WENDY AND JOSEPH DIXON each discussed the importance of teaching Black history and other cultures in the classroom during the School Committee’s Feb. 11 meeting.
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The school system needs to do more to teach students about Black History Month and cultures around the world.
That was the message Lynnfield Middle School seventh-grader Joseph Dixon sent to the School Committee and Superintendent Tom Geary during a Feb. 11 meeting.
“When writing this, I thought about the people affected — the kids and adults who want recognition of Black History Month in Lynnfield Public Schools,” said Joseph, who is biracial. “I believe it’s ignorant and hurtful to not recognize Black History Month in the community and in Lynnfield schools. I believe it’s important to teach students about Black history so that one day, they can go out into the world and recognize all of the beautiful and wonderful things Black inventors and Black people have done for society. Diversity is important. To recognize only one race is to forget the rest, and discredits the work they have done. Throughout my years in Lynnfield Public Schools, I have not seen Black history portrayed enough. The furthest it has been portrayed is talking about slavery to Martin Luther King Jr. I have not seen Black history acknowledged beyond those two events.”
Joseph said the school district and the community “should celebrate Black history, the contributions and the culture beyond Martin Luther King.”
“We should learn about the many things that Black people have contributed to our society, and not just the struggles and hurt they have been through,” said Joseph. “It’s important to recognize all groups and races, for example, Black people, Asian people, Native American people, Hispanic people and all diverse groups. If only a single group exists, we wouldn’t be in the society that we live in today. Cultures have had important contributions to society for us to grow and evolve as one. What I want is the representation of Black History Month and to study more about other races and things that they have done to help our society.”
School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy thanked Joseph for raising his concerns.
“You obviously put a lot of thought into this, and we appreciate hearing directly from you as a student,” said Elworthy.
Geary agreed.
“Thank you for coming,” said Geary. “I agree with you that we can do better. Thank you for being willing to speak. It’s something we will talk about administratively on how to move forward with that.”
Joseph’s mother, Wendy, said her son and his older sister’s father passed away when he was in kindergarten.
“We knew he was going to pass away, and he told me that, ‘It is going to be up to you to educate Joseph about his culture and immersing him in African American experiences,’” said Wendy. “Now that Joseph is in seventh grade, there is not much DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), African American studies, Black History Month and other cultural awareness month things that have happened in the schools.”
Wendy said she works as a school nurse in Somerville. She posted pictures and biographical information about 40 Black inventors that is on display on a bulletin board in her school’s cafeteria.
“There is really easy stuff that can be done,” said Wendy. “My suggestion just to get things rolling is I am willing as a volunteer parent to do this for every awareness month that is on the calendar, submit it to the schools for approval and have them put it up.”
Wendy also provided Elworthy with a letter from a Somerville administrator about how Black History Month would be taught and celebrated in her school this year.
“Thank you for bringing in resources and solutions,” said Elworthy. “We appreciate that.”
Before the meeting, Wendy said Google erased Black History Month, Pride Month, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jewish American Heritage Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month and National Native American Heritage Month from its calendar app in the wake of President Donald Trump issuing a number of executive orders seeking to eliminate DEI initiatives.
“I am just hoping as a community that we can do better,” said Wendy. “If we don’t do anything, it is just going to be erased. PBS just closed their DEI office. We can call it DEI or call it something else to get around the current executive orders of the current administration. I don’t care what we call it. I just want to do something about it.”
Elworthy said she appreciated the concerns that Joseph and Wendy expressed.
“Thank you both for coming up,” said Elworthy.
School Committee member Jamie Hayman thanked Joseph and Wendy for sharing their experiences and advocating for change. He was moved by their remarks.
“It’s a hard time,” said Hayman. “It’s not easy to be here. I want you to know that I hear you, I see you and you matter. We have to get that message out to all of our students. Thank you very much for presenting.”
Wendy said former School Committee member Phil McQueen inspired them to address the panel after he asked during a Jan. 28 meeting about “the Lynnfield School Committee’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusivity, which was obviously done in the past.”
McQueen noted last month that Trump’s executive orders about DEI impact marginalized communities, including students. He asked if the school board was going to reaffirm its “commitment to diversity, equity and inclusivity.”
Elworthy told McQueen last month that the School Committee had yet to discuss DEI during a meeting.
After McQueen aired his concerns on Jan. 28, Wendy said she talked to Joseph about them.
“Joseph said that I am not feeling seen,” said Wendy. “I said that I feel like we need to speak to the superintendent because I don’t think we need to pass something through School Committee to have something implemented in the schools.”
While Elworthy, Geary and Hayman thanked Joseph and Wendy for airing their concerns during the meeting, School Committee Vice Chair Jenny Sheehan, School Committee member Kate DePrizio and Committeeman Jim Dillon were silent throughout the discussion.
Wendy informed the Villager that Joseph decided to address the School Committee on his own and she had “zero influence.”
Speaking as a parent, Library Trustee Darlene Kumar said during the meeting that she was moved by Joseph and Wendy’s remarks.
“I would love to support that effort,” said Kumar. “I think that Black history is very important and it should not be the burden of (METCO Director) Curtis Blyden and the METCO program to teach us about Black history and teach us about Black excellence. I think we will all benefit from learning about that.”