Parents and community members in the Sartell-St. Stephen School District are again speaking out after school board members voted to fire a firm responsible for conducting a district-wide equity survey.
On Monday, the school board voted 6-0 to part ways with Equity Alliance MN after concerns were voiced about the audit. Among those concerns were how the district failed to meet is own transparency threshold with what students were asked on the survey.
"We're holding them to account for their own policies, they didn't meet their own policy threshold," said Chris Yasgar. "As far as the content, that's the issue, we don't know the content of the questions because the school doesn't have them. They've yet to get them released to the public."
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Yasgar, who is part of the Concerned Parents and Community of ISD 748 group, said he stands with over 1,300 concerned parents and community members about the lack of communication and transparency displayed by district leaders.
"They had ambiguous information in the survey that led a lot of students to believe they were supposed to hide this from their parents," he said. "Their intent, even if it was well meaning, doesn't matter. They broke their own policy."
Yasgar says so far district leaders have failed to talk with parents and students about their resounding concerns.
"A lot of us feel there is a leadership issue in Sartell," Yasgar added. "Superintendent Dr. Jeff Ridelhoover has had the opportunity to and time to speak to several news agencies, yet my niece, who was put in a very bad position by the district in her experience in the classroom, no one from the district has spoken to my sister. All of my sister's questions have gone unanswered. That needs to be corrected as well."
Jeremy Snoberger is a board member in the district and he joined Paul Douglas on the WCCO Morning News to explain the goal of hiring the firm and why they’re now cutting those ties.
“We were looking to try to meet the needs of every student in our district through equity lens,” Snoberger explains. “The first step of that was to start with this equity audit. The audit itself brought some great ideas, some understanding. But there were a number of questions that came up that just weren't able to be answered and weren't able to be kind of dealt with.”
When it comes to equity in the district, Yasgar said the district has the ability to solve issues internally through teachers and staff.
"We're just looking for a positive outcome for the district. From the beginning, our movement has wanted each and every kid be the best version of themselves. We think that focuses a lot around character and when you bring outside groups like Equity Alliance, it just causes problems."
Snoberger added that the decision to cut ties with the firm doesn’t mean that the district’s work is done when it comes to results from the audit.
“It brought us to the point where it wasn't going to be able to continue, to finish out that contract. The work that was done and the work that needs to be done will continue to go forward and actually will probably ramp up as we continue to try to meet the needs of every student in the district.”
The district plans to release additional survey details by August 13.