Steps the school has taken

Mims said that the Calculus Project has had to adjust for COVID social-distancing guidelines.

However, according to Mims, the Calculus Project has continued to provide extra math support for Black and Latino students throughout remote learning.

“This summer, we offered math courses online. One of the components of the Calculus Project is the Pride Curriculum, where students learn about the contributions of STEM professionals of color and understand their history,” Mims said. “We modified that to where we brought in successful men and women of color to speak to the students over Zoom.”

According to Cawthorne, METCO students who lacked laptops and functioning Internet access were able to receive extra support and resources through the town of Brookline. Some Internet service providers offered coverage at a free or reduced cost to low-income families.

“Brookline has been really good about providing METCO kids with laptops, particularly early in March and April. They really helped families who had issues with Internet. AT&T and Comcast contributed a lot. Brookline was really helpful in trying to ensure that all families had Internet access,” Cawthorne said.

Leslie said the high school is committed to ensuring that all students have equal access to technology, regardless of socioeconomic status.

“There continues to be a push to make sure that students from low-income households have the technology they need. We’re trying to make sure that, at the very least, access is equitable,” Leslie said.

Junior Yuki Hoshi said she appreciated the school’s initiative in distributing Chromebooks to students, but that this system still had flaws.

“The school’s done a very good job of providing Chromebooks for students who need it, but Chromebooks have a spotty connection to WiFi. Obviously technology costs money, but I do think distributing Chromebooks was a good first step,” Hoshi said.

Progress has also come in intangible forms. According to Leslie, teachers are attempting to be more understanding of the systemic inequities that impact students.

“We’re also trying to make sure that teachers are aware of the inequalities that existed last spring and continue to exist. We’re making teachers hyper aware of certain communities of students for whom remote learning is just extra hard, so teachers don’t give up when a student doesn’t immediately email them back,” Leslie said. “If a student messes up and doesn’t submit an assignment or two, or misses a class or two, we teachers should remember that there could be a lot of reasons for that.”