Montebello : Minority Hiring Plan on Agenda
The Montebello Unified School District, in the face of complaints from Latino parents, is expected to ratify a revised affirmative action plan at its board meeting tonight, school officials said.
In a study session Tuesday night, the board drafted a revision to its 14-year-old minority hiring guidelines to reflect a commitment to hiring more Latinos in the 27-school district, district spokeswoman Dolores Vasquez said.
Several parents who attended the study session expressed concern that the district has not been active enough in hiring Latinos. About 83% of students in the district are Latino.
Vasquez said that although the school board is intent on passing the new affirmative action plan, the district’s number of Latino employees already exceeds the goals outlined in the new guidelines. Currently, 61% of the district’s 2,872 employees are Latino.
Vasquez said the majority (72%) of Latino employees, however, fill non-teaching “classified” positions ranging from secretaries to gardeners and janitors. Only two of the district’s non-teaching administrative positions are Latino.
About 33% of the teachers are Latino, up 15% from 10 years ago, Vasquez said, and 32.1% of credentialed administrators are Latino.
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