Leaders of the Carroll Independent School District on Monday delayed implementing a detailed diversity plan, which a committee recommended after nearly two years of work.
The proposal, known as the “Five-Year Cultural Competence Action Plan,” was the result of a district panel formed after a 2018 video of students using racial slurs went viral.
In a sometimes heated but civil meeting online, board president Michelle Moore pushed for passage.
"There's no excuse for us as a board, I believe, not to take action," she said.
But some other trustees said they had many questions about the plan and didn't feel comfortable implementing it right away.
"I want to get it right," trustee Eric Lannen said.
"There are so many questions we haven't answered," trustee Todd Carlton said. "I feel unprepared."
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In the end, the board voted 5-2 to "receive" the report but delay its possible implementation until after a series of workshops.
Carroll ISD has 8,500 students in 11 schools in Southlake and is rated exemplary. About 98% of Carroll’s seniors go to college, according to the district’s website.
Separate from the action plan delayed Monday night, a group of students and graduates recently issued their own report on what they call systemic racism in the district.
Their group, the Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition, and recently issued a list of demands, which include asking school board members to “denounce the individual and systemic racism in Southlake and unequivocally state that ‘Black Lives Matter.’”
Meanwhile, opponents formed their own group, Southlake Families, which urged the district to delay the decision and “focus on fall classes, not setting up a district diversity police,” according to its website.
