Worcester Teachers Form Group To Address Racism In Schools

WORCESTER, MA — A group of Worcester Public Schools teachers has formed a new group to push the district and teachers' union leaders to acknowledge systemic racism.

Member Voice, which has about 60 members, says it wants to break free from Educational Association of Worcester (EAW) leaders, who have made statements the group disagrees with.

One incident the group highlighted was EAW President Roger Nugent telling the Worcester Telegram in June that the "vast majority" of teachers support the use of school resource officers. Member Voice said in a statement that the EAW never polled teachers about the issue.

The group in early July asked Nugent to retract his statement, and to publicly state support for Black Lives Matter. Nugent told MassLive on Tuesday that he stood by his statement, saying he can't take a poll on every issue he speaks about.

Member Voice emerges after a larger reckoning over systemic racism in Worcester following the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.

Since June, activists have asked for school resource officers to be removed over fear that students of color are being disciplined more harshly. In mid-July, an Instagram account called "Racism-free WPS" was created to share stories about racism in Worcester schools.

"We’re fighting for a racism, sexism and xenophobia-free Worcester Public Schools," the first post in the account read. "This account will be reporting anonymous student stories and publishing them on our page."

Member Voice wants the school system to acknowledge the Black Lives Matter movement, and that racism exists in schools. The group is planning to hold a series of community forums to talk about those issues, according to member Netta Rappaport.