Michigan's Rochester Community Schools district eliminates DEI director position
The superintendent of the Rochester Community School District sent a letter to families last week announcing that the district is eliminating its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) director position.
Superintendent Nicholas Russo said the decision was in response to new DEI changes from the Trump administration and was based on the prospect of losing federal funding.
The decision marks the first school district in Oakland County to eliminate a DEI position because of policies from the Trump administration. Now, people in Rochester have opinions on this move and whether we'll see more of it going forward.
Last Friday, parents received a letter from Russo that the school district would be eliminating the administrative position of DEI director. In the letter, Russo said, "To avoid a substantial risk, we are discontinuing the position of DEI director so as not to jeopardize the loss of federal funds for our students."
Residents in the town have had mixed feelings since the letter was sent. Bruce Garwood told me he and his wife were happy.
"The kids here are going to be better off," Bruce Garwood from Rochester said. "We were both glad about it because that's what Trump said he was going to do, and fine if Rochester does it. I'm glad."
Marketing expert and consultant Mark Lee said the decision should be a sign of what's to come in other school districts throughout the area and the country and that colleges and private companies have had to make similar decisions in the past few months.
"This is no surprise; I think this trend is going to continue where school districts are going to go back and reassess what their DEI plans are, and they're going to balance out what their potential loss of funding is," Lee said.
The Rochester Community Schools' DEI website displayed a message saying that the link no longer exists.
CBS News Detroit contacted other school districts throughout Oakland County to ask whether they plan to make a similar decision in the future. We have not heard back from any of them yet.
