Opinion: New School Superintendent Lauded for Commitment to Accountability, Transparency, and Equity

by Ali Wicks-Lim, Martha Toro, and Lamikco Magee

This column appeared previously in the Daily Hampshire Gazette

Members of the ad hoc LGBTQIA+, Black, and Latinx caucuses of Amherst have recently had the opportunity to welcome Dr. Xiomara Herman as the district’s new superintendent. We feel very encouraged about her leadership and hopeful about the start of a new school year under her leadership.

Since we began organizing to protect LGBTQIA+ students in the early spring of 2023, we’ve been calling for three things; accountability, transparency, and equity. The district was lacking in these three areas and the students and staff of Amherst Regional Public Schools were suffering as a result.

In the one month since Dr. Herman arrived, she has made herself accessible in ways the previous administration would not. She and her new assistant, Nyby Douglas, return emails and respond to meeting requests. They open their doors to new people and new ideas. You cannot be accountable if you are unwilling to be accessible. The caucuses are grateful for Herman’s commitment to accessibility.

Herman has already made and held space for difficult conversations and shown up for them with authenticity and care. We feel that she has the capacity to earn trust through transparency and accountability. She has been honest and realistic that we will not always agree on all things. We are grateful for a leader who will engage with those who may disagree with her rather than silencing them and shutting them out.

The most important thing that stands out about Herman is that she puts children first. Her commitment to protecting children is clearly part of who she is, both personally and professionally. She understands that students at ARPS have been harmed and that far more have been witnesses or bystanders to harm.

Within minutes of meeting Herman she acknowledged to the LGBTQIA+ Caucus that there is repair work to be done. We believe she will do it. Having struggled to advocate for children in a system that protected those who harmed them, the caucuses are grateful to Herman for her willingness to prioritize children and hold adults accountable. Herman’s presence has the potential to bring necessary and important change to the Amherst Regional Public Schools and we embrace and support the opportunity for change in a system that has caused harm to vulnerable children. That said, change is not easy in a place where the majority of power-holders have benefited from the status quo for a very long time.

There is a tendency to resist even necessary change simply because it asks something of us, but if we are going to put children first we must overcome that impulse. We have a new superintendent who is speaking the language of transparency, accountability and equity. The LGBTQIA+, Black and Latinx caucuses hope the ARPS community recognizes the opportunity in front of us and chooses to rise instead of resist.

Ali Wicks-Lim for the ad hoc LGBTQIA+ Caucus of Amherst
Martha Toro for the ad hoc Latinx Caucus of Amherst
Lamikco Magee for the ad hoc Black Caucus of Amherst