Several Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) employees are calling on the agency to dismantle the new Office of Partnerships and Equitable Practices (PEP) because it was created “haphazardly” with no input from people of color in the department — or even the people assigned to run and staff the new office.
DPI officials acknowledge that the new office, intended to focus on equity, was established in September not by announcing the opening and recruiting a new equity director, but by reassigning Director of Teaching and Learning Tamara Mouw to lead it and assigning two employees from other teams to staff it — none of whom even applied for their new jobs.