By Laura Hayes, Senior Community Reporter
(Photo/Laura Hayes)
SHREWSBURY – The Shrewsbury Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force delivered a final report to the Board of Selectmen, Oct. 19, making a number of recommendations based on more than a year of meetings and review.
Those recommendations include, among other things, a call to end the School Resource Officer program in Shrewsbury schools and a call to phase out the use of the thin blue line flag on Shrewsbury Police Department uniforms and equipment.
The task force also recommended conducting a review of town hiring practices and appointments while additionally exploring ways to promote and encourage women- and minority-owned businesses.
How the task force was formed
The selectmen established the task force in August of last year, following the death of George Floyd.
Task force co-chair Adeola Mbaneme said she and fellow co-chair Ruth Febo were grateful for the time and effort that went into this now completed report.
“It’s something that I will always take with me, and I’m forever changed by this group,” said Mbaneme.
The group divided into subcommittees on education, employment, healthcare, housing and public safety. Other subcommittees conducted a survey and gathered personal stories “to support the work done by the other subcommittees,” according to the final report.
Mbaneme said the recommendations were approved by a majority vote of the committee.
“We agreed as a task force that this is a starting point for this board and the community to continue the discussion about DEI in Shrewsbury,” said Selectman Beth Casavant, who also served on the committee.
Public safety recommendations
Education subcommittee recommendations included suggestions that schools provide interpreters at family events; that schools provide diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging training for all staff and new hires; and that schools regularly engage with students about their school climate.
The public safety subcommittee recommended, among other things, removing the thin blue line symbol, opting out of civil service and creating a civilian review board to hear, investigate and discipline cases of police misconduct.
The subcommittee also recommended ending the School Resource Officer (SRO) program and instead focus on creating an alternative school safety or security plan to invest in new ways to create positive interactions between children and the police.
“The link between SROs and the School to Prison Pipeline is definitive and one which is highly racialized,” the report said, citing a 2016 thesis by Christina Pigott. “The presence of an SRO in a school increases the likelihood of expulsion due to disciplinary action, which disproportionately affects students of color, specifically Black males.”
The task force report further referenced a 2020 equity audit of the Shrewsbury Public Schools by the Assabet Valley Collaborative.
“In Shrewsbury, students who are economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities and Black students are suspended at the highest rates, a trend showing relative consistency since 2015,” it said.
Two Shrewsbury Police Officers are assigned as SROs, with one at the high school and one at the elementary and middle school level.
“School resource officers in Shrewsbury — they certainly collaborate with our school administration and they support our schools, but they do not function as school administrators,” Superintendent Joe Sawyer said during an Oct. 6 School Committee Meeting.
Shrewsbury High School Principal Todd Bazydlo said the SROs aren’t part of discipline decisions in the district.
He said there have only been two arrests at the high school since the start of the program. One of the cases involved a domestic assault complaint, while the other involved an armed robbery in another community. The school thought the student may have a weapon, Bazydlo said.
“It’s been really discreet,” he said. “It’s not something you would see on the news where you see these videos. It’s very calm. It’s very non-confrontational.”
Subcommittee member Juan Acosta asked the selectmen to look at the recommendation in the report’s context.
“The way I see it is, this recommendation does not stand alone, it stands as part of the whole body,” Acosta said.
Overarching themes
Mbaneme said there were several overarching themes in the task force’s report, including efforts to develop a permanent Diversity and Inclusion Committee, which would ideally include task force members.
“I think there’s a lot in here that you presented that perhaps the town could work with,” said Selectman Maurice DePalo after the public safety presentation.
“We recognize that there is a considerable amount of work that will go into implementation strategies. We know that change does not happen overnight,” Mbaneme said.
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