New Canaan Public Schools Alumni Call for More Diverse Faculty, Expanded Curriculum To Address Racial Injustice

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Saying they represent more than 650 present and past students and parents, New Canaan Public Schools alumni last week called for the district to hire more people of color, expand curriculum to address systemic racism and inequity, and hold twice-yearly events to educate both students and faculty on racial justice.

Addressing the Board of Education during the public comment period at the elected body’s June 15 meeting, the alumni also called for the public schools to interview at least one candidate of color for every faculty and administrative position available. 

Valentina Zamora, a rising senior at New Canaan High School, said those who signed a June 7 letter to the district—it now has more than 700 signatories—also are calling for the hiring of a new director of diversity and inclusion for the district “to oversee the development of diverse curriculum and programming” as well as a restorative justice counselor “who will be responsible for re-framing the settlement of conflicts and discipline within the New Canaan Public Schools community.”

“Looking back at the 2019-2020 school year, where 417 white teachers and 20 nonwhite teachers were employed, we hope to see 25% faculty of color employed in academic disciplines by 2025,” Valentina Zamora said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “Along with this, we recommend that New Canaan Public Schools reports and publishes demographics of all faculty hired each fiscal year to show progress toward this goal.”

The comments came on the heels of a peaceful protest in New Canaan that drew thousands of participants, calling for an end to police brutality and racism in the wake of the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Local police and government officials joined in the protest here, and nationally Floyd’s death has galvanized advocates for change in law enforcement and beyond.

Fatou Niang, who organized the New Canaan protest together with her sons, told Board members that in talking to them about what’s happening “the first thing that they told me was it was impossible to go through the public [school] system, and not come out racist.”

“And that shocked me, that kids going through the New Canaan system can think like that,” said Niang, who addressed the Board on the same topic as the alumni group though not as part of the same presentation. “So we had a long conversation and a few examples came in, such as teachers asking my son Lucas to read ‘Huckleberry Finn,’ the part where they were using the n-word, because she wanted him [the reader] to be ‘authentic.’ Those are things you learn about many years later, and you can’t do anything about it. So it makes me want to participate in this conversation to offer options.” 

Niang suggested the district expand its curriculum in African-American studies beyond traditional sections focused on Civil Rights. “I think there is so much more to learn about that culture that is not being approached,” she said. 

Those who addressed the Board as part of the alumni group included Valentina Zamora as well as Will Hennessy, Molly James, Emily Mitaro, Alejandra Zamora, Jelani Alladin, Caroline Hughes, Trip Means and Jack Ludtke. They outlined next steps including participation at future Board of Ed meetings, research, networking in the community and sharing their collaborative efforts with the district online.

Board of Ed Chair Katrina Parkhill indicated that, in addition to inviting public comment at future meetings, the Board would consider the changes in setting district goals (last updated in August 2019). Parkhill noted that the Board typically doesn’t respond to public comments made at meetings, but did say “we acknowledge many of the important ideas and issues that were presented tonight.”

“We are committed, as a Board, to educate our students and it’s important that we look back, we look at our current system and we think about how to best move forward,” she said. “And as part of our Board process, we have the opportunity to do that with our goal-setting process each year and through our public meetings that we will continue to have where we hear from the public and where we can share our discussions and ideas as well. So thank you all for your comments tonight.”

Those who addressed the Board said they valued the New Canaan public education system while adding that it left them largely unprepared to frame or navigate the race-related problems they faced in college and in their professional lives. 

Hennessy, who graduated from New Canaan Public Schools in 2013, said, “For many white folks like myself, living in New Canaan and then leaving to go to college and our professional careers is a reckoning that many of the normalized behaviors reinforced through our education system have unintentionally been hurtful, racist, homophobic and oppressive.”

“I’ve been called out in my workplace when the stakes are high to understand that the white-centered world in which I had been taught is the only reality,” he said. “I failed to understand the vibrant racial differences and inequality as well as the power of my privilege. For the class of 2020, the unlearning about the truths of the world starts today, and we are here as alumni, current students and parents to make changes to NCPS, so that future graduates will not be deprived of the education that they deserve to be successful.” [The Board meeting was held hours after the class of 2020 graduation parade.]

James, a classmate, said the alumni “aim to craft a comprehensive district-wide curriculum plan to teach students about systemic racism and privilege.”

“We should form a diverse advisory board to lead the development and implementation of this plan for the upcoming school year,” she said. “We encourage that this plan be available to the New Canaan community for visibility and discussion and we are committed to coming together to achieve these goals and are eager to discuss further with you the Board of Education.”

Mitaro, a 2011 graduate, said she has worked for five years in education and has extensive research training in child psychology. Mitaro that one of her favorite teachers at NCHS was Marianne Cohen in AP World History, who “was very open about her experiences as a Native American woman growing up on a reservation and being the first in her family to attend college, Dartmouth no less.” A decade after graduating, Mitaro said she is “still grateful” to Cohen for the experience of her class.

“I only hope that the district hires more people of color as well as provide the resources necessary to fully support them,” she said. “We cannot simply check a box to educate children about race—we must implement a comprehensive, district-wide evidence-based plan to teach students about systemic racism. I urge the district to hire an expert to lead this implementation.”

Hughes, who graduated in 2004 and, after earning a bachelor’s degree in education and history from Northwestern University, returned to New Canaan and served for nine years as a youth minister, called for “twice-yearly district-wide all school day events, aimed at understanding and raising racial justice, diversity and inclusion.”

“We imagine utilizing the arts, music and narrative storytelling, seminars and keynote speakers at the various schools to achieve this goal,” she said. “Similarly, we ask that two professional development days, coordinated by the director of diversity and inclusion, be centered around faculty training around issues of racial justice, diversity and inclusion within the district.”

6 thoughts on “New Canaan Public Schools Alumni Call for More Diverse Faculty, Expanded Curriculum To Address Racial Injustice

  1. Wow didn’t know it was impossible to go through the New Canaan
    Public school system and not come out a racist

    My privilege and of course Unlearning the truths

    hears a truth “the road to hell is paved with good intentions “

  2. I would suggest to all of the complainants that they re-read the Constitution of the United States, before continuing their search under the next bush for the next inequity or wrongdoing. While China is turning out 3,500,000 engineers a year and positioning itself to dominate the ongoing technology and information wars, it appears we are turning out race-obsessed, victimhood studies majors and contemplating whether STEM teaching has implicit gender bias.

    Life is oppressive for all of us at times. By the 3rd grade, anyone with common sense realizes that life is unfair—some people are taller, faster, smarter, better-looking, more popular, etc. I wish I could tell you that this gets straightened out over time, and things equalize, but the hard truth is that you mostly have to accept it and LIVE WITH IT. To paraphrase David Horowitz, a former Marxist revolutionary turned Conservative, “if you really believe you can create Heaven on Earth, and end war, poverty, racial prejudice, sexism, etc., what lie will you not tell, and what crime will you neither commit, nor support? Have recent events not reinforced this danger? Have the protesters even bothered to familiarize themselves with the data regarding police violence in America, or are we going to live in a post-factual world where the narrative is more important than the data because we’re so eager to look for the latest muse to display virtue?

    Written into America’s birth certificate is the belief that “All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights (and after several Civil Rights Acts) regardless of race creed or color.” Our rights as Americans, whether you are a true believer or not, come from the Creator, NOT from the State. What the State gives you, it can take away!

    We are being played by enemies of America who want to destroy us from within. They hate our Constitution, our history, (the good, the bad, and the ugly), and our institutions. They want us to believe that the country was founded on slavery when it was whites that freed the slaves. Blacks enslaved blacks in Africa for 1000 years before a white man ever set foot on the continent. This obsession with group identity is an idea pathogen sweeping across our land that is not only dividing us, but is the antithesis of the individual rights that America was founded on.

    I don’t doubt that you recent alumni are well-intended, and there is nothing wrong with the desire to have a more diverse faculty, but we need to get back to meritocracy, and de-emphasize the color of one’s skin. If the color of a teacher’s skin is entering the classroom in any way, then I would argue that there lies the problem in itself. Gender, sexual orientation, and skin color should be incidental to one’s character, not essential to it. And please help us all in eliminating this insidious phrase, “people of color.” Where is the unity of interest of people of color? If the beheaders of ISIS come to America, they are people of color. The Spanish Conquistadors, and the rival Aztecs who they conquered, magically become people of color when they cross the border into the United State—it’s all propaganda, racist toward whites, so you are furthering the very thing you seem to be fighting against. Please focus on how you are going to survive and thrive in an increasingly competitive world, and concern yourself less with these vexing social issues. If there is a solution to social issues, it rests more with individuals treating each other with mutual respect, rather than flawed institutions mandating changes and quotas. After all, these institutions are comprised of the same people causing all of the problems—–US. Giving them more money and power is dangerous.

  3. I wonder how this minority of aggrieved NCPS graduates would compare their lack of preparedness and overall experience to say, the Bridgeport or New Haven public school systems?

    In 2019, 140 public schools in New York City had at least one grade where 90% of the students failed a standardized Math and English exam. While this systemic failure has many causes, the bright spot is that the course material was delivered by a racially diverse faculty.

  4. Martha 100% right on violations in post reconstruction
    100% wrong on “critical of actions of the government “
    There is no government actions (laws that support racism)
    Just the opposite—- when I went to work at GE back in 1965 having gone to
    Local schools with 2 black students I never had a opinion on being Unprepared
    To work in the real world —total BS — I have work with fellow black
    Employees and work for black bosses—- And worked with black business
    Owners with degrees from MIT —- never did I feel unprepared

  5. Mr. Taylor’s comment above proves (at least a dozen times over) that the push for a community-wide commitment to diversity and inclusion — starting with our schools — is long overdue.

    I take great comfort in the fact that there are youth in our community and beyond who are willing to challenge the status quo despite the sadly predictable backlash they are sure to face from those unwilling to have an honest discussion about race and racism in America because it makes them “uncomfortable”. Facing a legacy of systemic oppression SHOULD make us uncomfortable, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a valuable — even critical — project to undertake.

    As James Baldwin aptly said: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

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