Two dozen parents, teachers, and school administrators gathered Monday in a Diversity Committee meeting to review the schools’ efforts so far to combat bigotry and harassment and to propose next steps. What emerged from the discussion was a picture of a developing infrastructure that includes existing programs, new organizations, clearer disciplinary policies, and cooperation with other community groups.
About a third of the current group has met regularly since the Diversity Committee was formed two years ago, while the others have joined since the appearance of swastikas and slurs on the Bromfield rock over Thanksgiving break. And vandals have painted the Nazi symbols more than once in the Bromfield boys bathroom since then.
School and community respond
Teacher Kathleen Doherty, who is the Social Studies Department leader, told the gathering that a coalition of Bromfield student groups met Nov. 30 “to discuss ways in which Bromfield could be a safer, more accepting, more welcoming place for all students and staff.” The groups represented were the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, the Student Council, Bromfield Cares, the Student Wellness Advisory Team, and World of Difference. In a later email, Doherty wrote, “All these groups were already in existence, and already had their own ‘missions.’ The vandalism on the rock was a catalyst for us to meet together and work together—something that we had actually discussed in the past, but had not yet done.”
Superintendent Linda Dwight told the Diversity Committee that she hoped for a coordinated community response to the problem. Toward that goal, she met Friday, Dec. 9, with representatives of several concerned groups, including ministers, the organizers of the Dec. 4 Vigil Against Bigotry, members of the Unitarian Social Justice Committee, the police chief, and the school principals. Dwight said she had invited a Board of Selectmen member and the town administrator, but they were unable to attend.
Among the community members at the diversity committee meeting was Linda Yanikoski. She brought a copy of the memoir “The Making of a Racist” by historian Charles Dew, which she planned to donate to the Harvard Public Library. In the book, Dew describes his own boyhood in the mid-20th-century South and how, over the years, he came to reject the racist ideas of his upbringing. Yanikoski suggested that this book might be a possible selection for a One Town, One Book program for the Harvard community. Another participant suggested that the book “Waking Up White” by Debby Irving would also be a good choice.
Clear policies and discipline sought
The School Committee’s subcommittee on policies is also confronting the need for more clear-cut policies on bullying and harassment. The current policies are “a little disjointed,” Dwight said, because they appear in several different places in the Student Handbook, with the disciplinary policies in yet another place.
Bromfield Principal Scott Hoffman said he’d like a single sheet with offenses and consequences clearly spelled out, with a minimum penalty specified for particular acts. He noted that he also usually seeks to have the aggressor in an incident make personal amends to the person who was targeted.
Parent Bob Eiland urged the administrators always to be mindful of the safety of kids who are targeted, especially by repeat aggressors. He said the schools should reassure marginalized students that “we’ve got your back.” And he said that expulsion should be an option with repeat aggressors.
State law strictly limits expulsion now, Dwight responded, because it had historically been overused. The only offenses that can be punished by expulsion, she said, are bringing a weapon to school or having more than a specific amount of drugs. Even then, she said, the school is still responsible for placing the expelled student in another educational program, and such programs are hard to find. Students who are charged with crimes, however, fall under the legal system rather than school disciplinary procedures, Dwight explained.
Looking back on his 30 years at Bromfield, Hoffman said, “We’re not as bad as we’ve been portrayed, but we need to be better than we are.” Some of the older students, he said, no longer take as much responsibility as they used to in guiding younger ones. Hoffman said he believes that racists at the school are a small minority who may never be converted, but the students who have been bystanders till now are the ones who can change things by taking a stand.
