The Office of Equity works in partnership with schools, school division offices and community stakeholders to support applying an equity lens to each undertaking.

The Office of Equity regularly collaborates with these groups:

Equity Advisory Committee
Formed in 2017, the Equity Advisory Committee consists of community members, parents/guardians, high school students and Chesterfield County Public Schools staff members. At monthly meetings, the Equity Advisory Committee looks at practices and policies connected to access and opportunity; disciplinary practices; engaging stakeholders; policy and practice; professional development; and hiring, staffing and recruiting.

Equity leads
Each school has an equity lead. These liaisons:

• Meet monthly with the Office of Equity.

• Support efforts in their buildings to promote access and opportunities.

• Help analyze and interpret data to determine barriers and equity challenges.

• Cultivate a climate of shared responsibility for equitable and inclusive practices.

Equity design team
This diverse group of administrative stakeholders works to explore structural, institutional and individual root causes to address systemic inequities. The team includes representatives from schools and central office.

The Office of Equity helps increase capacity across Chesterfield County Public Schools by collaborating to develop professional learning resources that help staff members implement practices promoting inclusivity.

Cultural competency module
Developed in collaboration with the Office of Professional Learning, a cultural competency module is available to all employees of Chesterfield County Public Schools. Learning objectives are to examine the dimensions of culture; understand implications related to educational experiences and outcomes; and increase personal awareness regarding what we can do to continually grow our understanding.

Inclusive school programming
The Office of Equity developed a resource document to help schools plan events, programs and activities in ways that promote and support inclusive practices.

Job performance standard
In collaboration with equity leads and school leaders, the Office of Equity developed a “culturally responsive and equitable programming” standard within the employee job performance evaluation system.

Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities
The Office of Equity works in partnership with the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities. This includes support for inclusive learning environments for all students; development and delivery of comprehensive professional learning sessions; and consulting for schools.

Chesterfield County Public Schools recognizes that a diverse teaching workforce benefits all staff and students. Mirror Me aims to recruit and retain teachers of varied backgrounds by increasing the number of minority teachers, changing the perceptions of hiring practices and promoting the importance of the teaching profession. Mirror Me details are here.