Raul Fernandez Calls For Education Equity In Brookline And Beyond

BROOKLINE, MA — Following a community conversation covering education policy on Thursday night, Brookline Select Board Vice-Chair and current State Representative candidate Raul Fernandez issued a statement calling for education equity in the town and across Massachusetts.

Fernandez was joined Thursday by Brookline High School social worker Paul Epstein, Brookline High School METCO coordinator Malcolm Cawthorne, Brookline High School student and education equity researcher Azavia Barsky-Elnour, and Citizens for Public Schools Executive Director Lisa Guisbond.

“As a lecturer at BU and as an appointed member to DESE’s Racial Imbalance Advisory Council, I’ve seen how educational opportunity gaps determine the course of our students’ lives.” Fernandez said. "Thursday’s conversation laid those inequities bare. When our achievement gaps are growing every year, when our students of color have never had a teacher that looks like them, when we have racist graffiti and anti-Semitic iconography in our schools — we know it’s past time to take aggressive action to deliver real education justice.”

“I’m grateful to my co-panelists for their candor and wisdom, and I’m excited to incorporate their feedback into my education platform,” he continued.

Fernandez’s policy conversation came as Brookline High School grapples with a series of racist graffiti and anti-Semitic iconography on school property.

“The hate we’re seeing across the state and in Town is incredibly concerning,” Fernandez said. "I’ve dedicated my career to diversity and inclusion in education, and as a State Rep, I’ll fight to eradicate this hate and deliver material resources to our students of color.”

A lecturer in Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, Fernandez’s scholarship has focused on the importance of diversity and equity in education.

“As a student, I want nothing more than to focus on only school and friends, but very few times has that been an option for me,” Barsky-Elnour said during Thursday’s conversation. "As a black woman, I have been shown that I cannot look the other way and expect change to happen.”

"With Raul and his campaign, I have felt support and dedication to bettering the world around us in a way I seldom have before,” she continued. "His commitment and genuine interest in finding solutions that work and mean something to the people they are supposed to serve is refreshing and comforting. As people of color, we are told to accept the bare minimum, but Raul says no. He demands better. I am inspired by his kindness and dedication every day, and I look forward to seeing and learning from how he will challenge the status quo in this campaign, in the Statehouse, and beyond.”