The Brookline School Committee (BSC) convened on Monday, Nov. 13 at 6 p.m. in Town Hall. A primary topic of discussion was the district’s response to the current situation in the Middle East.
At the beginning of the meeting, School Committee Student Representative and senior Laura Cleves shared a video about the measures the school has taken to provide support for students in the wake of the current events. According to Cleves, there are two affinity spaces being held, one led by the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and the other by the Jewish Student Union (JSU).
In the video, senior Yuval Levy shared her experience coming back to school following the start of the situation in the Middle East.
“I was really worried that I would get to school and I would be facing anti-semitism and anti-Israel hate,” Levy said. “I think above all, I was really worried that the school would not talk about it, that I would get here and no one would say anything about it and that I would be completely by myself.”
Levy said she noticed a drop in the amount of students attending the JSU’s affinity space meetings ever since the high school’s decision to shift their meeting time to lunch. She said she speculates this is because students are typically less available during lunch.
“Students are not attending these lunch meetings because [the new decision is] pushing [the meetings] aside to a time that doesn’t work, just like how after school doesn’t work and just like how X-block doesn’t work,” Levy said.
In the same video, METCO Coordinator and MSA adviser Karim Azeb said the affinity spaces are a valuable place where students have a chance to be their authentic selves, which he believes isn’t easy during this time. He also said advisory is an important time for students to build community, which influenced the decision to move the time allocated to affinity spaces to lunch.
“[Advisory time is] where students are learning about school and making community,” Azeb said. “While [holding affinity spaces during] advisory time was awesome, I think that the transition away from advisory time to a more general time like lunchtime was appropriate.”
Levy said she feels students should be consulted about any future changes regarding the affinity spaces to avoid any future issues.
“I believe in the school’s good intentions to make us feel safe,” Levy said. “I think that a lot is lost when we’re not consulted about things, when I’m not reached out to or other students in the [JSU] are not reached out to.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Dr. Linus Guillory provided a report on the school district’s measures in response to the situation in the Middle East. According to Guillory, the district has created more opportunities for conversations between staff and students, shared tips on how to process and talk about the current events with children and refined the incident reporting form to allow anonymity, among other developments. In response to a question about further measures the school plans to take, Guillory said the district is open to providing teachers professional development to help them foster productive conversations in classrooms relating to the situation in the Middle East.
“We’re certainly open to provide the support that we need because we want our kids to feel safe and comfortable in school and we also want our teachers to be equipped with the information they need to assist [students],” Guillory said.
When the meeting was opened to comments from members of the public, parent Yael Alkalay stressed the need for a reevaluation of leadership and biases.
“We’ve called for your support loud and clear, but unfortunately, we’re still waiting for a resolution and a clear action plan,” Alkalay said. “Where is the action plan?”
Regarding an Instagram post, Parent Yana Scheterman asked a series of questions.
“How can a student know what to report? How can a student know what is considered to be hate and what is considered to be anti-semitic?” Schecterman asked. “Are we waiting for more severe instances before we equip our educators? Ignoring these crucial topics does not make them disappear. It’s imperative to establish clear guard rails defining what is permissible and what is not permissible within our system.”
Another parent said many families in Brookline have suffered directly from violence as a result of the situation in the Middle East. The parent said she was happy to hear about additions to services being made for Jewish and Muslim students, but she continues to feel concerned.
“[Children] need to feel safe and they need to be able to access support as needed, just as their peers and other ethnic groups do,” the parent said. “Even if a student is not a visible part of the Jewish or Muslim community, students must all find safety and be able to access group support.”
Parent Uri Mariash said that without proper education about the situation, many students will be controlled by social media content because they don’t have enough background understanding of these topics.
“We’re doing a disservice to our students by not focusing on academic excellence across the board, including many [subjects] like history and giving our students an opportunity to discern good and bad, right and wrong and letting them make their own judgment,” Mariash said. “This is what helps kids grow up as responsible, well-educated and well-rounded adults.”
