Changes coming to Fresno Unified’s DEI department. Here’s what we know
Fresno Unified Superintendent Misty Her has named administrator Carlos Castillo as chief academic officer, among a slew of changes impacting the district’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts ahead of the new school year.
Castillo previously served as Fresno Unified’s head of DEI — a position that has been “reconfigured,” according to the district.
The district told The Bee in a statement that the the role’s responsibilities will be fulfilled under a new position of associate superintendent of family and student services.
That position has not yet been filled. The administrator will oversee “multiple departments including the Department of Prevention and Intervention (DPI), Parent University, African American Academic Acceleration (A4) and others serving our students and families,” the district said.
Along with the reconfiguration of the chief of DEI position, district leaders from A4 will also host listening sessions to collect community feedback on potential name changes for the program.
These potential changes come as the Trump Administration takes aim at DEI programs. In February, the Department of Education unveiled an “End DEI” portal encouraging community members to “submit reports of discrimination based on race or sex in publicly-funded K-12 schools.”
Fresno Unified said a possible name change is being considered “to best represent the work of the department.” The district didn’t comment on whether this shift is the result of external pressures, such as a lawsuit by the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation in February that alleges racial discrimination against non-Black students.
While Fresno Unified said A4 served 7,950 students during the 23-24 school year, including 1,212 single-race Black students, the foundation accused the program of being exclusionary.
“From speaking to parents, it’s been indicated to us that the school district directly advertises these programs only to African American students, and there have been students who have attended this program and have been redirected to other programs on the basis of their race,” Wilson Freeman, a Pacific Legal Foundation attorney who’s representing the group, said.
The school district said in February, shortly after the lawsuit was filed, that it wasn’t planning any changes to its DEI department or A4 program.
