Worcester Supt. Defends Against Claims Of Racial Disparity

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester Public Schools Superintendent Maureen Binienda released a statement on Monday, defending the district's progress on reducing racial disparities in the schools. The statement was a response to a local coalition's claims that Binieda's administration supported racially disproportionate school discipline models. In a statement, the coalition called for the School Committee not to renew Binieda's contract and remove School Safety Liaison Rob Pezzella from his post, among other things.

The Worcester Coalition for Education Equity, a group formed by formed by Worcester Interfaith, said Latino students specifically have the highest disciplinary exclusion rate in the district, at 11.5 percent, citing data from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The coalition's statement mentions holding the superintendent accountable for perceived shortcomings in the district, "The Superintendent has not addressed and has no plans to fix our city’s educational shortcomings for our Latino and EL students, setting the stage for continued underperformance of our children," the statement reads, "The school safety liaison continues to discipline minority and low-income students at higher rates than their counterparts, this practice is harmful and unacceptable."

The coalition also calls for the hiring of a Chief Diversity Officer to "create environments that support diversity and inclusion among staff and students."

Binienda defended her administration in a statement release Monday, "The School Committee and I are working on meeting the school district strategic plan, which includes explicit goals related to improving equity and diversity and eliminating unconscious bias in our discipline practices as core objectives," she said adding that she has worked with community groups and parents to improve discipline outcomes. "I acknowledge the critical work needed to strengthen our practices and to improve outcomes so that every student feels safe, supported and valued in our school community," she said.

Binienda cited new initiatives in the district aimed at improving equity including the Mayor’s Commission on Latino Education and the School Department’s dive into learning more about restorative justice initiatives. "As a result of these efforts, our in-school and out-of-school suspension rates have significantly declined in the past school year," Binienda said in a statement, "In-house suspensions are down 40.8 percent, out-of-school suspensions 31.4 percent and long-term suspensions are down 18.8 percent from one year ago. I continue to focus on this work as a priority."

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