LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A new push is underway to get more Black teachers into the classroom here in Clark County.
According to CCSD's numbers, only about 8.5% of the district's licensed personnel — which includes teachers — are Black, while 64.5% are white.
In response to these reports, the Southern Nevada Black Educators Initiative has been leading the way in making sure teachers reflect their classrooms.
KTNV anchor Justin Hinton spoke with the founder and member of the group about the effect Black teachers can have on their students, particularly when it comes to the disproportional rate of suspensions.
For Founding Director Jordan Hankins, the first step was to get more Black teachers into area classrooms.
"We can't expand that pipeline or even start to correct that pipeline if we don't even have those students," Hankins told KTNV.
This is how SNBEI got started one year ago, pairing Black CCSD teachers with Black UNLV students looking to go into the education field.
Education Specialist Decuba McMillion-Porter says that disparity is huge, especially when the student population is about 15% Black and those students are suspended nearly 5 times more than their white counterparts.
"Often times their bad behaviors are indicators of other things that are going on with students," McMillion-Porter said. "We're able to address that in a restorative manner. keep our kids in school and keep them learning."
This is something McMillion-Porter says she's experienced first-hand as a teacher. She even recalls working with one student who was continuously in and out of trouble, but McMillion-Porter prioritizes his state scores eventually shot up.
She added, "What he really needed was for a teacher like me, to be able to respond to what his needs really were and to be compassionate and understand that behavior."
Both McMillion-Porter and Hankins believe more Black teachers can make that difference in the classroom, for students like him and of any ethnicity.
KTNV reached out to CCSD to ask about SNBEI's efforts, and the district says the school board and superintendent are actively prioritizing diversity among school administrators, licensed staff and support professionals as part of their five-year strategic plan.
District officials also say they have and will continue to dialogue with the SNBEI, but Hankis says she'd like to see more.
