HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-09-14-LHRC-min
TOWN OF LEXINGTON HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, Sept 14, 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 - Collen Dunbar (CD)
Town of Lexington, Human Services - Melissa Interess (MI)
The minutes were taken by Christina Lin, LHRC Clerk
• Meeting Called to order at 9:00 A.M., Quorum was present at 9:00AM
• Meeting Minutes - Not available for approval
• New vacancy on the committee - The chair thanked Cleveland Coates' for his
contribution and service to the committee. Mr. Coates will not be renewing his term on
the committee due to other obligations. Including this departure, the Lexington Human
Rights Committee now has 2 open seats on the committee.
• No Hate November 2022 - A quick reminder that Rev. Reebee Girash (Pilgrim Church),
Anne Mason (First Parish) and Richard Rhodes (Grace Chapel) had reached out to the
LHRC about collaborating on programming around the growing influence of the white
supremacy mindset movement in white Christian hate groups. This topic ties directly to
the themes of No Hate November but awaiting agreement from LICA (Lexington Interfaith
Congregation Association before proceeding. The program may need to be separate from
No Hate November due to timing and need to plan now for November. Back-up options
for 2022 No Hate November event were discussed. Raise awareness using the No Hate
November banner and [CD] will check to see if LPD would allow use of their flashing
billboard/message board to help raise awareness of No Hate November. [SH] previously
organized the Kindness Challenge and would be willing to discuss the possibility of
resurrecting this partnership with the schools. Also proposed was an Active Bystander
Training (TAB) program which may need funding. It is possible that funds are still
available in the Human Services budget to help cover costs should TAB programming is
green lit.
• LHRC Sponsorship requests
o [MR] motioned to approve sponsorship of the Lexington SEPAC/SEPTA
Dyslexia & ADHD Awareness Month activities on October 20, 2022,
passed by unanimous vote. This programming includes 4 short film
documentaries followed by a discussion. The program is reflective of the
committees’ values of inclusion, neurodiversity acceptance and its
proclamation to support Dyslexia Awareness Month in October. MR
suggested considering updating the proclamation from 2021 to included
ADHD awareness as well.
o MR also motioned to approve a request for co-sponsorship of the 1st
Parish Church in cooperation with Hindus in Lexington joint Diwali
celebration on October 22, 2022. A member highlighted Rev. Mason's
intentional efforts to work in partnership with the Hindu community in
Lexington to bring forth this event as an example of best practice. They
also pointed out the privilege of having an event that honors cross-cultural
partnership in the religious space. Non-Ibrahimic religions are rarely
centered, and this is a special and rare opportunity.
• Member Updates
o MI - The town began partnership with Eliot Community Human Services to
provide free access to mental health therapy. This is an opportunity funded
through ARPA and is already nearing fully booked (M-F) since it began in
late August. Demand for mental health support services has been
extremely high. A waitlist is likely to start as more community members are
made aware and sign up. The Lexington Public School District already sent
a notice to families. Just under 50% of the case loads are for adults and
rest are for youth. Cases have been accepted on a first come-first-serve
basis. Triage of cases is difficult to determine during intake of the client. A
committee member asked if there was data collected that could be relevant
to the 'impact of COVID on persons with disabilities' working group and
acknowledged this may be too sensitive to make available. COVID has been
a theme, but MI also put emphasis on anxiety and depression as a
significant contributing factor among youth. The pandemic uncovered a lot
of underlying issues around anxiety and depression and is a contributed to
exacerbation of these mental health issues. Additional, as greater
awareness and more discussion on mental health permeates the
community, more people are willing to engage in seeking help. Provider
shortage is also an issue that contributes to increased waitlists and
demand. Other resources such as Therapy Matchers and William College
Interface referral service are used to help spread caseloads when
appropriate.
The Select Board also signed a proclamation on suicide prevention
awareness and Human Services will investigate ways to push out
awareness. They are also working on ideas for Domestic Violence
Awareness Month next month.
o CD - Emily Black is working with the police department as a clinician (who
also happens to be from Eliot) on a jail diversion program. Detective
Ducharme, who recently returned from paternity leave, will be getting more
involved in the jail diversion program.
o LF - At the school committee meeting last night, parents were encouraged
to help increase traffic safety awareness for all modes of commuting that
students may take such as scooter, bicycle, electric skateboard, walking,
etc. Also, Johnny Cole gave an excellent presentation on universal design
learning (UDL) and Mr. Freeman is excited to see the impact it will have in
the classroom.
LF also deferred any additional comments about the school committee
meeting to audience member Eileen Jay [EJ] if time permitted. [EJ]
reinforced LF's comments about the presentation on UDL and followed up
with an update that over the summer ~50 educators worked to develop the
initial DEI curriculum. A final draft should be ready soon and expect to
learn more in an upcoming School Committee meeting.
o MR - The Lex250 committee will have an open house on Wednesday looking
at next steps on celebration of the start of the country.
o SH - The collaborative reform group continues to meet as an informal
group. They are still awaiting finalization as a subcommittee of the
Commission on Disability upon determination (by the Select Board) of who
has the appointment authority. The group recently attended a presentation
by the Wakefield Police Department's mental health liaison as part of their
information gathering on what other police departments do and how their
mental health clinicians participate in crisis intervention.
Additionally, next week is the meeting with the working group on the
Effects of COVID on Persons with Disabilities. A member encouraged this
working group to be intentionally inclusive and ensure their members are
reflective of as many perspectives as possible.
o SL - no updates
o LHRC Meeting Time Change - The committee agreed to conduct future
meetings by remote participation on Zoom (until March of 2023) on the 2nd
Wednesday of each month at 8:45AM. MI will update the zoom link.
o LHRC election of executive board - SH motioned to elect the executive
board slate for the year 2022-23 to be Tanya Gisolfi as Chair, Mona Roy as
Vice Chair and Christina Lin as Clerk. Motion approved by unanimous
vote.
• Unexpected items
o Discussion around the appointing of members of town committees which
was an agenda topic at the latest Select Board meeting. Of concern was
the proposal for the Town Manager to take over the decision-making
responsibility for determining the make-up of town committees. Reducing
this responsibility to a single individual struck several members as a
deflating signal for civic participation and a potential barrier to ensuring
the profile of committees are as diverse, inclusive, and representative as
possible. Members acknowledged that the proposal was rooted in an effort
to find ways to streamline the workload for the Select Board and applauded
the consideration of term limits for all elected and appointed committees
and re-evaluating onboarding of committee members, but felt the proposed
change lacked transparency in the process for populating committees. LF
proposed the committee submit a letter to the Select Board expressing its
concerns. The committee agreed and the Chair proposed a process to
ensure open meeting law would not be violated. A letter will be drafted and
sent to committee members for input and edits. Only TG and CL will
receive inputs and edits from individual committee members and will
incorporate them into a finalized draft letter to be approved by the
committee at the next meeting.
• Next Meeting is Wednesday, October 12, 2022 at 8:45AM
• Meeting adjourned at 9:45AM
1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE • LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02420
minutes for comment. Members of the Committee will neither