Beverly School Committee Member Chosen As North Shore NAACP President

BEVERLY, MA — A Beverly School Committee member with a doctoral degree in politics and education, whose credentials for an appointment to the Committee were publicly questioned after she was picked to fill out a resigned member's term in 2020, is the next leader of the North Shore Branch of the NAACP.

Dr. Kenann McKenzie-DaFranza, who was chosen to replace Kelley Ferretti when she resigned from the School Committee in 2020 and has since been re-elected to the seat, was picked to lead the NAACP branch in a unanimous vote of the membership body after serving as its founding vice president.

A New York native born in Guyana, she is the Tufts University Director of the Generous Listening and Dialogue Center at the Tisch College of Civic Life after previously serving as the Director of the Boston University Wheelock Aspire Institute.

She has degrees from Cornell University, the University of Virginia and her doctorate from Teachers College at Columbia University.

Despite all those credentials, she was questioned by two residents — who also made references to the theoretical teaching of critical race theory in public schools — during public comment at a September 2021 School Committee meeting about her qualifications for serving on the local school board.

That meeting also included a tension-filled discussion with parents opposed to a continued state mask mandate inside school buildings at the time.

"I have an opportunity to further the work of the NAACP in the region to ensure that we are effective advocates for eliminating race-based discrimination, and also to ensure that we build strong relationships with our community to be a resource for growth and learning," McKenzie-DeFranza said in an NAACP statement on Tuesday.

The North Shore Chapter of the NAACP was founded in 2020, in part, in reaction to the police killing of George Floyd. The NAACP released a report on the accusations of racist and homophobic hazing within the Danvers High boys hockey program in 2020, and how Danvers school, town and police officials handled them over the ensuing two years, in April 2022 with the determination that the hockey incident and others in Danvers had caused "unprocessed racial trauma" and "broken trust" in the town.

The Branch has since looked to host candidate election forums and other community discussions across the North Shore.

"We must ensure that we are a place that champions and nurtures diversity in the North Shore," McKenzie-DeFranza said on Tuesday. "Now that we have established a strong branch here, we can now further the work."

The Branch's jurisdiction includes Amesbury, Beverly, Danvers, Wenham, Hamilton, Topsfield, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Essex, Gloucester, Rockport, Ipswich, Rowley, Newbury, Newburyport, Salisbury, Salem and Marblehead.

"We are excited to welcome Kenann to this role and know that many good things will be born out of her leadership," NAACP New England Area Conference President Juan Cofield said. "I want to express appreciation to all who helped bring us to this point."

McKenzie-DeFranza's term is for two years. Founding Branch President Natalie Bowers will serve as vice president.

"I could not be more proud or excited to pass on the leadership of the Branch to Kenann," Bowers said. "Under her leadership, we will further strengthen the work we have begun, and I urge all North Shore residents to take membership with us."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)