School Superintendent Search Committee That Prioritized Diversity Chooses White Co-Chairs
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Despite its stated strong commitment to diversity, the Superintendent Search Committee elected a second white co-chair to head the search at their meeting on February 10. Sarah Marshall, the newly elected chair of the Amherst School Committee, and Inanna Balkin, a 14-year-old ninth-grader, will co-chair the committee. Marshall had been previously appointed by the Subcommittee for a New Superintendent (SNS) – the subcommittee that had been charged with hiring the search firm and putting together the Superintendent Search Committee. Balkin was chosen at the February 10 meeting of the Superintendent Search Committee over retired teacher Martha Toro and Town Councilor Ellisha Walker (at large), respectively LatinX and Black candidates.
The SNS meetings have not been open to the public and have not been recorded. School Committee member Jennifer Shiao said the lack of transparency “is necessary to protect the confidentiality of the applicants.” In an email, she said that the process will be open to the public once the finalists have been chosen. She did not comment on the fact that there are no candidates yet, so protecting their privacy is not relevant.
The 20 members of the search committee were chosen so that at least one member meets one of 40 criteria:
Amherst Elementary School parent/guardian
- Amherst Elementary School employee
- Amherst Regional High School (ARHS) parent/guardian
- Amherst Regional High School (ARHS) student
- Amherst Regional Middle School (ARMS) parent/guardian
- Amherst resident
- ARPS administrator
- ARPS educator
- ARPS non-educator employee
- ARPS paraeducator
- ARPS Special Education educator
- Direct report of Superintendent
- Parent/guardian of English language learner student
- Experience living with poverty
- Identify as American Indian or Alaska Native
- Identify as Asian
- Identify as Black or African American
- Identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)
- Identify as LBGTQIA+ (Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersexual, Asexual, plus)
- Identify as Hispanic or Latinx/Latine/Latino/Latina
- Identify as member of other historically marginalized group
- Identify as person with a disability
- Leverett resident
- Member of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
- Member of Amherst Pelham Education Association (APEA)
- Member of Amherst Pelham Administrator Association (APAA)
- Member of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)
- Member of municipal government (Towns of Amherst, Leverett, Pelham or Shutesbury)
- Member of Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC)
- Native speaker of language other than English
- Pelham Elementary School parent/guardian
- Pelham Elementary School employee
- Pelham resident
- Regional School Committee or Union 26 School Committee member
- Shutesbury resident
- Parent/guardian of a special education student
- Summit Academy employee
If more than one candidate met a criterion, a lottery was used to choose the representative.
The 20 members are: Markyta Ables, Yari Bachand, Inanna Balkin, Robert Boutillier, Marialuisa DiStefano, Maureen Fleming, Yael Fuerst, Ellen Jedney-Guidera, Swan Keyes, Jose Lugo, Sarah Marshall, Miguelina Hernandez, Jen Malcolm-Brown, Cynthia Rhodes, Robin Santiago, Jennifer Shiao, Joe Russavage, Martha Toro, Ellisha Walker, Debbie Westmoreland, and Kate Westafer.
Although great care was taken to establish a diverse search committee, the co-chairs are both white. Balkin, the daughter of a physician, is a member of Generation Ratify, a youth group devoted to equal rights for women. She has expressed her support for LGBTQ+ students at the middle school during last year’s controversy about mistreatment of trans students at the school (see also here). The breakdown of the vote was not available to the public.
Because the meeting was not open to the public, we do not know the arguments that were offered in favor of each of the candidates. Balkin received 13 of the committee’s 20 votes.
The consulting firm McPherson Jacobson is leading the search. The firm held four public listening sessions and conducted a survey to ascertain what attributes are is important to residents in a school superintendent. The results of this outreach are being compiled for the search committee and regional school committee. Updated information about the search may be found here.
Wow – literally a child shall lead them… ” Inanna Balkin, a 14-year-old ninth-grader, will co-chair the committee. Balkin was chosen …over retired teacher Martha Toro and Town Councilor Ellisha Walker (at large), respectively LatinX and Black candidates.” Children should not be exposed to or manipulated by the morass of petty politics and meanspiritedness that characterizes many aspects of Amherst’s town governance.
I hope Inanna’s parent(s) soon realizes their 14 year old should focus on her education. She has no skills to understand or navigate the infighting and personal agendas of the adults she’s now tasked to ‘evaluate’ .
I suggest a minimum age of 21 be set for participating on town committees, same as the legal drinking age – as Inanna is about to enter a barroom brawl.
Personally, I believe that young people should be more involved in politics and not less, as we need to be in order to save the planet. I am not saying that I agree with the choice made in this circumstance, but in general, there should be more opportunities for youth to participate in politics, and less bias against us.
I would have to agree with Jesse. I think it is very important to note that for myself, and many other youth in town, including Inanna, involvement in local politics is an engaging way to advance our education and curiosity. As a youth serving on a town committee in a leadership role, I am confident in my ability to hold my own, and I believe that any limit on when you can add your voice or engage local government undermines the spirit of democracy. When and how youth choose to participate in our town should be a decision left to them and their families. I would encourage healthy debate about the opinions, experience, knowledge and understanding of anyone who would like to be in leadership on a town committee. However, an age requirement to serve would leave out valuable voices. Part of diversity is getting voices that include youth. How can we make decisions about the schools or the climate, for example, with only the perspectives of people who do not attend them, and will not live in the world impacted by the choices made? I would not support an upper age limit on holding town office for similar reasons. Hopefully, we can get back to debating the value of someone’s voice on a committee rather than their age.
I agree with Jesse and Julian. We need youth voices in more cases and youth participation in civic affairs should be encouraged and fostered. But as a Co-CHAIR of this particular, 20-member committee? Inanna was already on the committee. What will candidates think when their search committee is run by a 14 year old? Does the committee as a whole take their mission and their commitment to diversity seriously, choosing an accomplished white child over an accomplished Latinx teacher or an accomplished Black Town Councilor, both of whom are the mothers of current or former ARPS students? Can WE take seriously the committee’s commitment to diversity following such a decision? Representation matters and once again, we see People of Color, pushed to the margins in favor of white people when a serious alternative was possible. It is hard to know what the committee was thinking since the meeting was not public.
Hi town government
Might like to be a co chair
Perhaps for the library board or maybe the school committee