AMHERST — Anti-bias training throughout the Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools, under the Welcoming Schools Seal of Excellence Track, will soon be getting underway, continuing an effort to create a safe, positive and more inclusive environment for all students.
Maureen Fleming, mental health and behavioral administrator, told the Regional School Committee at its Oct. 22 meeting that the latest commitment to improving the schools is pursuing the project of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
“It’s biased-based training,” Fleming said. “It doesn’t cover just students who are transgender or gay, it really covers a whole spectrum of students.”
The first training, focused on intersectionality, starts on Nov. 5, giving all staff an understanding into how the complexities of race, gender, ability, sexual orientation and other identities intersect. Educators will learn how policies can be structured to be more inclusive and discuss ways to use policies and procedures to create school climates that are affirming and welcoming for students’ whole selves.
Fleming said the training, which will continue in a mostly virtual format, will be similar to the training done by the state’s Safe Schools for LGBTQ Students and the Stonewall Center at the University of Massachusetts in August 2023, after reports surfaced about bullying of transgender students at Amherst Regional Middle School and middle school counselors who intentionally misgendered students and failed to offer them support.
“We had every single staff member in the district undergo the training, and we will do the same thing this time,” Fleming said.
In addition to the training, the district’s bullying policy has been updated and a new online bullying platform was launched.
Fleming said the idea for broadening Welcoming Schools, which she called an impressive training program, came after the Amherst Early Education Center this year became one of 35 schools across the country to earn the Seal of Excellence, by working over the past three years to honor family diversity, create LGBTQ+ and gender inclusivity and support transgender and nonbinary students.
That was led by Elizabeth Burns, the preschool administrator at Crocker Farm School, whose team raised money, yielding a preschool program with books, resources and toys that have been updated to reflect and appreciate individuals and family diversity.
The districtwide program will likely take three years to complete to stretch out the training modules and money.
Fleming said it is expensive, initially at a cost of $40,000 with 75% is being covered through grant funding identified by Mary Kiely, the district’s curriculum administrator, and the remaining $8,000 from a gift from the Strategic Planning Initiative for Families and Youth, or SPIFFY Coalition, a program of the Collaborative for Educational Services.
“It’s been a very collaborative effort,” Fleming said.
Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman said community support is also being pledged, state Rep. Mindy Domb has offered to seek state funding and additional grants will be pursued.
“If we do earn the Seal of Excellence, we would be the first school district in the country to do this,” Fleming said. “Other organizations have done it, but we would be the first school district.”
Members of the committee applauded the ongoing work after what happened at the middle school.
“The speed of action is much needed, but also pretty impressive,” said Amherst representative Bridget Hynes.
“This is what we pledged to the community, that it wasn’t just a one and done, and that we would continue to work in this area,” said Amherst representative Deb Leonard.
Chairwoman Sarahbess Kenney thanked SPIFFY and called the program “amazing and fantastic.”
Fleming said surveys will be done both before and after the training, yielding important data about the program, and the district will continue to work closely with the SPIFFY Coalition.
