Commentary from the ARHS Faculty and Staff Re the Tumultuous Year As Published in The

Commentary from the ARHS faculty and staff re the “tumultuous year” as published in the Amherst Bulletin

Thursday, June 12, 2014

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following commentary was prepared by faculty and staff of the Amherst Regional High School in Amherst and circulated within the school. The names of all those who endorsed its message appear at the end.

AMHERST — During this tumultuous year at Amherst Regional High School, we have experienced a range of emotions: jubilation upon seeing our students feeling empowered after Calvin Terrell’s visit, shock when racist graffiti was directed at our colleague, concern over school cancellation due to a weapons threat and joy at experiencing our students’ many creative and academic accomplishments. All these events occurred against the background of our everyday work of teaching and guiding young people.

We know that the larger community is strongly invested in assuring that the high school will provide academic challenge and support for our students, as well as a safe and inclusive space. We share and are committed to this goal. Specifically, during the recent re-accreditation process, the faculty affirmed social justice as a core value of our school, one that should permeate the curriculum and establish a positive learning environment.

We take very seriously the issues related to racism that have emerged this year. We recognize the pain that racial slurs cause not only the targeted teacher, but all adults and youth of color in our community who can be a target of that language.

In response, we facilitated a faculty meeting that engaged us in deep reflection and discussion and are developing an action plan for next steps. Some priorities that have emerged are an interest in anti-racism/anti-bias trainings, as was available previously; to explore the causes of the achievement gap in our school; to examine what is working and not working with our grouping practices; and to be responsible to each other with consistent expectations for all students.

We expect this work to move us forward in conjunction with our ongoing practice of integrating marginalized voices and perspectives into our curricula, and our work as a Minority Student Achievement Network school.

We partner in this work with our administrators, and our students. Under Principal Mark Jackson’s leadership, one priority of last year’s faculty meetings was how to work effectively with students of color. We studied stereotype threat and focused on how to give standard-based feedback to students. This year, several advisory periods have been devoted to issues related to race and school climate. All ninth-graders received training as active bystanders, learning how to safely interrupt negative interactions such as bullying comments.

One advisory period highlighted Nelson Mandela’s transformative work, after which students wrote messages beginning: “I stand up for ….” These messages are truly inspiring indicators of the moral courage of our students.

Earlier this year, students of color led faculty discussions about their experiences at school: when they have felt included or excluded and what helps them succeed in classes with various grouping schemes. Students developed a series of consciousness-raising events for “Warrior Week” addressing many examples of prejudice and exclusion. It has been impressive to see their leadership. Given this, it has sometimes been discouraging for our students to see their school painted broadly with the brush of racism, as if their efforts have gone unnoticed.

When the racist graffiti was discovered this year, a number of planned agendas were tabled to focus on this issue. The entire school community viewed and discussed a video made by Carolyn Gardner about her experience and its emotional effects upon her. Principal Jackson later addressed students at an assembly and made clear that derogatory language is prohibited. We are now preparing for Dialogue Day, a time for whole school reflection and community-building.

We recognize that for some in the community, these efforts have not been enough; change is not swift enough. We share your impatience for a just world, and hope that each anti-racism step will move us forward. We are also committed to addressing the other inequities of our institution and society that impact students— including sexism, classism, homophobiaand ableism.

This is an area of continuing growth for us. We invite you to work with us toward a more inclusive learning community.

Gail Abbott, Shari Abbott, Susan Abdow, Ericka Alschuler, Sherry Balzano, Sara Barber-Just, Carla Becker, John Bechtold, Tiffany Berg, Raloon Bialek, William Blatner, Patricia Blauner, Susana Breña, Tina Browne, Samantha E. Camera, Crystal Cartwright, Elena Ciampa, Oumy Cissé, Claire E. Cocco, Anita Cooper, Mary E. Custard, Sam Dancis, Gloria A. Davis, Donald Davis, James Elliott.

Dani Pers Faytell, Annie Figliola, Maureen Fleming, James H. Fownes, Thomas Fricke, Geoffrey Friedman, Christopher Gould, Colin Harrington, Sarah Hayes, Elizabeth A. Haygood, Rick Howes, Ken Jacque, David Jean, Amy Kalman, Marc Keenan, Nina Koch, Aaron Kropf, Kelly Larcheveque, Lee Larcheveque, Terry Leatart, Rebecca Leopold, Simon Leutz, Leslie Lomasson, Kathy McCarthy, Mary McCarthy.

Keith McFarland, Keith Metzger, Mark Moriarty, Alessandra Mucci-Ramos, Jane Mudie, Josh Nugent, Kara Nye, Jane O’Donnell, Stewart Olson, Terry Ominsky, Sharon Palmer, Annie Paradis, Doreen Pelletier, Laurel Peltier, Anne Marie Picard, Eva Piccozzi, Christa Pylant, Kenny Ramos, Ellen T. Reich, Gregory J. Runyan, Stephen Saxenian, Joan Snowdon, Christine A. Sonnhalter, Robbin Suprenant, Amy Van Oudenhove, Tracy Vernon, Nat Woodruff, Lisa Zephyr.