LYNN — The Lynn Public Schools has started to roll out initiatives aimed at eradicating racism and improving cultural competence in the district.
The two initiatives, which consist of professional development for teachers and staff, and inclusivity panels that are meant to increase student voice across the district, are being implemented in response to the commitments made in a School Committee resolution that was adopted last June.
“It was a real point of pride for me, in partnership with the School Committee, with the adoption of the resolution to eradicate racism in the Lynn Public Schools,” said Superintendent Dr. Patrick Tutwiler at Thursday’s School Committee meeting.
Tutwiler noted that there is unfinished work in the Lynn Public Schools that was mentioned in the resolution, such as the need to recruit, retain and support a diverse staff, the implementation of trauma-sensitive practices, and the development of cultural proficiency practices and an anti-bias curriculum in the district.
“This work remains a top priority for the Lynn Public Schools,” said Tutwiler.
One of the commitments in the resolution, which was that the district should implement anti-bias, anti-racism and cultural competency training for staff, got underway on January 4, with the launch of the “Hope & Healing Through Active Anti-Racism” professional development.
That training includes three modules — professional learning for staff and faculty, professional support for school leadership, and inclusivity work to raise student voice — and is expected to continue through the first quarter of next school year.
Matthew Rodriguez, co-owner of The Equity Imperative, has been partnering with the district to implement the professional development. He compared the effort to eradicate racism in the Lynn Public Schools to recognizing and working to dismantle the conveyor belt that leads to white supremacy and racist tendencies by practicing active anti-racism.
“Inside our society and our individualized schools, we’re all on a conveyor belt that leads us to the racialized outcomes that we see on a daily basis,” said Rodriguez. “Whether it’s in standardized test performance, whether it’s in attendance, whether it’s in behavior, and discipline, there is a conveyor belt that’s at play.
“Unless we’re willing to turn ourselves around and walk at a faster pace than the conveyor belt, we will never undo what we’re seeing, we’ll never eradicate racism.”
For example, one of the goals of the staff training is for building principals to be able to lead uncomfortable conversations in regards to race and racism, Rodriguez said. One of the ongoing efforts is toward creating safe spaces in schools to allow for those conversations to take place, Tutwiler added.
While Rodriguez said his company has been working with the Lynn Public Schools on developing the staff anti-bias training since August 2019, the work became more prominent following the death of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020, that sparked nationwide outrage and protests.
Rodriguez said the majority of teachers, or 81 percent, who took part in the first module of the anti-bias training had a favorable response, saying that the training would enhance their professional practice.
He partly attributed the initiative’s success to the collaborative way it was developed with the district, which included feedback from Lynn teachers, who shared their thoughts and ideas on the training, he said.
Another resolution-oriented initiative that rolled out this school year focuses on enhancing student voice to bring about change in the district. Toward that end, student inclusivity panels have been developed at the district’s middle and high schools, with a total of 98 students participating. Two teacher-mentors have been assigned to each school.
“This is all about inclusion,” said Judith Rodriguez, of The Equity Imperative. “And what do we mean by inclusion? We mean voice opportunity for students that confronts what often happens for adolescents and young people in schools, is that as they increase in their development for autonomy and decision making, they meet environments where less and less of those opportunities are actually available.”
The inclusivity panels are aimed at combating that “developmental mismatch” that young people are often encountering in their school settings, she said, noting that the initiative increases a sense of belonging for students.
“You feel like you belong when what you say makes an impact in your surroundings, and so it increases the sense of not just belonging, but of mattering,” said Rodriguez. “I matter because what I say matters, because what I say is actually shaping my environment. And so that’s what inclusion and inclusivity work is about.”
Sixth-grader Jenelle Aceituno, a student inclusivity leader at Thurgood Marshall Middle School, said that she loves being a part of a club that focuses on a lot of important topics.
“I think we can actually solve the problem (of racism),” she said.
Meghan Qualters, an inclusivity panel advisor at Thurgood Marshall, said the students have been great, sharing vulnerable, honest conversations about their personal experiences with racism.
School Committee members Brian Castellanos and Michael Satterwhite, both people of color who struggled with homelessness during their time in the Lynn Public Schools, were supportive of the inclusivity panels, noting that they felt like they lacked the opportunity to have a voice as students in the city.
“I didn’t really get my voice until college,” said Castellanos, who described himself as a low-income, first-generation Latino. “This is something I see as vital, (and that is) so crucial for the next generation.”
“It’s not a secret that I almost dropped out of high school because of an interaction I had with a vice principal who accused me of stealing from her office,” said Satterwhite, who is Black, saying that he was homeless at the time and the school leader refused to listen to him.
It was “sit down and shut up,” said Satterwhite, adding that the work being done through the panels is important, because it will save students from reaching that breaking point.
“Student voice will lead to change,” said Satterwhite. “I think that’s key for the district.”
