Dedham Public Schools Welcomes Diversity, Equity Officer

DEDHAM, MA — Dedham Public Schools welcomed the first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer to the district this month. Dr. Oneida Fox Roye will take over the new position in mid-October, which culminates over four years of planning by the Dedham School Committee and DPS leadership team.

Fox Roye will immediately take over the DPS Equity and Inclusion Task Force, begin to provide training, coaching and support for educators, and serve as a DPS liaison to the Dedham Human Rights Commission.

"Creating a safe, culturally aware school environment has been a focus of our school district for many years, and the establishment of this new position on our leadership team will serve us well in unifying, formalizing and expanding our efforts in the future," said Michael Welch, Superintendent of Dedham Public Schools.

As one of three finalists, Fox Roye had the opportunity to tour Dedham schools and conducted meetings, virtually with faculty, parents and students over the last two weeks. Faculty, parents and students when asked for feedback following the tours and meetings, regularly noted Fox Roye’s emphasis on collaboration, her intentions to help create connections between students, families and the community, a willingness to actively work with students and her strong background in developing training programs.

Fox Roye joins Dedham from Boston Public Schools, where she was Director of English Language Arts and Literacy, K-12. Fox Roye holds a Doctorate of Education in Language, Literacy, and Cultural Studies and a Masters of Education from Boston University. Fox Roye’s work in Boston to develop policies for the effective integration of culturally and linguistically diverse texts as part of core curriculum adoption, as well as her work as Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee during her tenure as a Board Member for the MA International Literacy Association, stood her apart from the 28 candidates who originally applied for the Dedham DEI Officer position.

Finalist candidates for the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer role were selected and interviewed by an 18-member candidate search committee which included school principals, parents, educators, school committee members and representatives from the Dedham Human Rights Commission.

In 2017, Dedham Public Schools introduced an Equity and Inclusion Task Force, designed to identify ways in which DPS could improve efforts to welcome all members of the Dedham community and to help increase the ability of the DPS community to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for all students, inclusive of all cultures, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, religions, socio-economic status, family structure, and primary language.