Racism in the Gill-Montague Regional School District is troubling enough. To learn from your reports and from talking with GMRSD families, I know that well-intentioned school personnel acknowledge that they need to do better.
Yes, certainly! But to learn that these reports and concerns were brought to the administration’s attention many months ago and that the children and families who have been harmed feel that nothing significant or effective enough has been done to repair the harm, and that nothing significant or effective enough has been done to hold accountable those children who have caused the harm or to support them to understand and acknowledge their impact, not to mention repair the harm, is even more disturbing.
Wouldn’t it be great if GMRSD could transform to grow and become a leader and role model for preventing and responding, at all levels of the school community, to racism (and homophobia, anti-Semitism, sexism, trans-phobia), and all the other ways we humans denigrate and intimidate “others.” I hope it will not be too late for these children (and families and staff and administration).
Cate Woolner
Northfield