HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-01-10-LHRC-min-copyTown of Lexington Human Rights Committee
Meeting Minutes for Wednesday,Jan 10,2024
Conducted in remotely on Zoom
LHRC MEMBERS PRESENT
Christina Lin,Chair (CL);Stephanie Hsu,Vice-Chair (SH);Amber Iqbal (AI);Lois Bruss (LB);Stephanie
Ryan (SR);Lieutenant Colleen Dunbar -Town of Lexington Police (CD);Dana Bickelman-Town of
Lexington,Human Services (DB)
In attendance -Tom Shiple,Hemali Shah,Lauren Feeney,Mark Sandeen.
The minutes recorded by Christina Lin,LHRC Chair
1.Meeting called to order at 8:49AM
The committee welcomed two new members aboard :Stephanie Ryan and Dana
Bickelman.
2.Citizen’s Proposal from Fran Ludwig was brought to the attention of Native people
in Lexington including Ms.Ryan of the committee and a request was made for the
LHRC to consider whether the committee would support and advise the Select
Board to support this proposed Warrant Article.The article will be presented to
the Select Board by January 17th so any input from the committee needed to be
determined at this meeting.SR shared that this proposal would help raise
awareness and understanding of the presence of Native peoples in all facets of our
community.
The proposal is drafted as follows
“The second Monday of October shall henceforth be commemorated in Lexington as Indigenous
Peoples Day,in honor of the resilience and contributions of Indigenous peoples in our Town,the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts and our country.DESCRIPTION:This article asks the Town to
rename the second Monday of October to Indigenous Peoples Day.”
Committee members discussed whether to
A motion to support the Citizen's petition for Indigenous Peoples Day to be held in
Lexington on the second Monday in October was passed by members by vote of 7-0.
3.Updates
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a.MLK Day The chair urged members to share the announcement for the MLK
Day Community Conversation on Race as widely as possible.Members who
can attend will arrive at 9AM to help with set-up.The program is centered on
Voting rights featuring panelists Dr.Elizabeth Herbin-Triant,Bob Pressman
and Wedeb Amanuel (LHS 11th grade).
b.MCAS group -This group was newly formed and will report back their
findings to the LHRC.So far,there has only been two introductory meetings.
The purpose of the workgroup is to understand factors outside of school that
may be impacting longstanding disparities in the MCAS test results.The
group includes parents and non-parents,parents who are Boston based and
Lexington based.
c.Collaborative Reform Group (CRG)-This is a working group under the
Commission on Disabilities and in conjunction with the LHRC.The initial
formation was in response to an incident that resulted in a police shooting in
Lexington.Chief McLean has been a very active member of this group as well
as regular attendance by a Select Board member.As a result of the meetings,
the police are adding a social worker and service dog (Lexi)to their force.
Next steps are to continue developing programming to raise awareness of
mental health needs and resources availabe in Town.
Additionally,a new citizens group -Lexington Residents Reimagining Public
Safety led by Tom Shiple are in discussion with the CRG on possibly merging
their interests under a committee/workgroup addressing public safety.Mr.
Shiple shared that his groups interest was in creating a community advisory
board on policing but was open to exploring possible ways to merge with
CRG.The chair proposed that Mr.Shiple be invited to present his work at a
future meeting some time in February and his group may be scheduling a
presentation to the Select Board in May .There is a possibility that the LHRC
may be responsible in some capacity for the work that may come out of a
merged group and therefore,the chair expressed interest in a process that
allowed LHRC members enough time to understand this possible merger and
its implications for the committee.SR and DB will follow up and help keep
committee members updated on developments.DB also shared that they are
keen to re-establish the mental health task force and partner with the schools.
d.Lexington United Against Antisemitism
Just an update that this group is actively meeting and working on ways to
address antisemitism through education and action.
4.Reminder about pathways to LHRC goals by July 2024.Both groups are working
on scheduling separate meet-up times.
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5.Reminder-February is the Report on Reducing Systemic Barriers by LPS.
Discussion and Q&A approaches for 2024.Additionally -please look at the 2023
Youth At Risk Behavior Survey report and the recording of the November school
committee presentation at the link here:YRBS 2023 Recording .mp4
a.Please read report before the meeting (will be sent a week or 2 before
meeting)-may pair up
b.Be prepared with questions
6.Community stakeholders and liaisons -
The chair shared a desire to assign liaison to each the community and cultural
organizations in Town.Additionally,there has been an idea around organizing a summit
that brings all community stakeholders together for a social and to learn about each other.
SR offered to help explore how this might work.DB shared that Belmont has an event
showcasing stakeholder groups/organizations in town called OneBelmont/OneTown
similar to a town fair.They shared a link for more information on this event:
(https://www.belmont-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6831/f/events/0ne_love_one_belmont
.pdf)
Meeting adjourned at 10:00AM.
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