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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-06-09-LHRC-min TOWN OF LEXINGTON HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Thursday, June 09, 2022 Conducted by Remote Participation LHRC MEMBERS PRESENT Tanya Gisolfi, Chairperson (TG) Mona D. Roy, Vice-Chair (MDR) Christina Lin, Clerk (CL) Stephanie Hsu (SH) Lexington Public School District - Larry Freeman (LF) Town of Lexington, Police - Christopher Barry (CB) Town of Lexington, Human Services - Melissa Interess (MI) GUEST PRESENTER Nicole Locher - Lexington Dyslexia Parent Group, Lexington Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) /Lexington Special Education Parent Teacher Association (SEPTA) The minutes were taken by Christina Lin, LHRC Clerk • Meeting Called to order and welcome at 8:30 A.M., Quorum was present at 8:30AM • May 2022 Meeting Minutes - Motion to approve without additional changes by MI, seconded by CC, approved by unanimous vote • Update on 2022 Race Amity Video - An earlier idea to raise a banner over town center has been canceled due to the ongoing construction for the center streetscape project. Student artworks have been received and a video montage is nearly complete. TG, SH and CL will meet to record an introduction. Will work with town government entities and community organizations for promotion and awareness of Race Amity Day and the video. • Immigration Heritage Month Proclamation - A brief discussion around the aim of the proclamation to celebrate immigrants and their descendants and acknowledge the contributions of immigrants to the USA while also recognizing that Indigenous peoples and cultures thrive and thrived on this land that the country sits on. Approved by unanimous vote. Later - audience member asked whether this proclamation would be forwarded to the Select Board and if the School Committee could receive a copy to consider supporting it as well. • Juneteenth/African American Music Month - A brief reminder that Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, and this date is in recognition of the enslaved people in Texas not learning about their freedom until June 19th – two (2) full years after the end of the Civil War and the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation. A member emphasized the importance of this holiday, its relevance to the Lexington Human Rights Committee because it is about ensuring peoples' rights to equality and that this responsibility belongs to every individual. TG additional a reminder that it is also Caribbean Heritage Month, Pride Month and African American Music History Month and ABCL will host its annual Walk for Freedom. • Literacy Equity Presentation by Nicole Locher. Ms. Locher is the co-founder of Lexington's Dyslexia Parents Group which is a subgroup of LexSEPTA/SEPAC (Lexington's Special Education PTA and Special Education Parent Advisory Council). Some local parents recently launched LexReads to supports reading equity for all kids by advocating for evidenced based early literacy instruction in the general education classroom, as well as in the interventions LPS uses for struggling readers. The aim of today's presentation is to provide an update on work being done around literacy and what it means from an equity lens. • In 2018 Massachusetts passed a law requiring screening for risk of dyslexia, followed by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's (DESE) MA Dyslexia Guidelines on early screening, reading interventions through a multi- tiered system of support and referral to special education. DESE also launched Mass Literacy, an effort to empower educators and students in Massachusetts through evidence-based early literacy. This is an encouraging direction moving towards a preventative model starting in kindergarten, using a comprehensive approach of the Essential Components of reading, which includes: phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Explicit and systematic instruction of phonics teaches early readers the essential skills they need to sound out and decode words, leading to greater vocabulary acquisition and comprehension, whereas memorizing whole words can limit the reader to learning only those specific words. Humans are not born with the ability to read; it is a learned skill that must be taught explicitly! While LPS is evaluating their literacy programs and has recently added phonics and phonemic awareness instruction in their early literacy classrooms, parents continue to be concerned about some lingering methodologies that have been debunked and may continue to contribute to inequities in reading in LPS students. Of key concern is the "3-queing" approach which encourages early readers to use syntax, meaning and visual cues to decipher unfamiliar words, rather than the evidence-based skill of sounding out and decoding the words. Guessing at unfamiliar words can lead to the masking of reading skill deficits and of learning disabilities such as dyslexia, as well as forming bad reading habits, which puts kids at risk of reading failure when they encounter more complex text in later grades. Looking at recent 2019 & 2021 MCAS data for English Language Arts (ELA) for Grades 3-8, 50% of students who are economically disadvantaged do not- /partially meets expectations; while 75% of African American students do not- /partially meets expectations. Special education students are also at roughly 50% does not-/partially meets expectations in ELA. These numbers include 8th graders and leads one to question how these cohorts of students can keep up with other academic courses in school when reading is a fundamental skillset for many classes. The Dyslexia Parents Group wants to support early identification and evidenced based intervention for students by requesting that LPS publish a decision tree used district-wide by all teachers which will bring a standardized criteria and referral system to the Response to Intervention (RTI) model used when referring struggling readers to reading intervention. Standardizing this process will reduce any potential bias in the reading assessment and RTI process. Making this available to parents will help them better understand the school's reading assessment process and decision criteria for reading intervention referrals and support for struggling readers. [end presentation] • Questions A committee member asked for clarification on the MCAS data. Ms. Locher confirmed that 75% of African American students did not meet expectations. The data comes from MA -DESE and is public information. Another committee member pointed out their concern over students not meeting literacy expectations and its impact on their ability to keep up with other subjects. Ms. Locher pointed out that the MCAS literacy number does not directly correspond to language-based learning disabilities, but that it is an indication that the student may not be lacking in solid reading skills. TG thanked Ms. Locher for raising the equity concerns around reading skill attainment. She also reminded the committee that the scope in interest on early literacy is limited concerns around equity for the purposes of the LHRC and the committee does not wish to intrude on the school committee's role and responsibility for oversight of education in LPS. • Member updates - [CB] - 2 instances of racist graffiti reported in the past month, one at LHS and one on the bike path. The graffiti has been removed. There were no witnesses or camera footage available. • [CL] - shared that she attended the LexPride Asian American Voices event. She did hear feedback from one attendee who was concerned that event organizers had not reminded the audience that panelists were sharing individual experiences and perspectives, and these should not be taken as representative of group identity. One story of concern was an individual panelist personal experience with their family that was homophobic, the story was shared in such a way that the audience may have generalized homophobia to be representative of an entire cultural group. TG added that speaking as a white woman, no one assumes she speaks for all white women whereas often, people of the global community are presumed to speak for their entire group rather than as a single individual. MR pointed out the 'danger of a single story'. The Racial Disparities subgroup met and discussed focusing their scope on the immediate future. The town's Chief Equity Officer also attended the meeting and there was discussion to look at data around the town's employment retention and recruitment. A question was raised about the size of the committee (only 2 LHRC members). While the committee could possibly expand, only 2 LHRC members may sit on it at a time and the addition of community members would be greatly appreciated. • [MR] - Shared a few LHRC members (including TG, who was honored with the opportunity to speak on behalf of the LHRC’s co-sponsorship) attended a CAAL photography exhibit and the 2nd annual My American Story from CaLex. Also wanted to draw attention to the South Asian Festival- "Spotlight on South Asia” organized by a local Girl Scout, the AAPI 5K walk and run and that May is Mental Health Awareness month. • [LF] - Informed the committee that the schools in LPS annually update their School Improvement Plans (SIP). This year’s plans are tied to the district's Strategic Plans which includes a major effort to push DEI work. The updated SIPs have been posted to each building's website. LHS is not yet available, but all others are up. • Possible Time Change discussion - several dates and times were suggested. efforts to ensure working members and those affiliated through town roles could attend were considered. 2nd Friday or Wednesday of each month at 9AM is agreed proposal to start in September. Also - TG mentioned she would like to see the committee expand by 2 members and pointed to the heavy workload taken on by such a small committee. Additionally - LICA reached out with some interest in exploring programming on the misuse of Christianity to push an agenda of promoting a white supremacy mindset. • Logo discussion - tabled • Meeting adjourned at 9:45AM Next Meeting September, 2022. 1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE • LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02420 minutes for comment. Members of the Committee will neither