Hamilton-Wenham School Committee Adopts Anti-Racism Resolution

HAMILTON-WENHAM, MA — The Hamilton-Wenham School District approved the adoption of an Anti-Racist Resolution. The push for school districts, municipalities and companies to align themselves with anti-racism comes as the United States faces a reckoning on race.

The six-part resolution includes placing responsibility on the district to provide annual meetings for teachers about diversity, equity and inclusion as well as commitments to recruiting and retaining diverse teachers as well as adding diverse perspectives and the history of oppression into the curriculum.

"Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District and all the school districts in the Commonwealth must guarantee that racist practices are eradicated, and diversity, equity and inclusion is embedded and practiced for our students, families, faculty and staff.

We must ensure our own school culture and that of every district in the Commonwealth is anti-racist, that acknowledges that all lives cannot matter until black lives matter," the resolution reads.

The Hamilton-Wenham School District is 88 percent white, according to the 2019-20 Department of Education data and is joining several other majority-white school districts in the conversation about race and white privilege.

In Westwood, several alumni from the school's METCO program approached the administration with changes they want to see in the district based on their experiences of racism and prejudice. The Algonquin Regional High School in Northborough was under the spotlight after an essay written by two former students highlighted the racist experiences they had in school and in town while outing a former student as the Atlanta police officer who was involved in the shooting of a black man.

Read Hamilton-Wenham's full resolution below: