Westwood METCO Alums Use Experience To Spark Change In District

WESTWOOD, MA — When Oryanna Ferguson and Karina Cruz decided to share their experiences at Westwood High School with their graduation class Facebook page, they weren’t sure what kind of response they’d get — after all, they had graduated six years ago and Facebook has a reputation for attracting trolls. But they decided the protests against systemic racism in the country were the perfect backdrop for a conversation about race in Westwood.

Ferguson and Cruz were not just two of the few students of color at Westwood High School, they were METCO students as well. The two said there was a shared feeling of “otherness” among METCO students and students of color at Westwood High School. Whether intentional or not, they were treated differently by students and staff.

The students understood that being from Boston and not Westwood presented challenges while attending the school. After school activities and sports programs were almost impossible to join if they didn’t have a ride back into the city, their days were longer than their Westwood peers with the bus rides home and to school, and they were part of classes with students they hadn’t known in elementary school. Cruz and Ferguson said while they made friends who were from Westwood, many of the METCO students stuck together — looking back on some key experiences from high school, the two said the division was clear.

“There was one time where all the METCO students were sitting in the cafeteria and a group of white guys threw a milk carton and an apple at us,” Cruz said.

She said she and her friends felt the incident was racially motivated and took the concerns to the high school administration.

“Nothing was done,” Cruz said.

What the two call “the cafeteria incident” felt like an obvious display of prejudice, but Ferguson said plenty of other microaggressions would happen over the course of the year. Watching their complaints be “brushed aside” by school officials deterred them from voicing concerns when other issues arose.

“It was like — do you even mention this situation when the last situation was just brushed off,” Ferguson said. It wasn’t just inaction on the administrations end that made students of color feel ignored — Ferguson said in the classroom, there were moments when she and other students of color felt they were being treated differently.

“At the time I don’t think I processed them as microaggressions back then,” Ferguson said, “The teacher’s way harder on you because of the way you said a statement — they’re more focused on your diction and annunciation than what you’re trying to say.”

Cruz said she remembers feeling targeted because she was a METCO student — she and another girl in the program were accused of stealing another student’s phone.
“I vividly remember being called down to the METCO office and having my bag searched,” Cruz said, “I remember sitting there thinking ‘Does this person not think that I have the money to have the same phone as she has?’ and at the time I did have the same phone.”

When the protests against police brutality and systemic racism started, Ferguson and Cruz found themselves recounting experiences of prejudice during their high school career with other friends who felt like a safe place. They decided to start the discussion in the Westwood Class of 2014 Facebook group to see if others felt the same and to educate their peers who may not have noticed.

Ferguson said she was sure to frame the post as a conversation open to all opinions.

“Wherever anyone was on the spectrum would’ve been perfectly fine, it was more of just opening the discussion to have it because sometimes even if you don’t agree with someone, you at least have that conversation to have a takeaway or learn something,” Ferguson said.

The majority, if not all the comments, were positive and supportive. Students who hadn’t noticed the instances that Oryanna and Cruz mentioned were surprised but understood, and eager to listen. Harley Pease, the class of 2014 president and administrator of the class Facebook page, said while he noticed small divides while in school, he never thought much of it. After hearing the experiences of his peers from the METCO program, Pease said he wanted to thank them for reaching out and help make a change.

“I didn’t notice at the time but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening,” Pease said.

The group decided to take action following a tweet by Westwood Superintendent Emily Parks. The tweet said Parks stands with METCO district superintendents and directors in supporting Black and brown students. The alumni group saw the tweet as an opportunity to start a dialogue with the district about changes they wanted to see.

While the Westwood school district has long maintained that it is committed to supporting all students and fostering an inclusive learning environment, the alumni wanted to see specific and measurable examples. Some of the most important points the alumni wanted addressed included the lack of staff of color, particularly guidance counselors and a curriculum that encompassed the experiences of people of color.

On a call with several alumni, including Cruz and Ferguson, Parks and other district administrators listened to their experiences and discussed race and privilege in Westwood. Parks said the hour and a half call was a far-reaching conversation.

“They wanted us to work on things with more urgency,” Parks said.

Westwood High School’s incoming principal Amy Davenport, was also on the call and said the administration was lucky to have the chance to look at the district through a different set of eyes.
“This was a really unique opportunity to hear from students who had some distance from their experiences at Westwood High School,” Davenport said.

The district and Westwood High School in particular have been making strides to continue the conversation about race and privilege. In 2019, Westwood High School’s ‘Let’s Talk About Race, Culture and Ethnicity’ group was brought back. Westwood METCO director Lateefah Frank facilitates the meetings with students and said she’s seen students talk about the impact of race in schools.

“It’s a race thing and not a METCO versus non-METCO thing — I think that the METCO program in Westwood is a layer of complexity that another town that doesn’t participate in the METCO program may not have,” Frank said, adding that having the program in Westwood only adds to the sense of urgency in the changes needed.

“Because we are inviting and welcoming students that are not from the Westwood community into our schools, so we want to make sure that opportunity is laced with a welcoming environment,” Frank said.

The group was revitalized after teachers and staff in Westwood attended professional development sessions around educating students of color. Parks said it was one of the many ways the district has tried to put inclusive teaching on the front end. While there are other professional book discussions planned for the summer to allow educators time to discuss books on race and being anti-racist, the discussions are optional. The district does not have a mandatory inclusion or race and ethnicity training for teachers.

“I don’t think we’ve done that yet, we probably should,” said Alison Borchers, Assistant Superintendent of Westwood Schools. She added that following the 2019 professional development focused on race, a “welcoming teachers group” was formed to help guide new teachers into the district.

Curriculum has been a constant conversation and Borchers said work is already being done to take a closer look at the English and Social Studies curriculum. Both department heads have been ready and open to expanding and changing the curriculum to better fit the needs of the students.

Ferguson and Cruz still look back on their time at Westwood with gratitude. “It was bittersweet,” Ferguson said, noting that she made lifelong friends and had opportunities opened to her that she hadn’t had before.

“It definitely wasn’t all bad, it’s a great program,” Cruz said, but the two and other alumni want the district to make a more deliberate attempt at listening to their students of color and turning that listening into action.

“This isn’t an experience that’s unique to just us, it happens in schools all over, but we wanted to make a change in the schools we have a connection with,” Cruz said.