Meet the Candidates for School Committee - Part 4

Meet the School Committee Candidates (Part 4)

This is Part 4 of a 5 Part Series, giving the voters in Medfield an opportunity to learn about the School Committee candidates.

The School Committee Candidates Flavia Benson, Tim Knight (incumbent), and Lauren Liljegren have answered Part 4 questions below:

Part 4 is focused on the topic of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

1. Please let the voters know how you would approach Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as a member of the Medfield School Committee?

Flavia Benson: In 1985 my family moved from Brazil to McPherson, KS. I was 7 years old and was about to start the 2nd semester of 1st grade. I did not speak a word of English and my parents sent me to school with a written Post It note that read, “I need to go to the bathroom.” We were the only Brazilian family in the tiny town, and there were few programs for English learners at that time. Despite the lack of educational resources, I was embraced by the school, our community and the wonderful teachers that scrambled to put programs together for me. I will never forget my 1st and 2nd grade teachers; Mrs. Johnson and Ms. Neher respectively.

The teachers and staff at my elementary school approached my family with grace, love, and kindness. My brother and I were given every tool at hand to not only learn English but to catch up and succeed in the educational material. My family was invited to talk about Brazil, our culture, and we even added a Brazilian dessert to the 4H cookbook. I assimilated into my new American culture while maintaining great pride in my Brazilian heritage.

We have come an incredibly long way since the 4 years I lived in Kansas regarding DEI. My approach would focus on determining the needs of our community to properly evaluate and establish efforts that elevate kids, bring the community together, and inspire hope, respect, and collaboration.

Tim Knight: I am grateful that Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) is included in this series in order to increase awareness and advance the cause. Personally, I really began to study this after learning about a couple of incidents in the schools, and then hearing directly from students and residents like Kurt Jackson speak publicly about both their past experiences and the hurt that they felt at the Medfield Racial Justice rally in May of last year

As School Committee members, we must take on a leadership role in helping the students, staff, parents, and broader community better understand the extent of the issue and drive change across the schools. The district demonstrated strategic commitment by forming a DEI Task Force made up of students, community members, School Committee, and staff last year. Their initial charter is as follows:

• Review of district procedures and curriculum and make recommendations for improvement.
• Professional Development for staff, parents, and community.
• Increase workforce diversity.
• Investigate a DEI Director Position.
• Other issues were identified by the task force.

While this task force is in its infancy, we must establish more structure to ensure inclusion remains front and center. Specifically, I would recommend that the sub-committee hold open sessions with students, staff, and the community to share what they have learned from their first year, listen to feedback, and discuss ongoing priorities.

Finally, we must all work hard to model the behaviors we are trying to drive for our students, and always speak up when we see or hear issues or opportunities for betterment.

Lauren Liljegren: The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC, Medfield’s accreditation agency) standards and the Massachusetts Department of Education curriculum framework require Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DEI) be part of district curriculum and procedures. Following feedback from a virtual NEASC visit in March of 2021, Medfield committed to hiring a part-time DEI Director and creating a DEI Task Force. I support all efforts to keep our district in compliance with relevant governing bodies. Like all Massachusetts public and most private schools, Medfield should and will move forward with adoption.

DEI Task Force meetings are closed to the community. In preparation, I requested to attend a task force meeting. A co-chair indicated, via e-mail, DEI Task Force meetings are limited to members, as the Task Force is not an official subcommittee of the School Committee. If elected, I would advocate we make the DEI Task Force an official subcommittee of the School Committee. Changes should be transparent to parents and community members. If elected, I would advocate community forums be held, before decisions are made, and not after.

In 2021, 20.5% of our students were classified as “High Needs”. The Department of Education designates a student as High Needs if the student is learning English, currently resides in a low income household or has a disability. Of our high needs students, disabled students (those who have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP)) make up 13% of our student population. This population should be considered as a focus of DEI initiatives.

As we move forward with DEI, I will advocate for our School Committee to set measurable goals, allowing us to track the success of any staffing additions, initiatives or other changes. Our priority should be student achievement.

2. Please explain if you would support or not support DEI initiatives. If in support, what would you do to further these efforts? And if you are not in support, please explain why and if you would consider banning books?

Flavia Benson: DEI initiatives are already in place in our district, including professional development around DEI (Culturally Proficient, Active Anti-Racist, MERJ -Medfield Educators for Racial Justice-, DESE Early Adopters in the IEP Improvement Process). DEI initiatives will be furthered through the DEI Taskforce that was created in May of 2021.

I support DEI initiatives that bridge socio-economic gaps, address disparity in learning, and promote fairness and respect amongst diverse groups, but most importantly, in our district, that address the needs of our students. Currently, there is a dire need in special education. This need predates the pandemic and has only been exacerbated by it.

In speaking with many parents, including close friends, the common theme is how difficult it is to work with the district to get services to meet their child’s individualized needs. This has forced many parents, the ones that can afford it, to remove their kids from our public schools. In a small district like Medfield, this failure to retain students should be of paramount concern. We should address these concerns and listen to parents and teachers in developing further initiatives - creating positions, developing programs, and swifter considerations for out of district placement when needed.

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (DESE) website, the Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER III) runs through September of 2024. The purpose of the ESSER III fund “is to support the safe reopening and sustaining safe operations of schools while meeting students' academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

As shown in the 2023 budget section of the School Committee, the district’s request for funds demonstrates that its use will address some of those concerns. The district further describes the equitable use of the ESSER III funds prioritizing, “its commitment to district-wide Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts. Specific use of funds include 1) support facilitation of DEI taskforce objectives including, a) analyzing/improving curriculum and instruction…”

I do not know what the DEI taskforce initiatives are regarding curriculum selection and instruction. I would support curriculum and programs that maintain sensitivity to cultural and religious differences and beliefs and are age appropriate in material. I would also support that those be made publicly available so that parents and caregivers can review them.

Tim Knight: As referenced in question #1, I am supportive of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) oriented initiatives to provide an inclusive environment of respect, acceptance, and understanding across the schools. We should continue to advance these efforts by reviewing and updating policy, continuing to ensure DEI is part of professional development and programming efforts in the schools, supporting and monitoring progress with the DEI Task Force, and making sure this topic is included as a focus area as we build out the Five Year Strategic Plan. We should also continue to collaborate with local partners such as Medfield Together, and share resources or initiatives where it makes sense.

Relative to books/curriculum, we must continue to adhere to DESE standards, while being thoughtful to ensure our teachers are not put in a position where they are discouraged from discussing age-appropriate controversial or sensitive issues. We should be honest by including historically relevant but controversial events in order to learn from the past while providing time for discussion and context around the need for continued progress.

Finally, we must continue the work that we are doing to infuse more books in the school libraries and classrooms that reflect more diverse cultures and perspectives.

Lauren Liljegren: Unfortunately, no specific information on DEI initiatives, procedure or curriculum changes have been made publicly available. As I said above, when I requested to attend a meeting to learn about the initiatives I was told the meetings are limited to the members of the Task Force. The task force co-chairs were appointed by our superintendent and members were chosen by the superintendent and co-chairs. Meetings are closed to the public, open meeting law does not apply and the ultimate recommendations made by the task force will not be publicly presented to the School Committee. The mission statement of the task force was drafted prior to task force meeting. A consulting firm (BlackPrint) was chosen and contracted to support and facilitate prior to the first meeting. BlackPrint was funded in majority (22k of 23.5k) using Special Education funds (Fund 240) and does not specifically appear on the approved budget. What is the purpose of the DEI Task Force? Shouldn’t the task force determine the mission and decide if and what type of consultant is needed?

Important, district-wide projects like DEI should be transparent to the community and have the oversight of the School Committee. Volunteers should be empowered to make decisions; our community shouldn’t be used to “check a box”. These are issues I will raise during public meetings.

I’m not aware of any current proposals to ban one or more books in Medfield Schools. Medfield’s policy “Library Resources” indicates resources should include “presentation of different points of view”. Further, our policy indicates materials selection be in accordance with the “School Library Bill of Rights”, which I support. I would advocate to create a public catalog of books, allowing parents to talk with their children about the offerings and encourage increased utilization of our school libraries. Book banning is something I’ve seen in news stories and does seem to be a politically controversial issue. I hope these types issues do not distract from the academic achievement and college readiness of our students.

*Please note that Robert Worth is no longer campaigning for a seat on the Medfield School Committee, but his name will still appear on the ballot as the deadline to formally withdraw had passed before his decision.