GREENFIELD — Members of the School Committee took some time during this week’s meeting to acknowledge allegations of racism in the schools that were recently discussed by the Human Rights Commission.
“This is an issue that has preceded this particular sitting of the School Committee, and while I’m not going to bring a particular motion right now, I wanted to not let that conversation go unacknowledged or unnoticed,” School Committee Chair Stacey Sexton said on Wednesday. “I do think that, as folks of conscience, we have a responsibility to, when we hear that sort of thing, say, ‘Yes, we are hearing you,’ and then deliberately and thoughtfully, moving forward, figure out what we’re gonna do about that.
“Even though we might not have started it [and] there might not be an individual cause,” Sexton continued, “we have a responsibility to act and to live up to the mission of our schools, which is that we are a place where every student is supported on their path to success, and we mean every student.”
Wednesday’s School Committee comments come after members of the Human Rights Commission discussed last month what they describe as longstanding inaction on behalf of the school district to address racially motivated bullying and harassment in the schools.
“Just in general with bullying, that’s not taken seriously in the schools. You hear about parents, regardless of their race, going to the schools over and over about their kids being bullied, and absolutely nothing is done,” commission member Linda Goldstein said. “I’ve never been able to figure out why it’s never addressed, regardless of whether it’s dealing with racism or antisemitism, or just, you know, your 12-year-old who’s being harassed because some group in school thinks this is funny. And it’s just decade after decade after decade, not being dealt with.”
“My concern is the students. We have all these white people trying to figure out racism in an all-white school with five Black kids, and they’re the minority. That’s what I worry about,” said Nate Woodard, Human Rights Commission co-chair and a senior at Greenfield High School. “My other main concern is we’re not the School Committee. We may have initiatives that we want to do, but the School Committee needs to bring up those initiatives.”
Woodard said he wants to see curriculum on the civil rights movement, and more education of Black history than just during Black History Month, as well as acknowledgment of other cultural history months like National Native American Heritage Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Commission member Angela Campbell, who holds a doctorate in education and serves as vice president of institutional mission, culture and climate at Greenfield Community College, suggested the commission work with the School Committee to implement changes in curriculum and active bystander trainings.
“Could we build a bridge, a partnership?” Campbell asked her colleagues. “Is there some way that we can have a regular standing meeting to talk about this and move an agenda forward with some strategic goals and some real actions, that we can support the School Committee? We can also hold them accountable.”
The commission continued discussions during its May 11 meeting.
Sexton told School Committee members on Wednesday that the issue of racism in schools is not exclusive to Greenfield. Rather, it’s a regional and nationwide problem. The committee, Sexton continued, has a responsibility to act and endeavor to make the situation better for students.
Committee members suggested they look at specific data related to disciplinary incidents, and Mayor Ginny Desorgher, who also serves on the School Committee, encouraged members of the Human Rights Commission to reach out with their specific suggestions for curriculum improvements.
Member Melodie Goodwin noted that some of the statements made during the Human Rights Commission meeting were inaccurate, and that, according to state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) data, Greenfield’s schools do exhibit diversity among staff members.
“As a citizen, I was disturbed by some of the comments about our staff because I know that it is very hard to hire people and … the school district has worked incredibly hard to recruit people,” she said. “Some statements were not accurate about the staff in our buildings, and I think that disturbed me, because it sort of misrepresented who our staff was. … That disturbed me as a citizen, that somebody perceived our school staff as one race.”
Responding to a comment by Goldstein, who described the issue as “systemic,” Human Rights Commission Co-Chair Paul Jablon had said, “I would call upon the teachers of color to be leading this, except there aren’t any. Seriously, not one. There’s not even a vision to have teachers of color.”
According to Greenfield’s district profile on the DESE website, of the 278.9 full-time equivalent staff (representing both full-time and part-time employees), 2.6 are Asian, one is Black or African American, 11 are Hispanic or Latino, three are multi-race and 262.3 are white.
The School Committee did not dictate any next steps during its Wednesday meeting. However, the topic of racism and bullying in schools is expected to be discussed at a future meeting with input from the Human Rights Commission.
