District hires new diversity director

The Champlain Valley School District has hired a director of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Lili Rodríguez on Monday was unaware of the contention over the position in the year before her hiring. Her predecessor left after about a week on the job.

Rodríguez, who is Latinx, was previously the vice president of student affairs at the University of Denver.

When it was explained to Rodríguez during the course of an interview for this story that her salary was pertinent because the district’s first director of diversity, Rhiannon Kim, quit six days after being hired in part because of the salary, Rodríguez replied, “They hired someone else, and that person only lasted a week?”

When this was confirmed, she replied, “I wasn’t actually aware of that.”

The search

According to Mark McDermott, who handles the district’s human resources, Rodríguez will make $132,000 annually. She officially starts on July 1.

Last July 1, Kim began the role.

On July 7, 2020, she resigned. District director of digital learning and communication Bonnie Birdsall confirmed on Tuesday that Kim’s departure came from salary issues.

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The search that resulted in Rodríguez’s hire was an almost nine-month process.

There were 23 candidates in the first round of interviews, superintendent Elaine Pinckney said at the school board meeting on March 16.

The search committee included two school board members, two administrators, two teachers, two community members, a member of the central office staff and a student. Five of the committee members were members of the Black, Indigenous and people of color community, Pinckney said.

Why not tell?

During the public comment portion of the school board meeting on Tuesday, April 13, the board was asked by this newspaper if not telling Rodríguez about the previous director of diversity was a good decision.

The question was met with a moment of silence, then chair Angela Arsenault said the hiring was an administrative decision and not a board decision.

Board member Russ Caffry said that portion of the meeting was for public comment and not for media interviews.

Journalists are members of the public in a community and represent community voices.

Earlier, though, several board and staff members did discuss the issue.

Barbra Marden, one of the two board members on committee, she didn’t know why Rodríguez wasn’t told there had been a previous director of diversity. She had to leave the process after the first round of interviews because she and all of her family caught COVID-19 and have since recovered.

In the first round of interviews the candidates were asked the same questions, which had been formulated by the committee, Marden said.

New board chair Angela Arsenault was also on the hiring committee. She said she was not aware that Rodríguez had not been told of her predecessor’s brief tenure in the position.

“I look at it a little differently. I don’t think we ever had a director of diversity,” Arsenault said. “I had the sense she didn’t begin work in that role.”

“I’d probably be a little confused and I’d want to know more,” Arsenault continued, if she had taken a position thinking she was the first to have it only to learn someone else had the same position for such a short time.

Former chair Lynne Jaunich said she did not know why Rodríguez was not told of Kim’s swift departure and had no comment on the situation because she was not on the committee and not involved in the process.

“It’s not a board hire; it’s an administration hire,” Jaunich said, the hiring of a superintendent is the only hiring decision the board makes.

Director of digital learning and communication Bonnie Birdsall in an interview Monday said she did not think it was a problem that the previous director of diversity was not mentioned to Rodríguez.

“We are where we are today. We’re moving forward and excited to work with her – to have her help us move forward,” Birdsall said.

Asked whether the nearly yearlong conversation would impact Rodríguez’s work, Birdsall said, “Well that would be something that we would talk to her about, but she hasn’t officially started working for us until July 1.”

Pressed about the appearing controversy around the job and the hiring of it, with frequent discussions at board meetings and from the public, Birdsall felt this newspaper was responsible for perceived controversy.

“That happened in the past. We’re moving forward,” she said.

McDermott, said the previous hire didn’t need to be mentioned because the position Rodríguez was hired for is different than the position Kim was hired for.

The director of diversity position that the school system hired for last year was a teacher-coach position, he said; this year the position is an administrative position, so the salary is higher. Last year the position was a part-time job and now it’s full time.

Kim’s title was director of equity and diversity, as previously reported.

McDermott said it was unfair to compare the salaries for the two different positions, but reluctantly shared Rodríguez’s.

He said he would have to check the records to find Kim’s salary. He not gotten back to the newspaper with that salary amount by press time.

Ready to get started

Rodríguez said she had been worked in higher education for 20 years and during all of her career she has been doing diversity, equity and social justice work.

After working at the college level, she is intrigued by the idea of working with a younger age.

“I think sometimes the college age was a little too late, frankly, to be able to give it the time and devote to the reflection necessary,” Rodríguez said.

Rodríguez said one of her goals is to work for more diversity among teachers.

“I want the students to see themselves,” Rodríguez said. “There is a magic in a diverse workforce, especially in education, so students can see themselves and those people inspire them.”