5 Black Administrators Left Brookline Schools In The Past Year

BROOKLINE, MA — Five Black administrators, all women, have left the Brookline School District in the past year, according to outgoing Interim Superintendent Ben Lummis. The departures of those accomplished women put a spotlight on the way the town treats people of color even as residents and the town profess to want to embrace diversity, he said.

"It's troubling to me, and it needs to be troubling to the community," he said during Night 3 of the annual Brookline Town Meeting.

An administrator left the high school last year, two principals left this year, and two central office administrators have left.

Select Board Chair Bernard Greene raised the question of the departures amid discussion about the school budget and shortly after a debate on whether the town should spend funds to appeal the Gerald Alston case. Read more: Brookline Racism Case: Federal Court Rules In Favor.

Lummis said each of the departures should be looked at individually to fully understand what happened, but he called on the town as a whole to consider what it means to really welcome diversity.

"Ultimately, Brookline needs to look at what it takes to be a leader of color in this town: the scrutiny one gets; the bias that folks face; the challenge that is brought upon them, in some cases from the very start; the questions that are asked of them that would not be asked of someone who looks like me," he said. "I don't say this lightly. I say this after much struggle."

He said that although he didn't want to treat the five women — all of whom he described as talented — as a group, he said their departures are very linked in some ways.

"It is going to take a lot of honest looking at each situation," he said. "I do believe that there wasn't, including myself, enough folks standing up for a couple of these women when they needed it most. And that's support from a professional level, that is behind-the-scenes support and mentorship, and then also in a public way, as well for some of them."

Greene, who is Black, said while there is enthusiasm in town to have diversity and address issues important to Black people and other non-white people, welcoming a diversity of thought and allowing for differences need work.

"When people get here, many times, unless they toe a party line — behave as they're expected to behave — the response is not very friendly," he said.

Greene echoed Lummis' regret that so many had left: Brookline High School Dean Lisa Gilbert-Smith left the district in June 2019. Deputy Superintendent of Teaching & Learning Dr. Nicole Gittens, Director of Human Resources Lisa Richardson, Driscoll School Principal Dr. Suzie Talukdar and Runkle School Principal Genteen Jean-Michel all are set to end their time in town June 30.

"Our loss is huge. We really need to reflect on why that happened: [Losing] five Black educators over a very short period of time says a lot about the town and how we treat people of color," he said. "Many times, [people are] claiming to be supportive, but really expecting them to behave and to think according to certain notions and stereotypes that people may have."

Lummis said the town can have a narrow view of how it wants people to behave, carry themselves or communicate, and that carries "real bias."

"Brookline, in terms of being an educator or a district leader, is a tough place to come into. [It's a] very difficult place to come from the outside and be a school leader or district leader," he said. "When we grow our own, those folks, people of color or otherwise, have a higher success ratio. Someone who comes from the outside, for whatever reason, has a very difficult proving [ground]. They need to prove themselves — and that is white or African American. And that isn't the way — I think — to welcome folks into a community to build them, to nurture them to support them for the long term, and I believe that's even more difficult if it's a person of color."

Watch that moment here:

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