ST. CLOUD - The St. Cloud area school district is continuing efforts to diversify its teachers and support staff.

Numbers released by the St. Cloud area school district say they currently have 10,100 students and 4,497 are defined as "non-white" (44.52 percent of the student population). This number has grown considerably compared to the 2002-2003 school year, when 13.05 percent of students were non-white.

The district has 1,761 employees and 127 are non-white (7.21 percent of the teaching population). In 2002-2003 the teacher racial/ethnic diversity trend was only .92 percent.

The information packet from the human resources department says research indicates that student achievement improves when students learn form and interact with staff that reflect their cultures, background and histories.

The department says it has the ongoing goal to recruit and retain a workforce of qualified employees that are representative of the proportion of radial/ethnic minorities, women and people with disabilities.

The numbers and information will be presented to the school board during their work study session on Monday night.

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