CAMDEN — Although the equity and diversity coordinator role is new to the Caesar Rodney School District, the heart of the work has long been a throughline for Cliff Howell.

“It’s been a part of my career the entire time; it’s just the education realm provides another door to be impactful,” he said. “So when I saw the opportunity presented itself, it’s something that I jumped at.”

Mr. Howell, a lifelong Delawarean originally from Lewes, joined the district in August after 21 years working with children and juveniles in behavioral health and the criminal justice world. He comes to the district from the Delaware Criminal Justice Council. He also spent 10 years as the state mental health administrator with the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, providing administrative services for adults and children, he said.

Coming into schools — when the environment has been drastically shifted due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic — Mr. Howell said he has sought to make administrators and staff understand he is a resource “for every building, for every staff person and for every student.”

“I am a resource first and foremost for the students because they are our why. But beyond that, I have to be a resource for the teachers as well,” he said. “Education is relational. If the students cannot relate to these teachers and the teachers can’t relate to the students, it is not possible that we’re creating an environment that is conducive for every student to thrive.”
This year, making sure that students can thrive is particularly pressing, giving the radical changes students are facing in the learning environment.

Working with the superintendent’s office, he is trying to identify where gaps exist.

For students, there are going to be inequities in this environment: being in a quiet space, having multiple siblings learning together, reliable internet connections. The district must make sure they are staying ahead of the curve and deploying resources, he said.

“In providing equitable service delivery, you think about it like a tailor made suit, that suit is designed to fit you specifically. Another person could put it on and it might fit another person, it might not, but it is best suited for you,” he said. “And in providing an equitable learning experience, every single child gets that opportunity to thrive and that is without regard to gender, race, creed, ethnicity, sexuality. Every student. And in every level pre-K through high school.”

With the hybrid and remote instruction models, there have been challenges getting to meet students in their classrooms, however. Primarily, Mr. Howell has met students through clubs. He’s still making connections, he said, but it’s different in a virtual environment.

“One of the things that I’ve shared with the administrators of these buildings and the teachers is: Students are the best measure of genuineness,” he said. “If they sense that there is something disingenuous about you, they will detect it quickly and once they detect it you don’t get a second chance to gain that back with them. And that aspect is something that I’ve always respected about working with students and working with young people. And that is something that they can’t pick up, necessarily, if I’m looking at you on the screen.”

Looking at the bigger picture, he is helping each create a building-specific equity plan. Concurrently, a committee at the district-level — consisting of representatives from each school and the community — is developing a larger equity plan, he said.
He hopes to have recommendations to the superintendent around the end of the academic year.

Since joining Caesar Rodney, he has led professional development training with the staff, too.

“It’s really been my opportunity to jump right in and to help try to meet the self-identified needs of each building,” he said.

Mr. Howell’s position was created last summer. In response to student concerns and Black Lives Matter protests across the country, the district made several promises to target equity. It vowed to create the new position and re-evaluate the humanities curriculum, and committed to promoting the hiring of people of color, diversity training and meeting regularly with the Black Student Union.

Mr. Howell has had the most contact with the BSU, whose meetings he attends. He noted that he’s there as another voice, not to lead.

He tries to give them a person to research around a particular topic or issue, stemming from his adjunct professor work teaching African American history. He said the students have found that valuable.

“Most of all, they see that it wasn’t lip service, that the district actually listened and created a position,” he said.

He joins the ranks of just a few similar positions in the state. He noted that the role is “increasing in number” statewide.
Red Clay and Brandywine have similar roles. Milford’s school board voted to create a similar one over the summer, and is in the process of filling it. Cape Henlopen has responsibilities like Mr. Howell’s spread over several positions.

Most notably, though, the Department of Education created an Office of Equity and Innovation last year. Mr. Howell said that he’s been utilizing their staff as a resource this year, as well as connecting to his colleagues across the state.
He hopes to see a consortium of people in the role, sharing ideas and experiences.

“I am a competitive person, and the Caesar Rodney School District would like to take the lead in being a beacon and being a leader around these efforts, just as it was a relatively short period of time between when they identified a need and a want to have this position and actually hiring this position,” he said. “That took courage. There weren’t a lot of people doing that. Just the same, I would like for us to be the leaders in doing this work.”