Duxbury DEI director reports hate‑bias trends, $30,000 grant and plans for restorative training

Caitlin Cotton Herman, the district’s diversity, equity and inclusion lead, briefed the school committee on DEI work, data on incidents of hate and bias, and new state and federal guidance affecting curriculum and school practice.

Incident data and grant: Cotton Herman said the district logged 71 reported incidents of hate and bias in the prior school year, with most incidents race‑based and a small number of repeat targets; she cautioned that reported incidents undercount total occurrences. Cotton Herman told the committee the district had 19 reported incidents through mid‑October (10 in September, 9 in October) and said the district had received a $30,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to support prevention and response work.

Restorative practices and training: Cotton Herman said two middle‑school school adjustment counselors will run a parent and community conversation series that will include topics such as social media and achievement culture; she also described a district pathway to train educators in restorative practices. A high‑school teacher, Adria Hasha, received a tier‑2 restorative practice training through Suffolk University and is building internal PD pathways; Cotton Herman said roughly 13 educators have signed up for an internal restorative PD pathway this year.

Policy guidance and parental opt‑outs: Cotton Herman reviewed federal and state guidance issued over the summer and early fall, including a federal memo on civil‑rights compliance and a Supreme Court decision on parental opt‑outs for instruction (referenced as Mahmood v. Taylor in the presentation). She also cited state guidance on immigration status, which she said reaffirms that educators should not ask about students’ immigration status and should act as safe adults for students and families. Cotton Herman said district practice was already aligned with the guidance and that her work focuses on embedding equity into curriculum, pedagogy and assessment rather than treating it as an “add‑on.”

Why it matters: Administrators said a sustained pattern of race‑based incidents concentrated on a small population of students indicates both the need for targeted interventions and the importance of monitoring measures of belonging and safety. Cotton Herman identified the K‑12 Insight survey, classroom walk‑throughs and other qualitative data as measures the district will use to track progress and to evaluate whether the grant and training reduce incidents and improve student outcomes.

Ending note: Cotton Herman asked for continued school committee support in countering misconceptions about DEI work and in framing the work as core instructional practice and data inquiry rather than a stand‑alone program.