Somersworth Superintendent John Shea said his frustration with the attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in schools goes beyond any one policy.
It’s the barrage of federal and state efforts targeting DEI without saying what — and what doesn’t — count as diversity, equity, and inclusion that he finds most troubling.
“It’s intended to knock everybody off balance, intended to create chaos,” Shea said. “My goodness, creating chaos in the public education system with kids? That's outrageous.”
Somersworth — along with Dover, Hanover, Oyster River, Portsmouth, and Norwich, Vermont — is now part of a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and National Education Association to push back against some of those restrictions.
That case centers on a new federal “compliance” form schools must sign by April 24 to show they are following anti-discrimination laws. As part of its messaging to districts on this requirement, the Trump administration has specifically warned that schools engaging in “illegal DEI practices” could be at risk of losing federal funding.
The New Hampshire Department of Education has set an earlier deadline for schools, giving them until April 17 to submit the compliance form. So far, more than 130 districts have complied, though the Portsmouth and Grantham school districts rescinded their forms.
The lawsuit challenging the compliance letter is one of two the ACLU and teacher’s union organizations have filed against the Trump Administration, which has followed through on threats to eliminate federal funding. Friday, the administration moved to pull Maine’s education funding over the state’s trans athlete policy.
Districts protest vague definitions
Jay Badams, superintendent for Hanover and Dresden schools, flagged the potential impact of the Trump administration on his district’s DEI efforts long before they joined the lawsuit. In a January blog post, Badams said the school district remained committed to the equity plan they adopted in 2022.
“Despite these unknowns, SAU 70 continues to prioritize equity in our ongoing academic, student support, facilities, and governance improvement efforts in concert with our Strategic Plan,” he wrote.
Badams reiterated the commitment in a statement issued Friday, after the district formally signed onto the lawsuit. He said “diversity, equity, and inclusion are fundamental values that are embedded into the fabric of our curriculum, educational practices, and extra-curricular offerings by virtue of our mission and community-supported policy to promote equity in our schools.”
“The U.S. Department of Education’s unclear ban on DEI undercuts our ability to adequately meet the needs of our students and overrides our communities’ decision to uphold these values in our public schools,” Badams continued.
Christine Boston, assistant superintendent for the Dover School District, noted that educators’ code of ethics requires a commitment to “equality, equity, and inclusion,” for staff, students, and the school community.
“The (federal order prohibiting DEI initiatives) through its vaguely worded prohibitions, threatens the essence of what keeps our learning environment a place where all students and staff are welcomed and succeed,” Boston said in a statement.
Shea, in Somersworth, said state and federal anti-DEI initiatives have felt like an attack on public education. He’s encouraging his staff to focus on the day-to-day education of students.
“It's not left versus right. It's right versus wrong,” Shea said. “And it's about just putting education, you know, being outspoken about what is good for our kids and their education.”
'They've come to be understood as buzzwords'
Even for those not directly involved in the lawsuit, the wave of anti-DEI policies has been challenging.
Arlynn Polletta, the chief equity officer for the Exeter Region Cooperative School, said DEI is misunderstood and mischaracterized. She pointed to a proposed state ban on DEI initiatives that was included as part of the House’s budget plan.
The language in that policy is especially broad in prohibiting interventions for any group of students, Polletta said, and she fears that could include special education services, free and reduced-priced lunch, and English language supports.
“We deeply value human differences and commonalities, and we believe that it really strengthens our schools, builds empathy for students, and fosters a deeper understanding,” she said. “And so, unfortunately, these words have come to mean something that they really don't in our schools. And they've come to be understood as buzzwords.”
Bill Preble, the founder of School Climate and Learning in New Hampshire, has helped schools with initiatives aimed at making all students feel more included for nearly 30 years. He said the lack of clear definition in many prohibitions on DEI is making that work harder.
“Everybody sees racism, everybody sees sexism and they don't know what to do with it,” Preble said. “But you can see now that directly confronting issues of racism is a pretty tough thing to do these days with the DEI.”
