Takara Madera-Therrien, 15, said her Muslim friend has felt discrimination at Easthampton High in a painfully personal way. In the past when her friend came to school wearing a hijab, some of her classmates hurled insults.
This school year, though, Madera-Therrien said the name-calling has stopped, in a way that extends beyond her friend. Around the school, she said, “I haven’t seen a lot of bullying.”
Health teacher Nancy Dunn said she overhears many student conversations, and recently decided to step in when students were making negative comments about transgender people.
“A few days later a student came up and gave me a note,” Dunn said. “It brought tears to my eyes.”
The note thanked Dunn for stepping in to tell the students the comments weren’t appropriate. By speaking out at school, Dunn said, educators can teach students to do the same there and in their lives.
Over the past semester, Easthampton High School has implemented a number of changes focused on diversity and inclusiveness. Students, administrators and teachers say the climate has improved through trainings and work groups, but there is still work to be done.
The changes and new initiatives come after a rocky last year in which the state attorney general’s office launched a civil rights investigation into alleged incidents of bias and harassment, concluding that school administrators had failed to do enough to improve an at-times hateful climate.
Many issues came to light after a student walkout in March 2017. Roughly 200 students — around half of the student population — walked from the school to the Municipal Building, voicing concerns about how the administration handles bias-related incidents. The walkout occurred the day after a physical altercation in the school’s parking lot in which three students of color punched a white student who had used a racial slur in a social media message to another student.
After the walkout, a number of allegations of bias-related incidents were brought to the School Committee. The allegations included one student pointing a toy gun at the poster depicting a woman wearing an American flag hijab and saying, “Kill the terrorists.”
In an eight-page report released in August, the attorney general’s office concluded that black and Hispanic students face more severe discipline than white students for the same infractions, along with a number of other problems in the way the school administration handled incidents of bias.
“We found that EHS was too slow to identify, investigate, and respond to serious bias-related problems with the school environment,” wrote Jon Burke, assistant attorney general of the AG’s Civil Rights Division. “We also found significant racial and ethnic disparities in EHS’s administration of student discipline.”
Allegations of bias-related incidents also prompted Superintendent Nancy Follansbee to initiate her own investigation and to hire Northampton’s Collaborative for Educational Services (CES) to gather data through forums and surveys at the school. Some of the findings called for discipline policies and procedures to be updated. Some staff members reported the school culture had taken an ugly turn following the 2016 election of Donald Trump as president.
In an agreement with Follansbee, the AG’s office set a number of requirements for the school and district for the next three school years, including anti-bias training for staff and students and an annual audit of student disciplinary actions.
The AG’s office confirmed this week that the school has been working through the requirements in the agreement.
To transform the school climate, Follansbee implemented a 10-point action plan for the 2017-18 school year which includes requirements from the AG’s office as well as initiatives of her own.
Principal Kevin Burke said the administration and staff have worked diligently to improve school climate beyond what the plan requires.
“We’re not just checking off a box,” Burke said.
Follansbee said in a statement that the school district has “made great strides in bringing the 10-Point Action Plan to life, launching many of the key components we had outlined last summer.”
“Although these initial steps indicate that we are moving forward in the right direction, this is just the beginning,” Follansbee said. “A great deal of important work lies ahead to achieve our vision of developing a culture of inclusivity in all our schools, with zero tolerance for bias motivated incidents.”
Sophomore Olivia Downer, 16, said the discipline disparities cited in the attorney general’s report didn’t come as a surprise to her. Downer said she got involved in the student walkout in March because she saw students of color facing harsher discipline than their white peers. She said the administration has been more strict this year in terms of enforcing rules, and when students have been disciplined, it’s been equal.
Junior Thomas Yarra, 16, said some students have been “on edge,” and some have been more sensitive to biased language since the events last spring.
“The teachers seem to be more careful with things that may or may not be offensive,” he said.
Yarra added that the environment has changed at school in visible ways. One day the gay pride flag flashed over the announcements screen in the school’s common area, and some bulletin boards promote diversity.
“We Are All Human,” one bulletin board reads, with flags for gender identities such as genderqueer, pansexual, intersex, heterosexual and polysexual.
Art teacher Amy Davis said she hears all sorts of chatter in her classroom while students are working on projects.
“Students have handled everything so gracefully,” Davis said, adding that now many students are sick of hearing about the problems from last year and want to move on.
Davis said also she has seen a change in many students. Many this year are stepping out of their comfort zones to do the right thing, she said, such as those with very different points of view working together.
But it’s a long process, cautions Dunn, the health teacher. While there have been a number of initiatives at the school to transform the climate, she said, “It’s very early to see any sustainable change.”
On the door of room 104, a sign reads “Diversity and Inclusion Social Justice Superhero Supply and Information Center.” Curriculum Director Julie Anne Levin has been filling in as the interim diversity and inclusion officer, a role required by the AG’s office to monitor complaints of bullying and harassment.
The term “officer” isn’t really her style, Levin said, adding that many fictional superheroes live to fight injustice.
For next semester, the duties of the diversity and inclusion officer will be separated into a diversity coordinator, a role in which Levin will continue handling complaints, and a students and families liaison who will work directly with the students and families involved.
Levin will also be stepping in to train teachers in the LEAP (Leading Education Access Project) model, which promotes educational access and equity, educating teachers about students who may live in poverty or struggle as English-language learners. The training is not required by the AG’s office, but is outlined in Follansbee’s 10-point action plan.
The School Committee approved changes to the high school handbook in October, including an approach to student discipline that features restorative justice techniques.
“The goal of restorative practices is to empower students to give back to the community in a comparable manner to how that student’s offense harmed the community,” the handbook states. “For example, a student who has used derogatory language may be able to volunteer with the population the derogatory language harmed.”
“We’re working to really be clear, this is where the line is,” Levin said.
Part of the requirements from the AG’s office is to establish a bias incident protocol. The protocol, which was presented to the School Committee in December, outlines steps to take: Determine an incident is bias-motivated, investigate by interviewing and collecting evidence, support targeted students, and educate by discussing the incidents as “teachable moments” with students, families and school personnel, according to the protocol.
The school website has a bias-incident reporting form which allows the administration to record those types of incidents, Levin said.
A few groups have been formed to remedy the problems highlighted last school year.
The Stakeholder Advisory Committee is made up of students, teachers, administrators and parents focusing on creating steps for a plan for next year. Levin, who is on the committee as well, said it is facilitated by CES and brings people together with diverse opinions.
Both Davis and Dunn serve on the committee. Davis said she joined to help represent all the different student perspectives. Surveys administered by CES will be re-administered over time to see if the climate is improving.
Meanwhile, a student group was formed through a program through the U.S. Department of Justice called Student Problem Identification and Resolution of Issues Together, or SPIRIT. The group identified top issues at school which include the need for anti-bias training for the entire student population.
Burke said he reached out to students from both the Stakeholder Advisory Committee and SPIRIT group, but said he did not want students’ names to be mentioned in the Gazette, citing concerns about possible repercussions.
The Diversity Club also has been formed by mathematics teacher Alex Alvarez. He was the adviser of a similar club when he was a teacher in Amherst and approached the Easthampton administration last year about starting the club.
The club held an event, Diversity Day, which celebrated diversity through music, food and dance. While the club is not part of the action plan, participants say it’s raising awareness of cultural differences and inclusiveness.
At the event, club member Bryana Rodriguez, 15, said she’s of mixed race and, at times last year, she felt nervous going to school. But this year the climate is much better.
“I am especially proud of our high school students and the work they are doing in the Stakeholder Advisory Committee, the SPIRIT Council, the GSA (Gender and Sexuality Alliance) and Diversity Clubs,” Follansbee said. “The words and actions of our students provide clear evidence that we can and will build a more welcoming and inclusive school environment for all at our high school.”
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.