AMHERST — Advocates for the parent of a Pelham Elementary School student who was issued a stay-away order by the superintendent continued urging the Select Board this week to address what they see as a social injustice.
A draft statement written by Peter Hechenbleikner, interim town manager, was presented to the Select Board on Monday, but it will not be released publicly until it is edited and then signed by members.
Heichenbleikner and the Select Board declined Monday night to give the document to the Gazette.
“I think we’ll have a response of some sort soon,” said board member Douglas Slaughter.
School Committee member Vira Douangmany Cage requested in an email last week that the Select Board comment on the stay-away order. She said Monday the involvement of Amherst Police in Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools Superintendent Maria Geryk’s decision to issue the order earlier this year puts the town at risk of litigation.
“Please don’t insult our intelligence by saying this is conveniently compartmentalized,” Douangmany Cage said.
Douangmany Cage said she worries the town is “opening up to a potential public snare,” pointing out that the town has twice faced Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination complaints as a result of school incidents. One was filed by former high school teacher Carolyn Gardner for alleged repeated racially threatening attacks that led to a $180,000 settlement last year, the other by parent Victor Nunez Ortiz, has a racial profiling complaint against police and school officials pending with the state agency.
Select Board members said they have to use care in how they comment on the stay-away order issued against Aisha Hiza, a Chicopee resident and mother of a Pelham first grader, in mid-March by Geryk, which came after she consulted with both Amherst and Pelham police.
Hiza has said that while she was often vocal in her disagreement with the school’s handling of alleged racially tinged bullying of her 7-year-old daughter, she was never threatening to staff.
Select Board member Andrew Steinberg said there could be legal consequences resulting from taking a position on the underlying issue.
“It’s not a lack of empathy toward questions of justice,” Steinberg said. “I think we’re all committed to appropriate justice.”
Steinberg added that he does not have the full set of facts about what compelled Geryk to issue the order.
“I know this has been a very difficult circumstance for everyone involved,” Steinberg said.
Board member Constance Kruger said she does not want the Select Board’s statement to make a judgment about facts, and that it should “just stick to what our job is and the charges that were brought to us.”
Hiza, who attended Monday’s meeting accompanied by nearly a dozen supporters, said she was disappointed that board members appear to be ducking the issue of why the superintendent believed it was necessary to issue the order against her.
“Not speaking about this situation is making it worse,” Hiza said.
After the meeting, DouangmanyCage said “a letter or email” from the Select Board is not the response she was looking for to her email.
“The point is not to issue a statement, the point is to have a deep conversation with the community,” Cage said, observing that she is an elected School Committee member. Cage is also one of six candidates running for the 3rd Hampshire District state representative seat which represents Amherst, Pelham and Precinct 1 in Granby. The seat is now held by Ellen Story, who is not seeking reelection.
Also attending Monday’s meeting was Kathleen Anderson, president of the Amherst chapter of the NAACP.
Anderson said there must be dialogue leading to an appreciation about how racism occurs and the “everyday lived experiences” of people of color.
“There is a need for white people in town to really understand how racism works,” Anderson said. “I think the masses are still confused about what racism is, and how it’s experienced.”
“It’s important we have conversation to risk saying the wrong thing, to risk being uncomfortable, and to stand in a circle and talk,” Anderson said.
Cage said the stay-away order will be a topic for the School Equity Task Force, which she serves as chairwoman. The next meeting is at 4 p.m. June 15 in the professional development center at the middle school
Former School Committee member Amilcar Shabazz, who was also at the meeting, previously soughtSelect Board action through a request addressed to all members last week via social media.
“Their experience does involve a lack of equity, justice, and simple decency,” Shabazz wrote about Hiza and her daughter. “You must not make a legalistic dodge. Our police chiefs must explain how they see their role in this matter.”
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
