HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-02-08-LHRC-min
TOWN OF LEXINGTON HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, Feb 08, 2023
Conducted by Remote Participation
LHRC MEMBERS PRESENT
Tanya Gisolfi, Chairperson (TG), Mona D. Roy, Vice-Chair (MDR), Christina Lin, Clerk (CL), Salvador
Jaramillo (SJ), Amber Iqbal (AI), Lexington Public School District - Larry Freeman (LF), Town of
Lexington, Police - Collen Dunbar (CD), Town of Lexington, Human Services - Melissa Interess (MI),
Town of Lexington, Selectboard - Mark Sandeen (MS), LPS K-5 ELA and Literacy Department Head ,
Sara Calleja (SC), LPS Superintendent, Julie Hackett (JH), LPS Director of Elementary Education, Caitlin
Ahern (CA), LPS Director of Equity and Student Support, Johnny Cole (JC), LPS Director Planning,
Assessments and Data, Maureen Kavanaugh (MK).
Community attendees - Jesse Quattrocchi (coPresident of SEPAC/SPED), Nicole Locher (Head of the
Lexington Parent Dyslexia Group), Carissa Black (CB)
The minutes were taken by Christina Lin, LHRC Clerk
• Meeting Called to order at. 8:45, Quorum was present.
• A lot of praise and appreciation to the LPS team for the 4th annual systemic barriers
report was voiced by every member of the LHRC and community members who spoke .
LF - question on data about out-of-district (OOD) students regarding issues highlighted
in the systemic barriers report such as demographics of students being placed OOD.
Currently - there is no data on OOD in this report but can be incorporated in the future.
JH pointed out that OOD are still part of the LPS system and should be included in this
report going forward.
A question about flow of OOD placement and whether those students return to LPS and
also the racial breakdown of students placed OOD.
SJ - question regarding DEI training for senior leadership at LPS and if the training for
leadership position optional. Many of the veteran staff already had re levant training but
they still choose to sign up for new trainings along with new staff. The required courses
are 1 of 2 (12hrs/4-5wks or 25hr graduate level course) for year 3 educators. Often,
50% of staff/educators taking the course (5-7 times offered throughout the year) are
veteran while the other half are new teachers. Additionally, there are professional
trainings required for all staff during professional development including an upcoming
session at LHS this upcoming Friday. Another trend noticed by an administrator is that
trainings around DEI have progressed from optional after school to becoming integrated
into regular professional development trainings and faculty meetings across all
buildings. Additionally, many educators and administrators are taking the training even
when not required. Feedback for the in-house trainings has been enthusiastic with great
interest to continue the learning.
TG - Concern expressed for how teachers are feeling overwhelmed in the current climate
and whether there is pushback on taking the training. JH appreciated the concern for
staff and assured that educators value the DEI work and training.
SJ - Additionally, is the racial diversity among teachers spread evenly across
departments in schools or are they clustered within subjects like World Language? A
note that Brookline Public Schools has greater racial diversity among its teachers
suggests LPS can do more to increase the diversity of its teachers. While LPS has
improved racial diversity of its staff is above state level averages, there is more work to
do. Part of the reasons Brookline’s number may be higher can be due to the fact that
they began actively looking at diversifying staff as early as 2008 and they are a lso more
Black and Brown residents in their town which might offer some advantages in recruiting
educators of color (EOC). Part of the work in recruiting EoC is to capitalize on the fact
that Lexington is actually majority students of color. LPS also wants to provide a more
complete picture of the diversity of the district including capturing data and recruiting
staff representation along other areas of identity such as LGBTQIA+ identity and religion.
The district also looks at staff diversity by building and department to assess whether
greater support needs to be provided. Implementing a new staff survey to capture data
along other categories of identity and understanding where intersectionality’s exist will
help with an even more in-depth analysis of DEI efforts at LPS.
JH - How does the district recruit more diverse candidates? The district has guidelines
and information on its Equity website and links within the report that. Employees of
color provide feedback on practices that are useful for retention. LPS struggles wi th
teacher shortages as with all districts nationwide as well as a reduced pipeline of
candidates of color in the education pipeline. LPS does not require licensure as a
prerequisite for hiring as one step that enables the district to expand on the pool of
possible candidates and will work with those individuals to get to licensure if needed.
LPS also is partnering with Quincy Public Schools to recruit candidates into teacher
education programs to increase the pipeline of educators of color.
MS - expressed interest in data around disciplinary outcomes for LGBTQ students. The
Systemic Barriers Report does not have the ability to track discipline data based on
sexual orientation and gender identity because this information is not attached to the
individual discipline incidents. However, data from the Youth at Risk Behavior Survey is
included and provides some information about the experiences of LGBTQ youth at school
and this information protects the anonymity of the students.
AI - Students can often feel more comfortable connecting to a counselor or social worker
who they can relate to. How many counselors are BIPOC at LPS? LPS does have a diverse
mental health support staff and is in the process of redistributing caseloads to spread
the work more evenly and will work on the needs of students who may benefit more from
being assigned to a counselor they see reflected in themselves. An LHRC member
emphasized getting this message out to students because most students assume they
have to go to the counselor assigned to them. About 1/3 of mental health staff are
BIPOC. At the same point, the district is also cognizant that this work often results in
additional emotional labor. While many staff with marginalized identities choose to
support affinity spaces, the leaders of these departments are careful not to set this as an
expectation. The year three training for new staff is provided to ensure staff can meet
the needs of all students regardless of their identity. In fact, a recent focus group of some
Black students at LHS, the students listed staff they most identified with and not all
were Black.
CD - Noticing that bullying has gone up. Looking at the bullying incidents and
recognizing that it is particularly challenging at the elementary level and also that t here
is a difference between allegations and confirmed instances. What is the process once an
incident is reported online? The form is delivered to the building administrator and the
office of the Director of Equity and Student Support. Once the building admin receives
the report, they investigate to determine if the incident meets the legal definition of
bullying. Either way, the district intervenes and follows up with investigation findings
and the follow up supportive and therapeutic actions. The increased reporting is partly a
result of standardizing use of the form reported all incidents even if the initial report was
through a staff member or parent.
SH questions read by Christina - 1. How many disciplinary students are moved to OOD?
I understand there are other situations where students need to be OOD, but of the
students who are considered "disciplinary or therapeutic", do we know if/or how many
end up in OOD schools? 2. What are the demographics of students who are placed in
OOD therapeutic programs due through this process? 3. Do we have reports on how
these students do once they are OOD? How many return to LPS, and how have they done
upon return? 4. Out of District Placements a nd how they are reflected in the numbers
(i.e., how many disciplinary/therapeutic students end up OOD/do we track how they do
once OOD/demographics of these specific students). If it wasn’t discussed I was
wondering how many Metco students are OOD, and how we are transitioning them into
LPS. There is a lack of belonging both in your home district and the district you are
placed in (much like OOD students) which can lead to students acting out. MR added a
corollary question - are students of color who are SPED kids often more likely to be
outplaced? Dr. Hackett shared that there have been some situations which led to an
outplacement or returned to Boston and followed up with a suggestion to study these
incidents from the last couple years to better understand circumstances leading to an
OOD placement or leaving LPS. JC added that OOD are never a result of discipline but
rather an evaluative process between the SPED team and parents.
TG - asking about the racial makeup of the Boston students and also if they have access
to Wi-fi on the bus. Demographic makeup of the Boston students was shared in the Chat
by MK: We currently have 220 METCO students, .5% Asian, 72.3% Black/African
American, 24.6% Hispanic, Multi racial 1.8%, White 0.9%. Dr. Hackett explain ed that
LPS was hoping to provide wi-fi on the Boston buses during the pandemic but ran into
supply and the district can bring this issue back up to be addressed. Dr. Hackett also
explained that the METCO program has changed in the last few years with ne w
involvement from the state. Acceptance into the METCO program and school assignment
is now handled by the state rather than the METCO directors which has changed the
profile of the students. There are some concerns with how these changes are impacting
the METCO program.
Guest NL- Concerned about the academic performance. There’s concern about the
MCAS results for Black and Brown, SPED, low-income students at 3rd grade. It is known
that students who have not yet learned to read by 3rd grade, the chances of them
becoming proficient readers drops dramatically. Despite the improvement in scores by
10th grade, there’s great concern for younger students who may be falling through the
cracks and not prepared well to meet the academic challenges middle school. The
question is what can be done for them? If we can pay close attention to the subgroups
who are not performing well on the 3rd grade MCAS. JH responded that the district is
following this closely.
An additional question on whether the district can track the number of parents who hire
private tutors across all subjects to support a struggling learner? Is there data on this
because it is hard to know if the additional outside tutoring is also contributing to the
growth in student learning over time. If tutoring is a contributing factor, this can factor
into economic disparities for low-income families because of the expense of tutors and
neuro psych evaluations. Dr. Hackett said they can see if there’s a way to track private
tutoring. There have been many new students moving into the district and an increasing
number of these students present with significant special learning needs. This is a
departure from past trends and needs to be factored into interpretation of outcomes. SC
- Upper elementary students who are struggling with reading are receiving support from
reading specialists inside and outside of the general ed classroom. they are learning
skills to advocate for UDL (universal design learning) accommodations in preparation for
middle school. This summer as many as 30 reading specialists and special education
teachers (across all middle and elementary schools) will be trained in the Wilson reading
system for grade 2-12 readers.
CL - Had a question about ensuring that students are rec eiving equitable education as
the district moves towards de-leveling classes and meeting student needs with
differentiated instruction. Regarding discipline data, would like to see the % of students
being disciplined to understand the impact on those subgroups. Additionally, certain
subgroups of students experience greater incidents of discipline which implies other
subgroups are not receiving the same level of attention when it comes to discipline. CL
expressing concern that some subgroups of students are learning they can get away with
certain behaviors as a result of noticing which students bear the greater brunt of
disciplinary action. Dr. Hackett acknowledges the need to continue working on this and
also wanted to recognize how far the district has come since starting this work. The
district is at a place where student experiences around discipline is changing, and
administrators are more skilled in handling these situations. Some of the incidents
documented are technically required by state where a student experienced a traumatic
situation and needed hospitalization and were not able to adjust to the school setting.
Those incidents, while not a discipline incident, are required to be reported as a
suspension.
MR - Noted that the DESE data for LPS in 2021-22 indicated that the students reported
for discipline were predominantly Black, Brown or SPED. Would like to know how many
students who are disciplined have intersectional identities. Wondering about the impact
of the pandemic on marginalized groups, in particularly the students with services. Are
we doing enough to support their return and support the gap? For the kids who
struggled during the pandemic, the gap widened, and it is such a struggle to catch up.
How will the district ensure their most vulnerable students receive the support they need
now to stay in the LPS system. Additionally - a lot of concern about the ability of the
school to meet the needs of all students in the process of de -leveling, especially inclusion
of SPED students in the general education environment. Despite best intentions and
sincere motives, this could further stigmatize certain students who need more
differentiated instruction. Also - SEPAC and SPED parents were not brought on to the
development of deleveling LHS English until later in the process. Also pointed out that
two of the parents who were on the neurodiversity subcommittee of SHAC (Student
Health Advisory Council) who ended up pulling their kids out of LPS because of a lack of
sense of belonging. What's going to be done about all of this and how can the public
help support those efforts?
Wanted to point out that LPS's work in decolonizing the curriculum will help with diverse
teacher retention.
Dr. Hackett agrees and suggests putting an addendum about OOD placement.
Sometimes the perspectives of the professionals and parents don't always align, and it is
the district's goal to keep working towards better alignment and understanding across
perspectives. Perhaps there are ways to better position parents who feel marginalized to
express what they want. JH gave an example of a disconnect where a parent shared, they
fought tooth and nail for inclusion, but what they found they 'won' was of so little time
that the impact was insignificant.
SJ - Added thoughts on tutoring culture at LHS and shared that it is especially hard for
marginalized students to do well at LHS and asked what is LPS doing to create a level
playing field? Shared that he learned anecdotally that LHS has a sanctioned list of tutors
that teachers can share with students who are struggling in class and pointed out that
this is not support an equitable learning environment.
TG - Pointed out that Lexington has a culture for tutoring for excellence that taps into all
subjects and is targeted not to support struggling learners but to push for academic
excellence that keeps Lexington at high performing levels and suggests that this aspect
of tutoring also be taken into consideration. Additionally, noted that Unit C had
achieved a higher level of racial diversity, but Unit A had not yet increase by as much as
hoped and looking forward to seeing an increase in those numbers.
CB - would like to request some additional data for the systemic barriers report to
further delineate inclusion data to special education program and disability category and
also supports adding the OOD dimension to the report.
CL - Supports the concerns about tutoring and its impact on LPS and its curriculum.
But, also wanted to provide some context around conversations about tutoring because
the rhetoric in town often shames Asian students for trying to do well in school and for
pursuing academic extracurricular activities.
MR - Wanted to point out that the data might not always reflect how LPS is meeting
students' educational needs because often those with the means can hire a tutor or extra
help.
JH - Explained that some Asian parents have shared that they feel judged for sending
their kids to academic activities but that it is a positive and joyful experience for their
kids. White culture makes allowances for athletic extracurriculars, and neither are bad
or negative. We need to trust parents that they know what their kids need. And when
kids cannot access the curriculum, we need to find ways to get them the support to fill in
the gaps. Thanked her team for creating the work and thanked the community for being
present and for the questions. Also summarizing the feedback from both the student
representatives and SC which is that "If the work is about the most marginalized and the
marginalized are not represented, are we doing the work?" Dr. Hackett will look for ways
to figure out how to incorporate this into future reports.
Regarding a question from school committee and the student representatives on school
committee about "How do we know when we are successful/done?" Would like a bigger
conversation about how to define the metrics of success . JH would like a larger conversation
with the community, including the LHRC.
Also, suggested, due to lack of time, that any additional questions be collected by the LHRC
and sent to Dr. Hackett and her team to be addressed.
Guest JQ - Wanted to add their voice of support to work to support students, especially older
students, who might have fallen further behind due to the pandemic and ensuring they
receive the supports they need to be able to fully engage with the curriculum.
MR - shared in the chat about an upcoming event on Feb 09:
https://lexobserver.org/product/feb-9-tickets/. "How can our education system foster a
sense of racial and social justice in our schools and thr oughout our communities?"
• Meeting adjourned at 10:56AM
Next Meeting is Wednesday, March 08, 2023, at 8:45AM
1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE • LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02420
minutes for comment. Members of the Committee will neither