At the regular meeting on October 14, the Gorham School Committee (SC) held a first reading and heard public comments on the draft of the new Anti-Racism Policy.
The Policy Committee, a subcommittee of the SC, began drafting the Anti-Racism Policy with feedback from stakeholders in August. Feedback from community members regarding the policy and its implementation was provided during the public comment section of the SC meeting. Parents, members of the community, and Gorham High School (GHS) alumni raised concerns about and provided support for the draft policy.
Alumnus and founding member of Gorham’s Anti-Racism Development (GARD) group, Mariam Beshir, spoke on personal experience and provided support: “When schools create an equitable, diverse, inclusive, celebratory environment for students these students will grow to understand and appreciate themselves and others. But when students are only taught about the contributions of white men to the world throughout history then students of color will feel underrepresented, unmotivated, and as if they’re not capable of achieving great things.”
A parent of students in Gorham schools, Melissa Spicer, provided a statement of opposition: “I’m having a hard time understanding, when people are being attacked and feeling discriminated against because of the color of their skin, why that type of behavior doesn’t fall under existing policies of anti-bullying and the Code of Conduct.”
Community member Elijah Whitehead provided his statement of support for the draft Anti-Racism Policy: “If you have a business model that is only designated for a particular group of people or segment of society, you could attain success doing that. Now imagine the level of success you could attain if you were able to diversify, and not only just incorporate one group but others…strictly sticking to a homogenous way of looking at things is not going to help our students be successful.”
Statements of support for the policy were also provided by the parents of Gorham students Rayanne Joselyn and GHS alumnus Fatima Beshir. They both discussed racial harassment they or their friends and family members have faced.
Member of the SC Jennifer Whitehead also spoke on the importance of the Anti-Racism Policy, and highlighted
experiences with racism that she, her Black husband, and biracial children have faced in Gorham and the Gorham School District.
“When I hear my neighbors, and friends, and fellow church members say something to the effect that racism and white supremacy don’t exist in Gorham it floors me,” said Whitehead. “Because you don’t see it, because you don’t feel the consequences, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
Whitehead mentioned the student accounts of racism presented at the Anti-Racism Teach-In hosted by GARD this past summer. She also discussed the aim of the policy, stating its goal is not to teach children about police but rather about “helping children grow to become decent human beings.”
A revised draft based on the public comment provided at the October 14 meeting will be presented to the full SC at the regular meeting on December 9 at the GHS MPAC. In the meantime, the Policy Committee is continuing to accept public feedback through email to Assistant Superintendent Chris Record: chris.record@gorhamschools.org or Anne Schools, Chair of the Policy Committee: anne.schools@gorhamschools.org.