HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-07-08-2020-min (Demographic Change Subcommittee)Town of Lexington
Subcommittee on Demographic Change
Minutes of the meeting held on Monday, July 8, 2013
Parker Room, Town Offices
Present: Nancy Corcoran - Ronchetti, Pat Costello, Nirmala Garimella, Albert Huang, Bhumip
Khasnabish, Peter Lee, Dan Krupka
The meeting was called to order at 7:40 p.m.
The minutes of the meeting held on June 11, 2013 were approved.
Action items
• Prepare outlines (bullet points) for all sections of the report by July 29 so that we can assemble
a complete outline by July 31— ALL
• Use the outline to prepare the first draft of the report to enable discussion at the August 13
meeting — Dan
Newspaper article
We resumed our discussion of asking local newspapers to write a series of articles on the experiences of
immigrants along the lines published in 2005. We decided to delay our request to the September —
October timeframe, by which time we expect to have an early draft in the hands of the boards of CAAL
and IAL as well as other stakeholders. The concept would be to create profiles of residents of Asian
ancestry who are active in Town affairs. This would allow the subjects to talk about what led to their
involvement, their experiences and to speculate on the barriers that are preventing broader
participation.
Barriers to participation from the perspective of PTA and PTO members
We discussed the potential barriers to greater participation in Town affairs described by PTA and PTO
members whom we interviewed, and concluded that, with one exception, the reasons were the same as
those suggested by members of boards and committees: culture; language; lack of awareness and
information regarding opportunities; and families with two working parents who are busy with their jobs
and children. The exception is lack of welcome — "cliquish committees," "lack of welcome to Asians,"
intimidation by incumbents on committees," "lack of encouragement." Because the experience of these
interviewees is restricted to PTAs and PTOs, we interpret this assessment to reflect their experiences on
PTAs and PTOs.
We concluded that the "language" issue, cited by many interviewees, is most likely a concern about
effective communication and the ability to engage effectively in a spirited debate rather than about the
ability to read and speak English, because most of the parents work and operate in situations where
English is used.
Recommendations 1.0
We agreed that recommendations would be:
o directed at The Asian communities, notably CAAL and IAL, and at the Board of
Selectmen and the heads of PTAs and PTOs. How to convey the recommendations to
the Korean community remains to be determined.
o limited in number and broken down into short- and long -term (ST, LT)
Dan agreed to pull together our collective suggestions on recommendations. They are found in the
appendix to these minutes
Plans for next month's meeting
At the August 13 meeting we will discuss the first draft of the report, which will be based on the outlines
prepared before the end of July.
Next Meeting
Our next meeting: Tuesday, August 13 in the Ellen Stone Room in Cary Hall.
The meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Dan Krupka
Appendix to the Minutes of July 8, 2013 - Draft recommendations
Recommendations for the Asian communities
• Encourage participation in Town and School affairs ( "push ") by all possible means — identifying
and communicating opportunities to serve, providing information on how the Town works (e.g.,
a mini Citizens' Academy)and how PTAs and PTOs operate, identifying potential candidates
within the community, mobilizing support, etc. (ST)
• Strengthen communications with Town and School leaders, and use these channels to promote
greater participation by the Asian communities (ST)
Recommendations for the Board of Selectmen
• Strengthen communications with the Asian communities beyond attendance at cultural events
and candidates' night to include candid discussions of how to more rapidly and effectively
integrate members of the Asian communities into the fabric of the Town. This would allow the
Town to benefit from the skills, experiences and perspectives of the Asian community and for
the Asians to feel more inclined to participate in Town affairs. (ST)
• Modify the management of committees by:
• requesting that each committee list the skills and experiences required (e.g. knowledge
of finance, ability to effectively research topics of importance to the committee, ability
to produce reports), and describe what is expected of committee members (attendance,
responsiveness, active participation in discussions)(ST)
• Identifying pathways to encourage short -term participation (on projects) that would
allow residents with appropriate skills to contribute and to gain brief exposure to the
way the Town operates (LT)
• developing a more open process for committees to publicize and gain access to the skills
they require. Currently, it appears to be based primarily on inviting people from the
personal networks of committee members or members of sponsoring bodies. (LT)
Recommendations to the leaders of PTAs and PTOs
• Establish communications with leaders of Asian communities with the objective of engaging a
larger percentage of parents of Asian ancestry to participate in PTAs and PTOS (ST)
• Within each school, approach Asian parents who have been active and ask for their help and
advice on how to be more welcoming to the Asian community (ST)
• Establish a collaboration with CAAL and IAL leaders to (LT):
• identify what is leading to the perception of lack of welcome in PTAs and PTOs
• Identify and implement steps that would increase that welcome and increase the
participation of Asian parents