Inclusive Westwood Works To Bring Equity To The Forefront

WESTWOOD, MA - As the country prepares to celebrate Black History Month in February, the community group Inclusive Westwood is gaining momentum in the movement toward equity for historically marginalized populations.

Formed in 2016 by a group of concerned parents, Inclusive Westwood recently garnered more than 800 signatures in a signature drive to demonstrate residents’ commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in Westwood. The signature drive is ongoing. Five hundred signatures were gathered in the first week alone.

“This was a very grassroots effort,” said Inclusive Westwood cofounder Mandy Taft-Pearman, who has three children who attend the Westwood Public Schools. “It was parents coming together initially to engage about issues in the schools about diversity, inclusion and equity. We questioned whether all students are supported in the ways that are needed and whether they felt included and welcomed.

“We sought to be a broad umbrella when we talk about the different angles of inclusivity,” she added. This umbrella includes people of different races, cultures, religions, abilities, and sexual orientations.

Taft-Pearman said that the organization is entirely comprised of volunteers committed to this effort. There have been waves that have triggered increased participation, particularly the presidential election in 2016, anti-Muslim discrimination in 2017 and the murder of George Floyd coupled with COVID-19 in 2020.

The group has become known for its stickers and magnets bearing its multicolored logo. Recently, they held Saturday standouts to call attention to the issue of DEI.

Nedal Awde Smith grew up in Westwood and came back to raise her family. She has been involved in Inclusive Westwood for the past year and was encouraged to join by her sister. Her children attend sixth and eighth grade.

“I was pushed by the killing of George Floyd to really get engaged,” she said. “It’s interesting how external events push us.

"We are working to bring forward how diverse we are as a community, and we need to move forward on so many different things: LGBTQ+, disability race and ethnicity,” she added.

Megan Brenk, a member of Westwood’s SEPAC, joined after a friend told her about an Inclusive Westwood meeting at the library. She likewise became involved when the Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum in 2020 and is a member of the group’s Anti-Racism and Equity subcommittee.

“I was excited that there was a group I could join that shared my values,” she said, adding that her children are in fourth and sixth grade.

Debbi Shamon has four children ranging in age from kindergarten through 10th grade. She moved here eight years ago from Roslindale and was surprised by the contrast in the communities.

“I continue to struggle with that decision,” she explained, noting she moved to Westwood because of its excellent school system. “I continue to feel a sense of grief and loss around the richness of the community that I lived in.”

She described Roslindale as a “little type of utopia” where people from all backgrounds live, work and volunteer together. In her son’s Roslindale kindergarten class, the 22 students spoke 11 different languages.

“I feel this selfish push to sort of create more of a feeling like the community I had come from,” Shamon continued. “As a town, I would like to create a feeling that there’s not an othering of people who are not just sort of cisgender, white, Christian, male-female parented family. This is a town that has people of all colors, shapes, sizes, abilities, languages spoken, and religions practiced.”

Doris Forteith is Latina, which she said has led to instances of discrimination toward her family in Westwood and within the Westwood Public Schools . One of her children has Down syndrome, causing her to also look at discrimination in terms of ableism, even before her child was born.

“When I got pregnant with my youngest, the bloodwork panel showed that he was going to be born with Down syndrome,” she explained. “My doctor sat me down and asked me if I wanted to abort him.”

Forteith said her only concern was if the pregnancy was going to be viable.

“But my doctor said, ‘It’s just something we offer parents when they find out,’” she added. “I thought I was transported back into the 1950s.”

Sudha Sarma has lived in Westwood for the past 11 years and has children in the fifth and 11th grade. She said she became involved after attending School Committee meetings and hearing parents protest about what they deemed was critical race theory being taught in the schools.

“The thought that some people think that teachers are indoctrinating our children with these views was very upsetting to me,” she said. "To me, that wasn’t a sincere offer to sit down and say, ‘Let’s talk about the curriculum.'

“What is basically comes down to is human dignity, whether it’s family structure or abilities,” she added. “It’s made us all double down to urge our leaders to say that dignity is a community value.”

“One of my goals for this committee is visibility so that families who are out there navigating this stuff and children who are already navigating ableism, racism and discrimination know that we’re out there and know that we’re working towards it,” added Forteith.

The committee was visible at Westwood Day this summer, holding an information table that attracted high school students as well as elders.

“That was the first time that there was really a tangible response to what we’re doing,” Awde Smith said.

While the school system has made strides in creating a more inclusive environment and curriculum for students, each member interviewed acknowledged that more work needs to be done in town, from bringing more diversity to local government to creating more equitable housing policy.

Fortheith added that she was glad that at one School Committee meeting, when a parent against the wearing of masks said that only 1% of children would die from COVID-19, a School Committee member "said that one child dying is one too many."

The town released a statement on diversity, equity and inclusion on Dec. 20.

“We are working to make equity a daily part of the way the schools are run and the way the educators teach, resolve conflicts, help the kids interact and be represented in the curriculum,” Shamon said.

“What was taught to my older one is definitely different than what is being taught to my younger one,” according to Sarma. “I see a lot more world literature and multicultural backgrounds of the scientists discussed in science class.”

This article originally appeared on the Westwood Patch