Arika Mareck waves to teachers and students as she enters her office in the Learning Lab,  ready to talk through equality problems with staff.

Mareck is one of three equity coaches employed by the district and has an office at both the high school and PSI.

The equity coach program, started at the high school last year, was designed to create school environments that provide equal opportunities for all students, according to Mareck.

Mareck said the change to district-wide services has improved the bigger picture.

“I’m really enjoying getting the whole landscape of the district, seeing the strengths that we have and also the growth areas,” Mareck said.

Mareck said her role as an equity coach provides a voice for teachers to talk with about topics such as the achievement gap and racial issues.

Junior Aerial Lark-Ingram said she thinks specifically IB classes are not as equal as others because people of color are expected to do worse than white students.

“People of color (in IB classes) have less equal opportunities than other ethnicities because there are such low standards,” Lark-Ingram said.

Junior Dominique Robinson said she thinks the coaches are important, but there is more that could be done to make classes equitable.

“I think the idea is great, that teachers are getting another voice on how they’re doing,” Robinson said. “But now knowing this, it seems that they need to work with teachers (more).”

Business teacher Kara Mueller said her equity coach is a resource she can talk to about problems in her classes.

“I feel safe to go to these people and be very authentic and be very open,” Mueller said. “I like that, feeling that I have someone to go to because I don’t have all the answers.”

Mareck said in the future she hopes to see the program grow in a positive direction.

“It’d be nice to see it expanded, however that looks,” Mareck said.