Lee’s Summit schools approves equity contract. Other KC area districts should too | Opinion
Equity work to meet the needs of every student in Lee’s Summit schools will continue unabated for at least another year. And according to Superintendent David Buck, that work will extend well beyond the district’s contract with a firm leading its dignity and belonging efforts.
On Thursday, the Lee’s Summit School District Board of Education voted 5-2 to extend its contract with Dignity Consulting for the 2025-26 school year. Board members Bill Haley and Regina Garrett were the lone holdouts.
In a school district with nearly 18,000 students and 3,000 staff members, I applaud the Lee’s Summit school board for its commitment to this professional development program.
My hope is that other metro-area school districts would follow Lee’s Summit’s lead and not cower under political pressure to eliminate these sorts of programs. The war on anything related to equity is plain silly — not to mention short-sighted.
Public schools have a responsibility to educate all students no matter their socioeconomic status, gender identity, race or mental and physical capabilities. These types of initiatives aim to address an achievement gap between students on the fringe and their peers. Lee’s Summit gets it. Will other districts follow suit?
Dignity and belonging
For the past four years, district leaders, faculty, staff, students, and community members in Lee’s Summit have worked with the consulting firm on dignity and belonging content, according to Thursday’s meeting agenda.
“The Board’s action last night continues ongoing efforts in the district to ensure each student feels seen, valued and supported in LSR7,” school board president Stacie Myers wrote in an email message the next day. “Our dignity work is a key part of LSR7’s vision for student success because we know that when students feel included at school, they are equipped to reach their full potential . . . that’s what public education is all about.”
In an educational climate that seemingly frowns on any attempt to level the playing field for marginalized students, the Lee’s Summit school board is putting its money where its proverbial mouth is.
Under terms of the contract, the district will pay Dignity Consulting $16,500 for another year. The total represents a $7,400 decrease from the 2024-2025 school year, according to a copy of the contract I read.
But the work won’t stop there, according to Buck. Nor should it.
“As you can tell, we are trying to lower and wean ourselves off this so we can do it ourselves because that is what is efficient,” Buck said at Thursday’s meeting. “That is what (Dignity Consulting leaders) want as well. They wanted us to get to the point where we can do this without their help.”
Educational equity in Lee’s Summit
The district’s stated goal of working with this consultant firm is to address through training unconscious biases and other issues faced by underperforming student groups in this Kansas City-area suburb.
“We believe all students deserve a school experience enriched by a deep sense of dignity and belonging,” the district website states. “Informed by our district’s equity policy… people align around a clear, districtwide vision of equitable learning and development and a shared understanding of why and how this drives everyone’s work.”
Its equity policy states: “While complex societal and historical factors contribute to the inequities our students face, rather than perpetuating disparities, LSR7 strives to overcome inequity by providing all of our students with preparation for success in life.”
Educational equity, the policy reads, “involves the intentional allocation of resources, instruction and opportunities according to need. We recognize that based on factors including, but not limited to, citizenship status, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity (including gender expression), language, mental and physical ability, national origin, race, sexual orientation, and/or socio-economic status, our students may be deprived of equitable educational opportunities.”
Despite this plain language posted online for the world to see, Haley and Garrett, the lone ‘no’ votes on this proposal, invoked a familiar straw man’s fallacy — diversity, equity and inclusion — into what should have been a unanimous decision.
“The debate rages in our nation about DEI,” Haley said. “Our current administration in Washington D.C. is opposed to these types of programs. The current administration in Jefferson City is opposed to these types of programs. I believe that this board at least should explore why people have a problem with this program. I believe we should take a deeper dive.”
Newly-elected board member Michelle Dawson reminded Haley that the board was presented with the content of this yearslong dignity program during a retreat earlier this month.
“That content is not in any way controversial,” Dawson said. “Acceptance of identity, recognition, acknowledgment, inclusion, safety, fairness, independence, understanding, benefit of the doubt and accountability. No one in the retreat had an objection to it at that time.”
Haley must have also forgotten the contents of the district’s equity policy.
“I think a deeper dive is a bit redundant,” Dawson said.
Amen to that, board member Dawson. Amen to that.
