HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-08-13-2020-min (Demographic Change Subcommittee)Town of Lexington
Subcommittee on Demographic Change
Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Ellen Stone Room, Cary Hall
Present: Pat Costello, Margaret Heitz, Albert Huang, Martin Hwang, Bhumip Khasnabish, Susie Lee -
Snell, Dan Krupka
The meeting was called to order at 7:40 p.m.
The minutes of the meeting held on July 8, 2013 were approved.
Action items
• Discuss with Greer Swiston (former Alderman) steps, if any, taken in Newton to increase the
civic participation of residents of Asian ancestry —Albert
• Prepare a bullet point list, ready to be turned into text, describing the steps taken by select MA
communities to increase participation of Asian residents in civic affairs (with input from Albert) —
Bhumip and Peter
• Contact interviewees regarding their top reasons for moving to Lexington — Dan
• Edit tables summarizing the issues faced and actions taken by Town departments in response to
the growing Asian population (by August 23). Completing the task is likely to require further
discussions with managers and directors — Margaret and Pat
• Contact former principals regarding actions taken in light of the growing percentage of Asian
students in the Lexington schools — Margaret and Pat
• Contact Margaret Coppe to obtain guidance on how to get the most complete information
regarding measures taken by the Lexington schools in response to the very large and rapidly
growing percentage of Asian students. One of the possibilities is to invite Margaret Coppe to an
upcoming meeting — Bhumip and Dan
• Recommended major enhancements to the draft report to be implemented by Dan
• Place "what attracts" section before "barriers" section
• Place all recommendations at the end of the document
• Include a table of contents with the next revision
• Mention that the statistics on Asian children include those adopted by white parents,
but point out that it's not possible to obtain the number of these adopted children
Actions taken by the Lexington School System
Albert pointed out that the impact of the growing Asian population is most keenly felt in the schools.
However, Robyn Dowling- Grant, who heads the ELL Program (ELLP), has been our sole point of contact
within the Lexington schools. While the ELLP is an important part of the Schools' response, a more
holistic assessment of the steps taken should be included in our report. One obvious issue that we
barely touched on is the hiring of teachers of Asian ancestry. As the above list of action items indicates,
we will contact Margaret Coppe, Chair of the School Committee and a member of the 2020 Vision
Committee to seek her advice on how to proceed in order to obtain a comprehensive assessment.
Plans for next month's meeting
At the September 10 meeting we will discuss the second draft of the report. After incorporating the
recommended changes, we will send the draft for review by select members of the boards of CAAL and
IAL and to Fernando Quezada (Chair of the 2020 Vision Committee) and to Marian Cohen.
Next Meeting
Our next meeting: Tuesday, September 10 in the Ellen Stone Room in Cary Hall.
The meeting adjourned at 9:20 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Dan Krupka