As the hiring season approaches, many Connecticut school districts are evaluating their obligations regarding diversity and inclusion, non-discrimination, and minority educator recruitment.

In addition, in June 2021, the Connecticut legislature passed a new law directing the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) to develop and make available, no later than July 1, 2022, a video training module related to implicit bias and anti-bias in the hiring process. Beginning July 1, 2023, boards of education must ensure that employees involved in or responsible for hiring educators successfully complete the CSDE’s training before participating in the district’s educator hiring process. The new law also adds the video training module to the required in-service training.

While districts await the release of the CSDE’s video training module, and in order to support schools in their training efforts, Shipman’s School Law Practice Group has developed a training specifically designed to address issues of diversity, non-discrimination, and implicit bias in the hiring process.  This training is designed for school districts, their hiring committees, and others responsible for evaluating applicants and making hiring decisions.

Our video training module addresses the following topics:

• Diversity and inclusion,
• Minority educator recruitment plans,
• Non-discrimination,
• Permissible and prohibited hiring practices for school districts,
• Understanding implicit bias and types of bias, and
• Ways of reducing implicit bias in the hiring process.

This training is not the training required by state law, beginning July 1, 2023, for individuals involved in hiring educators for boards of education.  However, it may be used by districts seeking to educate individuals involved in the hiring process about the issues outlined above.

For further information about the training, and to discuss how we may be able to meet your training needs, please contact Natalia Sieira Millán at nsieiramillan@goodwin.com or Dori Pagé Antonetti at dantonetti@goodwin.com.