In Milton, two school board races reflect a divide between those who support the district’s proposed equity policy and those who don’t.
A group of parents circulated a letter last week asking residents to vote for incumbents Jeremy Metcalf and Melinda Young, who said they support the draft proposal, which has been in the works since 2020.
Metcalf and Young are being challenged by Allison Duquette and Nicholas Smith, who have made public statements opposing the policy as currently written and have been endorsed by a group called “Vermont Parents Against Critical Theory,” or VPACT, according to its website.
Young, who was appointed to fill a vacancy on the school board of trustees in October, had signed a VPACT petition in opposition to the proposal about two months earlier, but in recent exchanges with VTDigger said she has since changed her stance.
“I disagreed at the time and was misinformed,” she said in an email. “When l decided to apply for the board I became more educated and have since changed my view in support of the policy.”
Six parents who signed the Feb. 20 letter wrote that Duquette and Smith “if elected, will use their platform to advance a toxic agenda” and that the VPACT website’s posts “are hyperbolic and mirror many of the beliefs espoused by alt right national organizations.”
“We’re trying to create an environment of inclusiveness and belonging,” said Lisa Rees, who signed the letter and participated in the community group that worked on the draft policy.
Rees said she has communicated with Young who has made it clear that she did not understand the policy and was misinformed when she and her husband signed it. “I still support her because she does not support their stance and believes in the equity policy,” Rees said on Monday.
Parent and signatory Emily Hecker, who was on the school board in 2018, said the need for an equity policy — which is now a 17-page draft awaiting approval from the school board — is evident from the words and tone that some VPACT members have displayed at school board and selectboard meetings.
“The way that they talk about equity, the way that they are running their campaigns … shows how much work Milton has to do to enlighten and educate and support these folks in recognizing the role that equity has to play in a quality school system,” she said. “I think that they’re afraid that the Milton that they have always lived in may be changing and they’re trying to kind of fight that change.”
The draft equity policy, dated November 2022, includes a list of words and definitions, actions related to access and inclusion, curriculum and instruction, data and assessment, and discipline. It includes a racial equity statement signed by both selectboard and school board members that acknowledges “a history of racial discrimination has caused a reality of prejudice and injustice producing barriers” to marginalized people.
Duquette, one of the challengers seeking a school board seat, did not respond to requests for comment. A farmer and small business owner, Duquette, running as a Republican, lost a bid for a House seat in the Chittenden-25 district last year to Democrat Julia Andrews. She is now running for the three-year school board seat held by Metcalf.
In a Jan. 10 letter to the editor published by the Milton Independent, Duquette wrote that the proposed equity policy “will be disruptive, divisive, and expensive” and “put too much power in the hands of one person, the superintendent.”
“I believe a better alternative is an Equality Policy focused on a commitment to providing every student with the highest quality education possible and encouraging kindness, tolerance and respect for each and every student and their families,” she continued.
Metcalf, who was elected in 2018 and is the board’s chair, has three children in the school system.
“I am running for re-election because I want to continue giving back to my community and I want to put our school on a good path to the future, as there are many decisions that will need to be made in the coming year,” he said in an email.
Among his priorities: “Continuing work on an equity policy that will ensure district resources are reducing barriers for those most in need and increasing student achievement for all students through equitable practices.”
Metcalf said there has been community input into the equity policy. “The board has been deliberate in the revision process so we could answer questions and listen to feedback to create a policy that reflects the community,” he said.
“It was drafted by a committee of students, guardians, faculty, and community members and is currently being reviewed and revised by the board policy committee,” he said.
Smith, in his first race for elected office, is challenging Young for a one-year term. He declined to discuss critical theory “since that is not a platform of my campaign” and said he is more concerned about declining proficiency rates or spending increases in education, pointing to a projected 5.2% increase in the school budget.
“I have come to know equity as the equalization of outcome. In contrast equality is the equal availability of opportunity. I am in favor of the latter,” he said via email. “I recognize that there are some systems within the schools that require support that go beyond the baseline (such as special education), but I think that these systems are already addressed in policies outside of the Milton Draft Equity Policy, which is partly why I disagree with the policy.”
Smith coaches Milton Youth Soccer, umpires for Little League baseball, is vice chair of Milton’s Development Review Board and became a father in September.
“Rather than pushing for unity, the (Milton Town School District) administration, under the direction of the school board, continues to propose controversial policies that take time away from real issues and academic excellence,” he wrote in a candidacy letter published Feb. 8 in the Milton Independent. “It is my opinion that our school districts resources, and your taxpayer dollars, are not being efficiently managed.”
Young, who was appointed to Rick Dooley’s seat after he moved out of town last year, is also running in her first election.
“I whole-heartedly support educational equity, and l am looking forward to the final draft to be presented to the board when ready,” she wrote in an email last week. “I want kids to learn and to thrive in a safe, welcoming, inclusive environment that centers their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.”
A parent of two children who graduated from Milton, Young said she has worked for the school district for 16 years in various capacities including as a behavior interventionist and substitute teacher. She currently drives bus No. 9 for Mountain Transit.
“I am a student-centered board member, and I believe that all students have the right to feel safe, welcomed, accepted, and included in their educational experience. I will continue to advocate for policies which help our students learn in a safe and welcoming environment,” she said.
Duquette and Smith are not the first candidates endorsed by VPACT. Last year, Milton voters rejected three school board challengers also endorsed by the group — Nichole Delong, Scott O’Brien and Brock Rouse.
At the heart of the divide are continued culture wars and a misconception that critical race theory, an academic framework used to understand systemic racism, is being taught in the Milton Town School District. Critical race theory is often mistakenly used to describe conversations about race, sexual orientation and inclusive uses of language — all of which the equity policy is looking to address in the school district, which includes an elementary, middle and high school.
Critical race theory is not taught by any teachers in school, according to Wilmer Chavarria, the district’s director of equity and education support systems. Gov. Phil Scott and the state teachers’ union have also reiterated that critical race theory is not taught in K-12 classes.
Chavarria, who began working in the district in September 2021, said the process for creating an equity policy predates him and is a part of the district engaging in anti-racist initiatives and work around diversity, access and student belonging.
“I believe that when people understand what our equity efforts are trying to achieve, the majority of them agree with what we call equity,” he said. “Nobody wants to leave a student behind. Nobody wants to say: ‘Sorry, kid, you were born in the wrong, wrong circumstances, we don’t care.’”
Duquette and Smith have some support. Parent Sean Tatro said he particularly supports Duquette because she keeps the community informed about what’s going on in the district. “She wants a board that will actually stand up to the superintendent — and she wants more parents to get involved with the schools,” he said.
Five residents, including Duquette and Smith, read prepared statements at the Dec. 15 school board meeting, and said they had collected more than 1,000 signatures on a petition asking the board not to adopt the equity policy.
Rouse, who unsuccessfully ran for school board last year, began with “We, the Vermont Parents Against Critical Theory are here tonight to represent a large group of concerned parents and citizens of Milton regarding the proposed draft equity policy.”
He said the Black Lives Matter movement “provided the perfect cover for a complete assault and takeover of our educational system.” The policy is “Marxist and un-American,” he said, and “riddled with critical race theory and queer theory.”
Smith spoke next, asking about the cost and legal ramifications of the policy and why it has not been legally reviewed. “We argue that this policy violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 due to its discriminatory nature,” he said.
Duquette, in her speech, took issue with a recent community forum, which she described as “another way for the administration to drown out dissent against this equity policy.”
Others in Milton are concerned about the influence of national right-wing talking points in local elections, noting that the VPACT website offers little information about who’s running it.
The website outlines several missions including unity, equality, transparency and non-partisanship. It promotes a “return to the fundamentals of education by promoting reading, writing, science, and arithmetic, rather than social justice” and says proponents want to “provide students with equal opportunity and support, rather than an attempt to equalize outcomes.”
James Provost, a parent of two students at Milton High, said he supports having an equity policy “because I want a school system that has the tools needed for all of our students, not just the majority.”
He is concerned that the VPACT website has articles that are transphobic, anti-equity, anti-diversity and anti-inclusion — and fears that the endorsed candidates share the same beliefs. “How can these two candidates represent the entire population of the school system when they have these views?” he said.
Parent Christine Vaughn, a K-5 special educator in the Grand Isle Supervisory Union, said there’s a “real misconception around what equity means because it’s been “politicized a lot.”
Lauren Blume, a parent who signed the letter, said the “importance of the upcoming election cannot be overstated, as the result will shape not only what and how our children learn, but also the culture of our town.”
“Milton is at a crossroads,” she said.
Sara Ambrose, a senior at Milton High School and student representative to the school board, said she sees widespread student support for the equity policy.
“I believe there has been so much division between the community and the school because there is not enough student voice in this matter,” she said in an email. “Parents without students in the school or adults in general should not be the only ones in control of how much students can express themselves, celebrate diversity, or gain an equitable learning experience.”
A public informational meeting on the ballot items will be held at 6 p.m. on March 6 at the Milton High School Library, with online access available. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Town Meeting Day, March 7, at the municipal building. Absentee ballots will be mailed on request.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Young’s place of employment.