A win for children! Wellesley schools stops segregated ‘affinity groups’

'Affinity groups' segregate children by race

In a huge victory, Wellesley Public Schools officials today settled a civil rights lawsuit filed by Parents Defending Education and agreed to stop the practice of “affinity groups” that segregate students based on race. Over the past year, the school district, outside of Boston, has had meetings of race-based “affinity groups,” excluding students who don’t belong to the “affinity group.”

The settlement is an important blow to the divisive ideas of separation that exclude and shame young people based on race — a vestige of the divisive ideology of “critical race theory” that has spawned racist and bigoted practices in schools that house our most youngest citizens.

A young immigrant to the United States at the age of four from India, I am honored to work alongside my colleagues at Parents Defending Education, challenging the bullying, discriminatory practices that have become political correct but are actually quite illiberal and regressive.

In our announcement, we shared:

Wellesley Public Schools will be issuing a statement that it never should have – and never will again – suggest to parents that their children can be excluded from school-sponsored events because of their race. And if the district holds “affinity groups” in the future, it must clearly and unequivocally state that such events are open to all students regardless of race.

Here is an important takeaway from the settlement:

…Wellesley Public Schools may no longer treat students differently on the basis of race while ignoring the guaranteed protections of the Fourteenth Amendment – nor intentionally chill student speech while ignoring the guaranteed protections of the First Amendment.

Our lawsuit also challenged a “Bias Reporting Procedure” the school district had put in place, like institutional “cancel culture,” allowing the school to punish speech it deemed “offensive” or showing “conscious or unconscious bias.” Soon after Parents Defending Education filed a lawsuit, the school district suspended the policy.

Nicole Neily, president of Parents Defending Education, led the effort to press this legal challenge and said:

“Parents Defending Education is thrilled that Wellesley Public Schools has agreed to respect both the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of its students going forward. This settlement sends a clear message that racially segregating students in public schools is wrong – and there will be consequences. We have spent decades teaching our kids that racial segregation was and will always be wrong. We will not tolerate a return to segregation in 2022.”

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Chronology of Events

Judicial Watch submitted a public records request with Wellesley Public Schools for emails related to the “affinity groups.” I’ve organized those emails chronologically, and they tell a disturbing story.

2020

1. Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, 3:06 p.m. — Charmie Curry and William Craft sent email: “ALANA Affinity Group Time on Upcoming Professional Day,” Nov. 30, 2020, 2 p.m. - 3 p.m.

2. Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020, 4:10 p.m. — Charmie Curry and William “Bill” Craft sent email: “ALANA follow up!” The message: “It was so good to see many of you yesterday…We have power. We have influence.”

2021

1. Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021 — Email to Wellesley METCO. Subject: “Wellesley Black@ Listening Space for Current Students and Alums.” “…listening space for Black and Brown students and alumni.” “…these spaces are important for speaking to one’s experiences and for hearing go learn how together we can make meaningful and sustainable change for students.” The session “will be facilitated” by “Olivia Moorehead-Slaughter” on Feb. 10, 2021, 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

2. Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021,

3. March 3, 2021, 9:17 a.m. — Charmie Curry email to Ellen Chu and Bevin Hale, writing, “Listening sessions” for “Asian American students.” With “facilitation from a vendor we’ve worked with in the past.” “In Feb. we had one for Black + Brown students and alums.”

4. Wednesday, March 3, 2021, 11:47 a.m. — Charmie Curry email to Ellen Chu. “Hi Ellen! Yes, please share with other Asian American educators. There would be no work required - just need to show up to listen and support students. How we've done this is that the external facilitator leads the listening session. I take notes (anonymized, no attribution). We make it clear to students that what is said stays in the space, but I/my office will use the information to inform our equity efforts as it relates to teaching and

   learning. The information is used as data that speaks to the student experience, and I work to inform the district about it in a strategic manner.”

   “Does this make sense?”

March 18, 2021 — ‘Healing Space for Asian…and…BIPOC”

1. Thursday, March 18, 2021, 6:55 a.m. — Email to families from Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: “Good morning! The Office of DE&I will host a Healing Space for Asian and Asian American students (grades 6-12), faculty/staff, and others in the BIPOC community who wish to process recent events.” Meeting from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

2. Thursday, March 18, 2021, 8:37 a.m. — Kathleen Brophy, fitness and health teacher, email to Charmie Curry. “I wanted to check first, is it appropriate for me to go this healing space? I wasn’t sure?” Her signature reads: “Be your own color and dance with joy” and “…People will never forget how you made them feel,” by Maya Angelou.

3. Thursday, March 18, 2021, 10:02 a.m. — Charmie Curry email to Kathleen Brophy. “Morning Kathy, thanks so much for asking. This time, we want to hold the space for the Asian and Asian American students and faculty/staff. I hope this makes sense. Thanks so much for asking, and for your support of the students and colleagues.”

4. Thursday, March 18, 2021, 5:27 p.m. — Email to families from Wellesley High School Principal Jamie Chisum, with subject line, “Support for our Asian and Asian American families.”

   “Dr. Curry is hosting a healing session today for our Asian and Asian American students and faculty this afternoon. Prior to this week, the DEI Office was already preparing to host its second affinity-based student listening session, this time focusing on Asian and Asian American students, as a means of centering student voices on all issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion. If your student would like to attend the listening session, please encourage them to RSVP here.”

5. Friday, March 19, 2021, 9:20 a.m. — Email from Kerry Condon to Charmie Curry. “I noted Dr. Chism also excluded non-Asian students to an event at the High School yesterday. We are all horrified by recent events. I would hope that this would be an opportunity to bring our student community together.”

   Continued: “However, the reaction at WPS has been to discriminate against white students. I find this messaging a little confusing. Are we focusing on inclusion or exclusion? How does separating kids by race teach them anything?”

   Continued: “I do not believe this is the message we should be sending our students. This does not uphold the schools [sic] core values or ‘One Wellesley.’ We must do better for all of our students.”

6. March 19, 2021, 9:49 a.m. — Email from Wellesley Middle School Principal Mark Ito to Kerry Condon. “Affinity spaces are a known strategy in education that offer time for marginalized groups to process feelings and concern in productive ways. Our Office of DE&I for WPS feels this space is important for those who want to attend…In no way is our intent to discriminate against anyone in our schools.”

7. March 19, 2021, 10:30 a.m. — Kerry Condon to Mark Ito. “Regardless of the intention, I would suggest that the message sent by Ms. Gabrielson was at minimum poorly worded and to some reads quite incendiary….How has the concept of ‘affinity groups’ been socialized with parents?…What are the expected outcomes of the Affinity groups? …Do we have an issue with discrimination against Asian students in WPS?…Telling kids in class that discrimination s ‘bad’ and then sending an email saying ‘no white kids welcome’ seems contradictory. Do you truly believe a 12 year old has the ability to differentiate the intentions behind these messages?…Why an Asian affinity group and not one for Jewish students? We have had actually incidents regarding our Jewish population; so it would seem this is a more urgent need.”

8. Friday, March 19, 2021, 11:50 a.m. — Hillary and John Goldberg email to Mark Ito, subject line, “Healing Space Zoom.” “An email to our 7th grader regarding a healing space for students to process the horrific shootings that took place in Georgia came to our attention yesterday….”

   “We all need the opportunity and space to process how these things can happen and come together to heal. Unfortunately, the healing space provided by the school further divides us at a time when we most need

   to come together and support one another.”

   “Specifically, the email states, ‘This is a safe space for our Asian/Asian-American and Students of Color, *not* for students who identify only as white. If you identify as White, and need help to process recent events, please know I'm here for you as well as your guidance counselors. If you need to know more about why this is not for White students, please ask me!’”