office for the first time, the work for a more inclusive school system doesn’t end there.
This story was originally published March 3, 2022 at 5:00 AM.