Danvers Schools To Hold Adult Anti-Racist Workshops

DANVERS, MA — As Danvers Public Schools looks to expand its anti-racist and anti-bias learning in its youngest grades, the district is inviting parents, caregivers and educators of elementary school-age children to attend a two-part series of workshops in January.

Superintendent Lisa Dana said in her weekly newsletter on Thursday that School Committee members will also be asked to attend the workshops set to "explore the big ideas of anti-bias and anti-racist work at the elementary school level."

The sessions will be held on Jan. 18 and Jan. 25 at Danvers High School from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Anyone interested in attending is asked to contact Diane Thibault at thibault@danvers.org no later than Jan. 11.

Those meetings come as school and town officials said earlier this week there will be a shift in how they publicize incidents of racist or biased behavior after a rash of graffiti involving swastikas and homophobic slurs were found in high school and middle school bathrooms, as well as at the Pickering Road softball field, in recent weeks.

Danvers High Principal Adam Federico indicated at the last School Committee meeting that while many students had expressed a desire to contribute to combating the lengthy and disturbing string of racist, homophobic and antisemitic incidents throughout the school district, athletic programs and the town in recent months and years, more involvement from parents would be helpful.

"I do see progress," Federico told the School Committee on Dec. 13. "I see a school that's striving to be a better place. I think students want that and are motivated by it. We're working with families to gain their support as well.

"This is a priority. Ensuring that everyone feels safe in the classroom allows for learning to happen. Ultimately, it will pay off."

Dana said that 36 high school students and 31 adults have registered for the district's six-week Intergenerational Holocaust Symposium presented by the Lappin Foundation in January. She said the goal was to register 50 people, but that space was expanded "due to the overwhelming response."

(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.)

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