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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-10-13-FHHR-min.pdf � Fair Housing and Human Relations Committee Minutes, 10/13/93 / /93 Present Gerri Weathers, Chairman; Florence Baturin; Nicole T Herrmann; Marion D de B Kilson; Hsi-ching Liu; Robert Pressman; Stephen Baran, Fair Housing Director (recorder) ; Cheryl Prescott-Walden, METCO Coordinator Absent James R Brannon; Peter G Brown; Leona W Martin Minutes of 10/13 The Minutes of 9/9/13 were corrected as follows 1 Mr Liu was present 2 On page 2 change from The Committee agreed that funding should be sought to pay for police department staff diversity training to be obtained through Boards and Committees budget allocation Gerri Smith will talk with Rick White to The Committee agreed that funding should be sought to pay for police department staff diversity training to be obtained through Boards and Committees budget allocation Gerri Smith will talk with Rick White METCO Sheryl Prescott-Walden was asked to comment on METCO policy as it applied to a student participating in the METCO program who was recently expelled from school This resolution was compared to the manner of resolving another somwehat similar incident involving a student who was not participating in the METCO program Policy 1 Applicants to METCO go through rigourous screening; many don't get accepted 2 Students who are accepted have all rights and responsibilities of resident students including access to special education and sports programs, counseling, tutorials, etc Fair Housing/Human Relations Committee Minutes, 10/13/93 Page 2 i 3 Termination procedures--there is a right of appeal--are different for METCO students as opposed to other students Criteria for termination include child's needs not being met; deteriorating performance; behavioral concerns Ouestions raised by Committee 1 Doesn't METCO policy hold that students should not be treated as second class citizens (implied by applying different standards to students participating in the METCO program) ? 2 Do suburban schools only take the best students? 3 Why should some METCO students be required to attend summer school when this is not a requirement for Lexington students? 4 Why doesn't Lexington have services for students involved with weapons as is the case for the Boston schools (Barron Center where students attend for a while and then return to 1 original schools) ? 5 How does the Lexington climate of diversity compare with other towns where students in METCO programs are attending the schools? 6 How did the information about the incidents get into the Lexington Minute-man? 7 Can the situation be improved? Response It is not true that every time a student encounters difficulties he or she is sent right back to Boston, but in this instance there was a serious violation of safety issues This student may have been treated differently from the way a Lexington student would be for a similar infraction It is not known how the information reached the Minute-man Upon systematically surveying METCO students and graduates it has been found that most feel the experience has been a positive one overall A few students do leave because the stress is too much Most feel the good outweighs the negative Fair Housing/Human Relations Committee Minutes, 10/13/93 Page 3 METCO students are much more bicultural than Lexignton students They could be included in focus groups were they held during the day METCO students react negatively to the paucity of minority teachers and staff Excluding five black METCO staff, there are five minority professionals and five minority classified staff There is total of 450 professionals and 150 classified There are no Latino teachers or Latino staff The Lexington climate is on a par with the climate in other communities Ms Prescott-Walden has devoted a lot of time and energy to Lexington, has a strong commitment to the community The issues is one of overall expectation Are we pushing expectations equally, disciplining equally? The way the program is structured does create a sense of second class citizens students in the METCO program are only in town between 9-5 When they walk downtown everyone looks For example, a black Boston kid borrowed a friend's bicycle and was stopped on his way from the high school into town by three Lexington residents Subtleties are at the heart of the problem We need to understand that one group is not better than another group; just different Suacestions for improvement 1 Get response to letter sent by Fair Housing and Human Relations Committee a month ago 2 Review the School Department's Affairmative Action Policy draft discussed over two years ago but not adopted 3 See how progress can be made toward the School Committee goal for minority hiring; this is related to diversity as a core value promoted by the Superintendent 4 Ask School Department to publicize focus groups on diversity 5 Characterize students participating in the METCO program as Boston students, not METCO students Alan Greene Met State Alan Greene advocated the inclusion of the mentally ill in proposed Met State affordable housing Golf course At the October 5th meeting of the Met State Committee the focus had been on building a golf course which would be a source of financing for other purposes (argued by (- Fair Housing/Human Relations Committee Minutes, 10/13/93 Page 4 Waltham representatives) Alan noted that golf course advocacy had died out a year ago and was now resurfacing Housing Little attention was paid to housing needs other than comments by Jacquie Davison Bob Pressman was misquoted in the newspaper account of the meeting He was said to have supported elderly housing when he actually had supported family housing Waltham seemed to be raising issues around traffic as a way of avoiding family housing Strateaies for nromotina special needs and affordable housing 1 Seek to influence entire Met State Committee, not only the Chairman 2 Place the discussion on Committee's agenda 3 Seek clarification on draft narrative of Met State Committee recommendations 4 See press coverage 5 Seek appointment of a liaison to the Fair Housing and Human Relations Committee from the Board of Selectmen f f