Civil rights consultant assesses Canton schools

A consultant hired to review the Canton school district’s climate on civil rights and minority inclusion had more positive than negative news for the School Committee Monday night.

The consultant, Richard Cole, is a nationally known civil rights attorney and former civil rights division chief in the state attorney general’s office. Last year Cole held a series of focus groups with students, parents and staff to determine Canton’s strengths and weaknesses. He shared his findings with committee members and school principals Monday.

Listed among the district’s strengths were strong leadership and commitment among administrators and a sense of engagement and interaction among all schools and staff. Cole also noted that students generally feel safe from weapons, and many feel they have at least one adult at school that they can talk to about their personal problems.

The focus groups also revealed a sense that race relations were improving in the district. In addition, a vast number of students feel that Canton teachers want students to succeed, while many students said they interact among different cliques. Particularly at CHS, students feel there is a wide range of activities that lead to opportunities to build relationships and CHS has instituted a proactive discipline program whereby students continue learning despite in-school suspension.

Cole also listed several challenges facing the district, which he said are common in many other communities. The challenges, he said, begin with a substantial amount of teasing and “friendly banter,” which embarrasses, ridicules, or harasses a student. Other challenges include staff reservations about supporting an equity program or an unwillingness to get involved in equality issues.

Many transfer students feel there isn’t enough done in the district or in the community to make students and their families feel comfortable. Some African-American students in AP classes said they sometimes feel isolated and the “curriculum is not related to their lives.” Some feel that African-American students are stereotyped and subject to code words such as “Route 138,” and others feel there is a lack of minority representation in the faculty and school administration.

Cole suggested that the committee members analyze the student body and look at who is participating in extracurricular activities and who is being disciplined. He also suggested that they work toward building a more diverse workforce and talk to more communities who have been successful in that area.

Cole recommended that the schools build a strong student leadership group within each school. “Overall, you have a lot of strengths here in Canton,” he said, “but from what I found, there is a significant amount of students who are not connected to a single adult in the schools.”

Commenting on the study, School Superintendent Jeff Granatino said the issue is “important to all of us.”

“Last year there was a parent group which formed, and more parents are now involved in this diverse group talking about this issue,” he said. “We hope to continue to talk about this.”

See this week’s Canton Citizen for more news from Monday’s School Committee meeting.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Aug 28 2014. Filed under News, Schools. Both comments and pings are currently closed.