Cambridge Human Rights Commission discusses school board policies

By Ella Hamilton

A Cambridge woman delivered a passionate address to the Human Rights Commission during their monthly meeting about her experience as the mother of a Black boy in Cambridge Public Schools, where notable disparities in punishments based on race were reported.

“I have had a Black kid going through the system. And I could see how there was absolutely no tolerance for the Black boy. Absolutely zero. And we need to understand it's discrimination, it's bias,” said commissioner Judith Laguerre at the Cambridge Human Rights Commission meeting on Oct. 6.

This conversation was sparked by a recent article in the Cambridge Day, in which the disparities between the punishment of Black, multiracial, and Hispanic students compared to white students were revealed. The report uncovered that 4.4% of black students were punished with out of school suspensions, while only 1.2% of white students and 0.7% of Asian students were punished in that way. The group discussed this matter in relation to their mission, which is to advance human rights in Cambridge.

Sabrina Selk, a commissioner and parent at CPS, added during the meeting that there was recently an email sent to parents regarding discipline within the school. “Faculty and staff are no longer going to be handling disciplinary issues that are outside the classroom and that it's all going to be down to security staff, which I have to say as a parent, was a little concerning. We’ve had some real conversations about what that means for student safety.”

Many of these updates were news to the rest of the commissioners, a group of 11 volunteers from various backgrounds. The commissioners worry that the enforcement of disciplinary action by security officers rather than staff will lead to further disparity in the severity of punishment against students of color.

In the past when human rights interests have risen in the school system, a Title IX director from Cambridge Rindge & Latin School came and spoke with the commissioners, however, it was not entirely effective. “There was a lot of, you know, ‘we need to make space for boys can be boys’, said Selk, adding: “They thought, if we do anything about this, we're basically going to be reinforcing the preschool to prison pipeline.”

Commissioner Kaileigh Callender said that the internal issue within CPS must be solved with logistical steps, like better record keeping, and further investigation. “Right now, it seems like there is obviously a problem and it's not entirely clear, you know, what is driving it,” said Callender during the meeting.

But Laguerre said that the issue is interpersonal racism. She said that the root cause of racial disparity in schools, health care, and other settings is discrimination and bias, which is the first issue to be tackled to bring restoration to the systems.

While most of the commission’s monthly meetings are open discussions on stories of interest, the group’s work is legally supported every day by city employees Jennifer Mathews and Carolina Almonte.

“It’s something the commission is interested in learning more about and having kind of that community voice on” said Mathews, the executive director for the Human Rights Commission, as well as for the Commission on Immigrant Rights and Citizenship and the LGBTQ+ Commission.

“I think the next step would be reaching out to the school to kind of rebuild some of our connections and say, can we learn more about this? Can you tell us more about what's going on?” said Mathews. Since the issue was not filed as a complaint directly to the commission, they have no authority to act against the school, rather just a common passion to help the community progress in human rights.

Complaints involving discrimination in the city of Cambridge are within Almonte’s jurisdiction, the attorney investigator for the Human Rights Commission. “My job is to neutrally investigate these complaints. I don't represent anyone, even though I am an attorney. And ultimately, I work to determine, with the help of Jennifer, if there's been a violation of our ordinances,” she said.

For the commission to take legal action, the act of discrimination must be reported directly to them in the form of a complaint. The complaint must be filed 180 days or less after the incident.

No complaint has been filed against CPS, so for now the role of the Human Rights Commission is unclear. Their discussion is meant to inspire commissioners to brainstorm who they can contact, and what they can do without legal action.

“We are doing our work. We're doing what we can do to help. But society itself needs to think about the cause of all of those elements and disparities in our societies by tackling racism, biases, and discrimination,” said Laguerre.