The diversity of our student population is one of the many things that makes the Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) so special. We believe diversity truly strengthens us, our school district, and our greater community at large. “Diversity” is often uniquely associated with the color of our skin or the languages we speak at home when in fact, there are many other components of our identities that make us a diverse group of people here at the MCSD.

While it is true we do identify as many different races and ethnicities and our students speak over 50 languages in their homes, we also hold different sexual orientations and gender identities, varying physical and mental abilities, we practice different religions–or no religion at all–and we come from many different socioeconomic backgrounds. We want to take this opportunity to speak to the components of our identity that we have measured and can compare across other Iowa school districts. At this time, the best comparisons can be made with race and ethnicity, so we will speak to that aspect of our identities and our diversity, all the while fully recognizing that race and ethnicity are only a few aspects of our identities that make us unique and diverse.

According to the Iowa Department of Education, the average school district across our great state is composed of roughly 75% White students. Here at MCSD, only 33% of our students racially identify as White. We have nearly twice as many Native Hawaiians, Asians, and Black or African American students and almost three times as many Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students compared to the average Iowa district. The biggest differential is that our students are five times more likely to be Hispanic or Latino than the average school district in Iowa.

Ideally, our staff demographics would more closely mirror the demographics of our students; we’re not there yet. Our staff is almost 89% White, less than 10% Hispanic or Latino, 1.1% Asian, and less than one percent all other races. These percentages hold across all employee groups except our paraeducator, administrative support, and other professional staff. This group is roughly 80% White and nearly 17% Hispanic of Latino.

It’s important that we attract and retain a diverse workforce. Teachers of color help close achievement gaps for students of color and are highly rated by students of all races. Representation matters for a myriad of other reasons as well; as such, it is of utmost importance that the District continue to work diligently to attract and retain a diverse staff. We welcome applicants to join our talented staff.

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Dr. Nora Ryan is Director of Human Resources for the Marshalltown Community School District.