HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-06-25-LHRC-min.pdf
Town of Lexington Human Rights Committee
Meeting Minutes for Wednesday, June 25, 2025
LHRC MEMBERS PRESENT (remote only)
Christina Lin, Chair (CL); Stephanie Hsu, Vice-Chair (SH); Stephanie Ryan (SR); Rachel Levy (RL); Judy
Zola (JZ), Hafsah Syed (HS)
Liaisons in attendance - Dana Bickelman, Director of Human Services (DB); Juanica Buchanan, Human
Services Outreach Coordinator (JB); Andrea So, Lexington Public Schools, Director of Elementary
Curriculum (AS); Sarah Carter, School Committee Liaison
The minutes recorded by Christina Lin
1. Meeting called to order at 9:04am
2. Meetings for 2025/26
LHRC meetings are set for 2nd Wednesdays from 8:30-10:30am (hybrid) from
September thru June 2026. A second meeting on the 4th Wednesday of the month from
8:30-10:30am (remote only) is tentatively scheduled in case it is needed. Additionally 4
evening meetings (remote only) will be added: 9/25/25, 11/20/25, 2/25/26, 5/27/26 at
7-9pm.
3. Challenging Conversation - debrief
a. Two sessions were successfully run. Committee members agreed that attendance
was lower than preferred, but the programming was well received and had excellent
feedback. The slide deck that JZ prepared was informative and very useful. There
was consensus that this program is valuable for the community and only lacked
enough attendees.
b. The committee hope to run this again in the Fall and agreed that promoting the
program with a longer lead time will be important next time.
c. JZ, SR and DB offered to work together to run this again in the Fall.
d. There was a suggestion to offer this to LPS educators and to have examples of
conversations ready for teachers. It was also suggested that this program could be
valuable for Town Meeting Members.
e. SR offered to update the flyer, HS offered to help with PR and SH can help pass
along the information to Town Meeting Member Association email list.
4. Conduct and Decorum policy discussion. The committee reviewed and discussed the
policy set by the Select Board.
5. Committee approved endorsing An Act to Protect Civil Rights and Safety for all
Massachusetts Residents (Bill H:2580/S.1681) by unanimous vote.
6. The Chair offered to write a letter to the school building committee about new bathroom
design and to forward student’s letter to committee members.
1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE • LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02420
7. Member/Liaison updates
a. A reminder that the Conversation on Community Safety and Immigration Rights
will be held at Temple Isaiah from 7-9pm this evening (6/25) - hosted by the
Immigration Rights Committee
b. July is minority mental health month - signed by Select Board
c. July 5th is Quock Walker Day
d. A couple committee members went to see a theatre production of Our Class about
the persecution of Jews in Poland before, during and after WWII. It is a powerful
depiction and very timely story about the dangers of otherizing groups of people.
e. SH reminded committee members to consider Vice-Chair -LHRC role and offered to
meet up and help anyone interested in learning more.
f. A member shared that at a recent conference, attendees who did not wish to be
photographed could choose to use a red colored name tag. This could be a useful
practice for LHRC events in the future.
g. There are two state bills addressing consequences for hate crime. One allows the
judge to include education as part of the sentencing. The other protects fees
awarded to cover the cost of property damage from hate crime acts for the purpose
of reimbursing the cost of damages. Currently, the money goes to the property
owner who can use the funds towards any expense they choose.
h. Those interested in helping with protections of immigrants in the community may
be interested in signing up for LUCE training.
Meeting Adjourned at 11:00am.
1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE • LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02420