Anti-Hate Nonprofit Leader Tapped For Brookline School Committee

BROOKLINE, MA — Town officials appointed a new school committee member to step into the space left on the board when a school committee member abruptly stepped down earlier this year.

Thursday night the School Committee and Select Board voted in Dimitry Anselme, executive program director at Facing History and Ourselves, a Brookline-based non profit Facing History and Ourselves which has a mission to mobilize students and teacher to confront hate and bigotry.

Anselme, a former Brookline teacher and parent of children who went through the school system, will fill a seat on the school committee until elections in May.

On Tuesday, Anselme was among 10 candidates advanced to the interview stage, answering questions from the school committee and the select board. The candidates ranged from doctors to parents to former teachers. All spoke about the pandemic and room for improvement in town.

In the end, officials voted to appoint Anselme, who said he was applying for the position because of the opportunities the time presented to consider the future of Brookline education.

"In the midst of a global pandemic, I think this provides both the challenge of how to preserve quality education - as we're doing it remotely and through digitally means - and yet it also provides an opportunity for us to think anew and outside the box," he said.

Previously on Patch:

• Brookline School Committee Member Abruptly Resigns
• 5 Black Administrators Left Brookline Schools In The ...
• Brookline School Committee To Select Committee Member

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