SOUTH DEERFIELD — Members of the Frontier Regional and Union 38 school committees were briefed Thursday night on the results of the districts’ “equity audit,” which examined the schools’ abilities to provide equitable education to all students.

The audit, conducted by Iowa-based Curriculum Management Solutions Inc., and found the schools have a strong base for creating an equitable environment, especially in initiatives undertaken since 2020, but clearer policies and expectations on diversity, equity and inclusion could further the districts’ goals.

Jim Ferrell, an auditor with Curriculum Management Solutions, emphasized equity initiatives are a “journey, not a one-time event.” The goal, he said, is to create policies that will carry on between administrations, likening the process to how a medieval ruler would start building a cathedral knowing they wouldn’t be alive to see it be completed.

“You’re doing a lot of tremendous good in the district and you should be really proud of that,” Ferrell said to the school committees. “A lot of work has been done. The stakeholders generally agree the district is moving in the right direction.”

Key recommendations in the audit include: enhancing the districts’ foundation statement on anti-racism and equity purpose; developing or revising policies to clearly establish expectations for diversity, equity and inclusion; further professional development; and further concentration on culturally responsive education through the schools’ curriculum management plan.

To conduct the audit, Curriculum Management Solutions collected the districts’ demographic data, student work samples, school policy plans and surveys. The districts also opted into optional auditing methods, which included interviewing administrators, school committee members and other stakeholders in the district.

Breaking down the schools’ demographics, Ferrell said 84.1% of the 1,343 students across the five schools are white, with a gender split of 47.9% females and 52.1% males. Approximately 36.9% of students are considered “high needs” and 25.2% were defined as low-income, figures that are both considerably lower than state averages.

Standardized test scores are also in a good place, with Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) rankings around the districts’ targets and SAT scores so strong that Ferrell said “your students are blowing it out of the water.”

While Thursday’s presentation was to inform the school committees and the public on where the districts stand, Ferrell said they could better achieve their goals if they put equity initiatives into planning and policy documents.

“Although district planning documents directly address equity, policies and regulations do not provide the specifics to diversity, equity and inclusion goal accomplishment,” Ferrell said. “Strengthen your policies … and pull it all together into a single plan.”

With the audit results now available to them, Frontier and Union 38 Superintendent Darius Modestow said at the meeting and in an open letter to the school community that their goal is to build a long-term plan to continue pushing the school toward equity.

“School district faculty and staff will use the audit recommendations to create a three-to-five-year plan that will build on the work we have done to date to address equity-related issues,” Modestow wrote on the school’s website. “Our goal is to ensure that all of our students have equal access to the many programs, resources and opportunities we offer to support growth and learning.”

One thing he suggested Thursday was increasing the number of data points that come from the elementary schools because there is only so much the districts can glean from younger students when compared to middle and high schoolers.

“There’s only so much that we have in the system and we need to create more [data] to identify the patterns and address that,” he said.

Frontier and Union 38’s equity audit can be read at bit.ly/3EVaASQ.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.