School district considers anti-racism steps this summer with task force, BLM flags

June 22, 2020  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Coming on the heels of recent waves of anti-racism activism locally, in the state, and across the nation, the Harwood Unified Union School District announced this week that it will form an advisory task force to focus on racism concerns. 

In a letter dated June 16 to students, staff, school board members and the community, Superintendent Brigid Nease announced the creation of the HUUSD Task Force for Anti-Racism. It will be led by Tom Drake who returns as principal at Crossett Brook Middle School for the 2020-21 school year, along with Sarah Schoolcraft, assistant principal at Thatcher Brook Primary School. 

The plan is to have 12-16 individuals in the group with a mix of students, staff, and community although the announcement wasn’t specific on how many from each category or how the members would be chosen. 

Drake said the group ideally will take into account the geographical area of the school district and the breadth of K-12 education while reflecting the diversity of the Harwood Union communities and schools. He said the aim is to establish members by July 1 and then start meeting over the summer. 

Wednesday’s school board meeting will include more discussion of the new group along with a request from Drake and Schoolcraft to fly the Black Lives Matter flag at the district’s schools starting this summer. 

Anyone interested in serving on the task force should contact Drake at tdrake@huusd.org. 

Nease’s announcement says that the group will be committed to “recognizing, addressing and eradicating all forms of racism and ethnic oppression in the HUUSD.”

The announcement comes amidst a growing community discussion around issues of race, bias and harassment based on experiences shared by students and parents in public forums. Recent demonstrations for racial justice in Montpelier and Waterbury have featured young people from the Harwood school district openly sharing their stories of being the target of racism from peers.

The public events are part of the national wave of response following the death in late May of a Black man, George Floyd, at the hands of Minneapolis police. Some of that public response has included families sharing on social media and in emails to the Harwood School Board experiences involving racial harassment targeted at children that they claim were not handled property by the school district. The board has said it will investigate at least one such claim against Nease. 

Nease’s announcement said that in forming the task force, the school district is committed to being an “anti-racist school district.”

The task force announcement came in between school board meetings. Board Chair Caitlin Hollister said the board at its June 24 meeting would discuss the new group in some detail. The request involving the Black Lives Matter flag is listed as an action item.

The school board meets Wednesday at 6 p.m. online over Zoom. The board’s agenda with instructions on how to join online along with the packet of associated documents for the meeting can be found on the school board’s website.

Read the announcement of the task force here.