A month after the most recent incident of racist and antisemitic graffiti found at Belmont High School, Belmont Public Schools hosted a community forum to discuss combating discrimination in the schools.
High school Principal Isaac Taylor, middle school Principal Russ Kupperstein, and Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Well-Being (DEIW) Darnell Thigpen Williams discussed incidents reported at both schools, the response so far, and their vision for moving forward. Superintendent Jill Geiser and Assistant Superintendent Lucia Sullivan also attended.
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“Tonight is really to begin and to launch a strategy, a bigger strategy around how do we combat hatred within our community. This is beyond incidents. This is really about a culture, and we want to say this is not acceptable,” Williams said.
According to Taylor and Kupperstein, there have also been videos of students using racial slurs and reports of slurs being used by students in conversation at school.
According to Kupperstein, the middle school has seen increased reports of hate or bias, but added that it doesn’t necessarily mean the number of incidents has increased. Rather, because the school posts the bias report form with a QR code in every student’s locker, middle school students have been empowered to report incidents.
“I think that as we get more reporting, we are better able to hold students accountable, and then peers see those students being held responsible for their actions, for their words, their deeds, and I think there’s a message in that,” Kupperstein said.
About half of the reports the school receives are verbal, Kupperstein added.
At the high school, Taylor said the reporting form has enjoyed less success. Language used in a classroom can easily be missed by an educator or staff member, and often students don’t know how to confront their peers, he said.
“[There are] students who are saying, ‘It’s really tough when you’re in a friendship group, and you want to stay in that group, and people are saying things.’How do you push back in a situation like that without being thrown out of the group?” Taylor said.
Other students simply don’t have faith the system will work, he added.
“I think that’s partly because students are reticent to do it, and I think it’s partly because students may feel like, well, what’s the point? What’s really going to happen? I think it’s a combination,” Taylor said.
Both Kupperstein and Taylor said they are striving to bring more diverse voices into student learning, including holding regular assemblies. Taylor also said high school students have urged administrators to empower student-led efforts to curb hate incidents.
Though the district didn’t confirm whether it will host regular forums focused on discrimination in the schools, Williams said the conversation is vital to moving forward as a community.
“The reality is that the data has also told the same story five or six years ago — in the equity audit, with the special education audit — the same narrative has been cycled, recycled, over and over. And so, to me, I have enough data. The question for all of us is, what do we do with that data? That’s the action,” he said.
Parents Emphasize Safety, Belonging
Parents attending the forum criticized the district for its response to the racism and antisemitism they say aren’t new. Several parents said their students feared discussing their Jewish identity at school.
Liz Robinson, a Boston parent whose son has been in the Belmont schools since kindergarten, said her child has been the target of racial slurs. Her son has built a community in Belmont, but she said more can be done to make students of color feel welcome.
“I think there needs to be more representation as far as the teachers are concerned. He needs to see more teachers that look like him,” Robinson said.
Two years ago, the district formed a DEIW Hiring and Retention Committee to support hiring and well-being of diverse staff in the district. The committee is a “bright spot” as the district works to combat discrimination, said Theresa Ferguson, an English language education teacher at the middle school and high school who is a member of the committee.
“It’s something that helps me feel safe as a person of color working here, but there are really great people here too,” she said.
Others pushed for further surveys of students and data collection when it comes to hate incidents, as well as more support for teachers in calling out racist or antisemitic language. While many educators may be comfortable calling out a student, large and noisy classrooms can prevent them from hearing the language being used. Parents argued that, for students to feel empowered to speak out, they need role models.
“If the adults aren’t doing it, how can we expect the kids to be doing it?” said parent Gerald Jones.
Belmont Against Racism President Didier Moïse, who has two children at the high school, said the district must address the structural issues allowing this type of language and acts to flourish.
“There’s a cultural problem here. Let’s face it,” he said. “…I have to believe this is not what Belmont is, but it kind of is, and we need to grapple with that.”
