Residents and staff urge school committee to re-examine Brown report findings, raise racial-equity and staffing concerns

Dozens of residents and current and former staff used the public-comment period at the Barnstable School Committee meeting on Feb. 5 to call attention to what they described as longstanding racial-equity problems in the district and to press the committee to reopen investigations and restore community trust.

Several speakers referenced a 2005 external review by the New England Equity Assistance Center at Brown University and said the district has not followed the report’s recommendations. Rockwell Swindler, identified in his remarks as a 31-year Barnstable High School teacher, said the district was formally investigated and that “eliminating [a course] to avoid looking racist is by definition systemic racism.” He also criticized the district for firing a long-time central-office administrator, Marybeth Taylor, whom he said had been “put on leave, fired, and then…