Concord School District has hired a new diversity, equity, inclusion and justice director, making it the fourth public school district in the state to create such a position.

At a meeting Monday night, Concord School Board members voted unanimously to hire Quinci Worthey to be the new Director of DEIJ efforts for the district.

“After a thorough interview process, reference checks and the history of work that he’s done in Manchester and other locations, I think he is an ideal candidate,” Superintendent Kathleen Murphy told Board members Monday. “We had students on the panel... and they really endorsed Quinci as being somebody that they would be really happy to have in their school.”

Worthey was previously the Director of Workforce and Community Success at Deo Mwano Consultancy in Manchester. He has also recently worked as the Runaway and Homeless Youth Continuum Manager for Waypoint NH and Program Manager for the Equity Leaders Fellowship. Worthey, an Adrian College graduate who is originally from Michigan, relocated to New Hampshire in 2010 for an Americorps program.

Worthey will begin work now on a 143-day contract for $60,775 that runs until the end of the school year.

Concord’s vision for the DEIJ position, outlined in the job description, places the DEIJ director as “integral member” of the leadership team, responsible for defining, assessing and promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and justice and for running initiatives around curriculum and professional development. School DEI coordinators’ scope typically encompasses work around race and ethnicity, but also gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability and socioeconomic status.

Worthey will be working only in Concord, and not in the Bow School District, despite the two districts previously considering a partnership to share a DEIJ director. The two districts decided their needs were different and will be moving forward separately, Bow superintendent Dean Cascadden confirmed Tuesday.

Concord School District, which has a student population that is 20% non-white, is among the most racially diverse school districts in the state.

Concord is the fourth New Hampshire school district to create a position like this. Manchester School District’s Chief Equity Officer Tina Philibotte started in July 2021, closely followed by Exeter Region Cooperative School District’s DEIJ Director Andres Mejia, who started in August 2021. Oyster River School District hired DEIJ Coordinator Rachael Blansett in June.

]]>