Marblehead Public Schools has launched a new discrimination reporting system designed to give students, staff and community members an easier way to report incidents — and help administrators identify patterns that could require a broader response.
“That’s a form we created to capture any form of discrimination that a student, staff or community member has been exposed to,” Superintendent John Robidoux announced at an Oct. 1 School Committee meeting.
Robidoux said the new online form grew out of the district’s anti-discrimination committee and will be available through school websites and newsletters. The district also plans to post QR codes in schools so students can access it easily.
Reports will be directed to the appropriate school and collected in a central database, allowing administrators to track the type and frequency of incidents.
The goal, Robidoux said, is not simply to respond to individual cases but to identify trends and find ways to prevent discrimination.
The district is also exploring additional staff training on recognizing discrimination, including antisemitism, although Robidoux said administrators still need to determine how such training would fit into the professional development calendar and how it would be funded.
Robidoux also told the committee the district has updated its protocols governing interactions with federal immigration and other law enforcement officers at schools following passage of the state’s Protect Act.
Under the protocol, staff members are instructed to have officers remain outside the school while administrators contact Robidoux or his designee. School officials would request officers’ identification and determine whether they have a judicial warrant rather than an administrative warrant.
Schools, child care centers and health care facilities are among the locations designated as protected or sensitive spaces under the law, Robidoux said.
METCO enrollment at 46 students
METCO Director Keisha Johnson also gave the committee an overview of Marblehead’s program, which currently enrolls 46 Boston students.
METCO is a voluntary school desegregation program that transports students from Boston to participating suburban districts.
Marblehead has increasingly focused its enrollment on students entering seventh and ninth grades, Johnson said, allowing students to arrive at natural transition points when their Marblehead classmates are also beginning new schools.
The change also helps address one of the program’s biggest challenges: transportation. Johnson said the trip from Boston can take more than an hour and sometimes as long as 90 minutes. Older students also have access to late buses, making it easier for them to participate in sports, clubs and other after-school activities.
Johnson highlighted several academic measures, including a 100% graduation rate among Marblehead METCO students. She said 60% of the program’s juniors and seniors are taking at least one Advanced Placement course, the highest level she has seen during her six years in the district.
The average GPA among METCO seniors is 3.41.
Johnson stressed that the program depends on support throughout the school system and community, from teachers and counselors to host families who help Boston students participate in after-school activities.
“I think that’s an important part of the program that we want to emphasize,” Johnson said. “Without every single department and all of our leadership team, this program is impossible.”
Superintendent outlines goals
Robidoux also updated the committee on progress toward his professional goals, including improving instruction, strengthening hiring and retention practices, implementing the district improvement plan and developing better ways to measure student achievement and social-emotional growth.
One new initiative will expand classroom “learning walks” beyond administrators to teachers throughout the district.
Under the plan, every educator will visit at least one other classroom this school year to observe how colleagues engage students. The visits will be non-evaluative and are intended to give teachers an opportunity to learn from one another.
Robidoux said the district also wants to improve the way it presents student achievement data, looking beyond MCAS scores to other measures and assessments.
Committee members encouraged administrators to use the data to tell a broader story about student performance and to identify appropriate comparison districts depending on what is being measured.
“What is it the schools are doing?” Robidoux said, describing questions the district needs to be able to answer. “Superintendent, you’ve been here for two years now. What have you changed? What are you doing? I think those are valid questions, and those are the questions that I have to be able to answer.”
The committee plans to hold a separate workshop to continue developing its own goals, including a proposed governance dashboard that would establish key measures for tracking district performance.
Eveleth update
The School Committee briefly discussed a recommendation by Robidoux and the Facilities Subcommittee that the district turn the former Eveleth School property over to the town. The issue will be added to an agenda soon.
