The Melrose Messenger

Racial Justice Work Receives Community Support Following Incidents in Schools

Racial justice groups have received an outpouring of community support in Melrose following recent incidents in the Melrose Public Schools (MPS). Two local anti-racist groups - Friends of Melrose METCO (FOMM) and the Racial Justice Community Coalition (RJCC), which recently merged - are looking to expand their work this year to turn that support into a larger movement for racial justice in Melrose.

This spring, two Boston families whose children attend MPS through the METCO program filed complaints with the federal Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR), alleging racial discrimination in the schools. The incidents discussed in the complaints were publicized on social media, on local news networks, and in The Boston Globe.

This isn’t the first complaint of racial discrimination that has been filed against MPS. In 2016, OCR found that a student experienced a racially hostile environment and the school district was responsible for creating appropriate policies and training programs to comply with federal discrimination laws. And members of FOMM noted that a number of students and parents have shared stories about the use of racial slurs in MPS, outside of the incidents that were officially reported.

"This is something we've tried hard to get our city to focus on for years," said Alastair Moock, a founder of RJCC and a member of FOMM leadership. "It's a shame that it takes incidents rising to the level of federal complaints for the community to wake up to the reality of these issues in our schools."

On June 11th, in response to the most recent incidents, over 100 students, parents, and other community members turned out for a rally in front of City Hall in support of those families and to demand improved training for MPS staff and more transparency from school administration. The rally was organized by FOMM, which is a collaboration between Melrose parents and other community members and Boston parents who send their children to MPS through the METCO program.

Aiyana Spencer, a Boston parent who sent her child to MPS and is on the FOMM Steering Committee, reflected on her own experience attending suburban schools through METCO. “It’s heartbreaking that METCO hasn’t evolved since then,” she observed. “This is the same stuff that was happening back then.”

“It’s a commitment to send our children out this far,” said Demia Wells Allen, another Boston parent involved in FOMM leadership, “and our children are tired” after a long day of traveling, especially when they don’t feel welcome in their school community. “I want people to feel like their children are in a safe place and that work is being done.”

“Relationship building has to be the cornerstone,” said Spencer, noting that students form stronger relationships with other kids with whom they share extracurriculars, especially in sports and performing arts. However, it can be difficult for Boston students to participate in Melrose-based activities after school, especially when the METCO bus schedule doesn’t align with those activities.

FOMM hopes to work with Melrose’s METCO coordinator and with group members to find ways to remove obstacles to equal participation in after school activities. This is an area where Melrose families could potentially help, either as hosts to Boston students who are waiting for the late bus, or offering Boston students a ride to the Orange Line.

Another challenge is the unequal nature of the METCO partnership: while Boston students attend activities in Melrose, fewer Melrose students go into Boston for activities there. However, when Melrose students do visit their friends in Boston, it can be enriching for everyone and, as Allen pointed out, it can “help to dispel some notions about violence” in Boston and help break down barriers to connection among students.

The strong attendance at last month’s rally and the community response that followed - the FOMM Facebook group has nearly doubled in size since - indicate community support for anti-racist work in Melrose. Edward Schmitt, another member of the FOMM Steering Committee, noted that there are “a lot of good people in Melrose who really want to make a difference” - the challenge for FOMM is finding ways to continue to harness community involvement.

With budget cuts to MPS following last month’s vote against a property tax override, FOMM members worry that the schools may not be able to follow through on staff training to help address future incidents. And although anti-racist programming is planned for middle schoolers next year, Allen pointed out that middle school might be too late to start talking to children about racism.

But parents can make a difference just by having conversations with their children at home. Sadie Brown, another member of FOMM leadership, noted that “White families have the privilege to avoid conversations” that Black families have about racism from early on, and that, as a community, our families should be having conversations “around the dining table” and “telling kids they have a responsibility and power to speak up on behalf of their friends.”

In order to create lasting change, people have to consistently show up for the work. “This year everyone in our group got tired of hosting meetings with no action,” Spencer said. The rally was a success, Allen added, but “if it is the desire of Melrose to be inclusive, everyone should be out there rallying for the same thing every year.”

To learn more about FOMM’s work, email friendsofmelrosemetco@gmail.com or join the FOMM Facebook group.

Posted July 30th, 2024