Staffing at St. Cloud Schools Closely Reflects Local Community

ST. CLOUD -- Diversity among the staff members of the St. Cloud Area School District is a close reflection of the central Minnesota community.

The annual staff demographic report was presented at tonight’s (Wednesday) board meeting. Currently, the district’s non-licensed staff, teachers, and administration is 87 percent white and 13 non-white.

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This closely mirrors the Stearns County 2020 Census Data that shows a population that is 87.5 percent white, 7.8 percent Black, 3.6 percent Hispanic, 2.5 percent Asian-Pacific Islander, and .4 percent American Indian.

Executive Director of Human Resources Tracy Flynn Bowe says everyone benefits from having a diverse staff.

Having a diverse staff is critical to increasing the academic performance of all student groups, to preparing our students to learn and live and work in a racially diverse and global world, and to provide equitable educational opportunities to all of our students.

The current racial breakdown of students in the district is 61.30 percent non-white and 38.7 percent white. Those numbers have significantly shifted from 59.72 percent white and 40.28 percent non-white in the 2013-2014 school year.

The district has seen an increase in racial diversity across all staff categories over the last eight years as well, despite teachers of color making up only four to five percent of the state’s workforce. That number drops to 1.2 percent of the workforce in central Minnesota.

Much of that increase is due to the Grow Your Own program and partnership with St. Cloud State University to form the non-licensed staff to teacher residency and future teacher academy.