CARLSBAD, Calif. (KGTV) – It was a packed auditorium at Sage Creek High School in Carlsbad on Wednesday night -- not for a performance, but a school board meeting.
The agenda item of focus being the Carlsbad Unified School District’s potential decision of approving a diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) plan.
“I’ve heard from my own students in my classroom that the DEIB plan means a lot to them,” said Carlsbad Unified teacher and parent Katrina Waidelich.
“The community here has shown up a lot, in opposed or opposed to kind of pushing that through this quickly,” said Scott Davison, the director of the Carlsbad Education Alliance.
While those both for and against the plan waited for a possible approved, the school board decided to hold off on voting on Wednesday night because the board president wasn’t at the meeting.
Regardless of not having a vote, plenty of people gathered to voice their praise and or protest of the DEI plan. There were 52 people who went to the podium to address the school board during the public comment portion of the agenda item.
After a long night hearing from dozens of people, there are still strong stances on a potential plan remaining for some.
“We really don’t like the idea of this Diversity, Equity and Inclusion plan because they sound great, but then in action, the plans create less diversity and create more hostility and unsafe campuses,” Davison said.
“I think it would like send a signal to student, to families, to teacher who are looking to work here in the district that this is the place where you can feel safe, like that you can feel seen,” Waidelich said.
The superintendent of the district stated the vote to approve the DEI plan would happen at a future board meeting.
