Wellesley Public School administrators on Friday defended their approach to supporting students in the wake of a shooting spree in the Atlanta area earlier this week that took the lives of eight people, including six women of Asian descent.
The WPS Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Office on Thursday organized an online “healing space” for students in grades 6-12. The gathering to process recent events was restricted to Asian, Asian American, Black, Indigenous, and people of color from the student and faculty/staff.
An email now widely circulated from a Wellesley Middle School teacher explicitly informed white students that this was not for them, but that they could seek help from her and their guidance counselors in processing recent events. The email, and a blog post ripping the teacher and school system, has been widely circulated among the Wellesley school community and beyond today.
School administrators issued the following memo on Friday afternoon to defend its approach:
Dear Members of the Wellesley Public Schools Community:
As our district has continued to deepen its work around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), we have learned the importance of providing different types of spaces in which these challenging conversations can occur. Many of these opportunities are broad-based, occurring at faculty meetings, through community forums, and as part of whole-class conversations. At the same time, we have come to unequivocally affirm the importance of “affinity spaces,” where members of historically-marginalized groups can come together in a spirit of mutual support and understanding of shared experiences. The district has benefited from the feedback provided through these conversations, which members of these groups might not otherwise feel comfortable sharing in broader dialogue sessions.
This week, in which recent trends toward violence against Asian and Asian Americans has been highlighted, the district offered an affinity space for Asian and Asian American students in grades 6-12 and faculty, understanding that they might be acutely feeling the impact of the week’s events. The goal was to provide a safe space in which students and staff could reflect, share, and be supported as members of our school district.
At the same time, we can also understand the discomfort that some members of our community have shared when learning of a practice that they perceive to be discriminatory in nature. It’s important to note that affinity spaces are not discriminatory. Hosting affinity spaces is part of a long-term, evidence-based district strategy that amplifies student and faculty voices on various issues, and enhances their sense of belonging. Our hope is that broader DE&I dialogue throughout the district will be strengthened by parallel conversations occurring within specific communities of interest. Spaces for both types of conversations are vital.
We look forward to continued engagement with the district community in the days ahead around these important topics.
In solidarity,
Dr. David Lussier Dr. Charmie Curry
Superintendent of Schools Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Dr. Mark Ito Dr. Jamie Chisum
Principal, Wellesley Middle Schools Principal, Wellesley High School
All children should be honored as one. This behavior is a classic form of pitting races against one another. Many minorities harbor predisposed ill will towards other minorities. As children, some gang up on people for many reasons; acne, hair color, weight, etc. Keep them all together so they can learn the long term harm of causing pain to another. They need kinship.
More than any other factor, this was a crime against women. Female students should have the opportunity to share their feelings about vulnerability and random violence against women – especially in the aftermath of the abduction and brutal murder of Sarah Everard in London.
More than one man was also killed. Are men expendable?
Dr. Lussier and Dr. Curry should be seriously reprimanded by the citizens and school committee for thinking this “ safe affinity places” is a good way to deal with this tragic event and doubling down with their email response saying their way of handling this with the students is ok. It is not ok, in this case the affinity spaces is blatant discrimination. I actually feel bad for the teacher who was probably doing what she was told to do from the administration and Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Teachers should teach and not try to indoctrinate our kids with ideology. Let parents be in charge of raising good humans who love and respect all humans. The fact of the matter is two people that died in this tragic event were white so why are we excluding / discriminating against students who are white? Does anyone else think it is not right that the WPS office of equity, diversity and “inclusion” is excluding students because of the color of their skin.? How quickly we forget the famous MLK quote, “Judge a man not by the color of his skin, but the content of his character”. Great families who make this community so special are fleeing the Wellesley Public School system because of this indoctrination crap! We as taxpayers and citizens of this town need to stand up and be heard! There is no place in our school system and we should hold Lussier, the school committee board and the teachers accountable and let them know we as tax payers who pay their salaries will not allow this ideology to be taught in our public school system.
I read Dr. Lussier’s letter, and I don’t agree with Concerned Parent’s response. I think it is a good idea to have affinity spaces for Asian-American students and faculty. It would be similar to having special discussion spaces for female students to discuss rape and sexual assault after a traumatic event of that nature. The affinity spaces are one places where the terrible murders in Atlanta and rising hatred and violence against Asian Americans can be discussed, but Dr. Lussier writes that other opportunities exist also during whole class discussions for example. My hope is that those of who are white will do everything we can to support our fellow community members of Asian descent who are undoubtedly deeply affected by this awful situation and disturbing trend. I think graciously allowing affinity spaces in this situation will actually help the community. I wish I had seen the post that there would be a rally in Wellesley to support the Asian community in time to attend.
Beautifully said, and I completely agree. Thank you.
This is the critical race theory agenda. Capitalize on a tragedy to create a white supremecist which are the root cause of minority crime and poverty. I am pleased to hear so many fight back against this cruel theory and curriculum. School should be a place where debate and all sides of the issue are taught. Ideology should not be pushed upon the student. Various forms should be taught and the student should make their decision based on facts and debate. Unfortunately, facts are rarely presented accurately in today’s world. The school system and the progressive left have ignored the admission of the shooter and a primary source that he shot up the Asian parlor because he was a crazed sex addict, not a white supremecist. We need truth in our schools, honest debate amongst differing views, and freedom of expression of all views. Down with equity, equality for all.
Great narrative. A shame that “educated” people think they know all and know best. Clearly they don’t!
Where is the inclusion? Where is the equity? Clearly the space was not intended for diversity…. no white people, only people perceived as oppressed by white people… I am not white and still I am very offended by the idea that WPS leadership ( White and one black woman) honestly believe this was a good idea. Like talking to a brick wall to try to explain why it was more patronizing BS than anything else.
No, that teacher was doing what she wanted. If you look at her website, she’s a 100% woke, inter-sectionalist, psuedo-academic, wokester. She tries to turn her kids into activists. Ironically, she is also a re-enactor/interpreter on the Boston Common.
These tragic events were discussed this week in WPS, often in place of the planned curriculum: The real story of these events is the tragedy of human trafficking and sex workers. There are conflicting reports and obviously it is open to discussion if these shootings are incidents of racial discrimination. Discretion is the the better part of valor – WPS should process these events and seek guidance before communicating with students directly. Parents should be outraged – because it is obvious the schools are leaping at this opportunity to impart their own biased agenda on our children, and in the meantime seeking to create division and disunity amongst the children of this town.
Thank you so much for reporting WPS news. Taxpayers have a right to know what we are funding, regardless of whether we are presently in the school system here, and your website is the primary source of information for many of us.
Thanks Anna, we can always use help on this front since our kids have graduated. We always appreciate students, parents/guardians, faculty & staff who keep us plugged in.
As a parent with children in the Wellesley Public School system, I was pleased to receive the follow-up e-mail on Friday defending the exclusionary practice. Not because the practice was worthy of defense, but because it implied that many parents must have pushed back against this racially discriminatory practice masquerading as Diversity and “Inclusion.”
As Bari Weiss recently wrote, parents across the country are horrified by the so-called “anti-racism” indoctrination that the woke, progressive Left is pushing on our children, but many are afraid to speak out for fear of repercussions.
https://www.city-journal.org/the-miseducation-of-americas-elites
Thank you for sharing this link, Jimmy P. Bari Weiss’s article is excellent, and I hope that concerned parents will read it. Bari Weiss is also an advisor to the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR): https://www.fairforall.org
I grew up with the WPS system, maybe 40 years ago. I suppose we were brought up between waves of true racism, for we would have been ashamed to hurt someone because of skin color. That’s not acceptable. The details described almost make me glad I was never blessed with a child, what a world now. Without having details to share, my perception is that too many unemployed or work from home parents have too much time on their hands. They harbor much hate, and now feel entitled to hijack society. Good luck to all.
On what planet must you live on to think having a racially-exclusionary “coping session” was either legal OR okay? Did anyone know a white man was also killed in Atlanta? Are white kids not supposed to be victims of hate crimes? Because they can be. Are white kids supposed to not be upset, or need a separate but equal space? All of these woke administrators need to be fired. Interesting that none of the local newspapers or news stations covered this story, despite it screaming as a controversy.
segregating people by the color of their skin and then renaming these racially segregated groups “racial affinity” groups does not change the fact that dividing people by race does nothing but foster tribalism and inevitably leads to animosity between these segregated groups. The US has been down this road before. Plus –segregation in schools was deemed illegal decades ago.
I’m embarrassed to say I ever worked for the Wellesley Public Schools. They should be ashamed for their identity politics and clear intention to incite separation and diversion, rather than supporting acceptance and inclusion. The ultimate display of “white guilt” and they know better. I hope all students and faculty spend a day celebrating inclusion by walking out of their buildings, together, in protest of this totally abhorrent ideology and practice.