VICTOR JOECKS: CCSD defies Trump’s DEI order

The Clark County School District is flirting with fiscal disaster by maintaining its woke policies.

According to its website, the district is has an assistant superintendent, equity and diversity position. Among the essential duties are advising “on diversity, equity and social justice issues,” assessing “the adequacy of the diversity of candidates in the screening and hiring process,” and developing district-wide training on “best practices regarding underserved and historically marginalized populations.”

Position expectations include “demonstrated ability to challenge and influence peers to approach all work with an equity lens.” The person must also “engage stakeholders in difficult and courageous conversations related to inequities around race, gender, sexual orientation and ability status.”

Required experience includes five years of “successful supervisory administrative experience in equity, diversity and inclusion issues.”

By now, most people recognize this woke language. “Diversity of candidates” means putting race over merit. “Equity lens” means obsessing over group disparities, not individual performance. DEI is critical race theory put into action.

Including benefits, this person in this position can rake in more than $200,000 a year. It’s not the only DEI-focused job. The district is also has positions for a coordinator and director for “equity and diversity.”

This is counterproductive and a waste of taxpayer money. As long as it has money for DEI positions, the district’s complaints about being underfunded shouldn’t be taken seriously.

There’s another problem. President Donald Trump has ordered the federal government to root out DEI in its workforce and spending. In a Feb. 14 letter, the Department of Education laid out what this means for schools. “The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this nation’s educational institutions,” the letter stated. It specifically warned against advancing “nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice or equity.”

Sound familiar?

And this isn’t a mere suggestion. “Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding,” the letter reads.

Last year, the district received more than $500 million from the Department of Education. In total, it took in more than $770 million from Washington. The money paid for special education, Title I schools and English language programs. Losing that cash would be a crisis.

This isn’t the only area the district is running afoul of the executive branch.

Trump is rolling back the left’s transgender insanity. He directed federal agencies to enforce laws protecting “sex-based rights.” That includes Title IX. Further, each agency shall “ensure grant funds do not promote gender ideology.”

The district’s transgender policy instructs schools to allow students to pick their gender. Boys who claim to be girls are allowed in girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms and even hotel rooms on overnight trips.

There’s no indication the district is interested in changing course. This week, I asked if it had made any changes in response to Trump’s directives. No response. That’s not surprising. The district is defying Trump’s orders and hoping no one notices.

Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.

A previous version of this incorrectly stated that the district was hiring for these positions.