Jay,
I wanted to respond to your reference to CRT (Critical Race Theory) in the flyer you recently mailed. First, I want to note that having spent my career working in and with schools and districts, what you pose as a dichotomy, “instead of CRT, Jay will focus on education” is absolutely not. Our teachers and school staff have the opportunity, skills, and obligation to BOTH provide our students with an excellent education AND do that in a way that considers and includes ideas around race and racism. To avoid discussions of race and racism in school is first unrealistic. Research shows that children develop awareness and attitudes about race, including implicit biases by the time they are school age. Further, to avoid these discussions is actually harmful, to ALL students. To quote from a fantastic resource from the Aspen Institute (see link below),* “Research shows that teaching students about the history and current manifestations of racism has overwhelmingly positive effects for all students…Teachers need support to improve their practice in this area, but avoiding teaching about race and racism is detrimental to students’ learning and healthy development.”* For those who are interested in learning more about this topic and the research behind it, please see this resource here: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/united-we-learn/ As a mother of 3 children attending school in LPS and as the current Chair of the METCO Coordinating Committee, I am proud that our school administration and current School Committee has chosen to invest in supporting teachers in their practice of teaching in ways that recognize race, diversity, empathy and belonging. I also think it’s essential that my children belong to a community that sees promoting the inclusion and belonging of each of its members as critical, and that recognizes that this means naming and dismantling some of the social and institutional constructs that have historically prevented that. This is why I'm supporting Kim Rajdev for School Committee, because she has expressed her explicit support for the district's anti-racism, inclusion, diversity, and equity work, and sees the importance of it along-side and in connection with the district's critical work to provide relevant, rigorous, and engaging instruction. Thank you, Kristen Ferris
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