Greg Akinbiyi had a simple, heartfelt message for leaders of the Addison Central School Board on Monday night. 

“I am scared to send my son to school,” said Akinbiyi, who is Black and who recently moved to Middlebury with his 19-month-old child. 

Akinbiyi was among more than a dozen people who spoke at the meeting after Esther Charlestin read her recently published commentary to the board, explaining why she resigned earlier this month from her job as dean at Middlebury Union Middle School.

Charlestin, a Black woman, left the post after less than a year. She told VTDigger it took her months to realize that the heaviness she was feeling throughout her tenure was the cumulative effect of the racism she faced at work.

“Hearing Esther share her story, I’m terrified,” Akinbiyi said. “I know you all have a lot of different challenges that you’re sorting through, but I just want to make it known that I am here and my son is here and I hope he can be in the schools but I am also very scared.”

Several community members commended Charlestin for speaking out, acknowledged that racism exists in Vermont and urged the district to do better during a half-hour of public comments.

According to parent Sam Ostrow, there is a tendency in the region to shut down discomfort and make it go away. He encouraged district officials to have a “robust and open conversation” about school policy and race.

“What it comes down to, for those of us white folks trying to work on this, is for us to each work on ourselves and to be open to our discomfort,” he said, “and think about the ways that we can do better.”

A number of those who spoke during Monday’s public comment period expressed disappointment in Charlestin’s resignation and what they called the district’s inability to confront racism that is pervasive and often overlooked by the largely white school district.

One asked how the district can repair the harm that has been done. Another wondered why it has taken the district over a year to pin down an equity policy that works. Another said she would leave if she could — and applauded Charlestin’s decision to remain and help improve the community.

“We shouldn’t need a lot of reasons to do anti-racism and anti-oppression training for the kids, for the teachers, for the administration,” said parent Poppy Rees, “besides not wanting to harm the people of color who are in the community.”

Rees said it took leaving Vermont for her to realize how white the state is and how isolated people of color feel. How we deal with race in this state often conflicts with its progressive reputation and its stated goal of attracting newcomers, she said. “We have a lot of things going for us but I think this really is a huge weakness that we haven’t even fully acknowledged.”

“Racism is alive and well in Vermont,” said an online participant who identified herself as a white student from Middlebury College. She implored school administrators to examine themselves and their policies, to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to confronting racism.

“Take the initiative to do something before something else happens, and make that change so that this doesn’t happen to another person,” she said.

Beyond the microaggressions she faced, Charlestin said in the commentary, she was twice called the N-word — once by a student to her face and another time when the word was scribbled in a girls’ bathroom wall.

“So the writing was on the wall, but what was the community response? How many students walked into the bathroom? What policies do we have in place when things are not just hidden? How do we support students and let them know that this is not OK and this is not tolerated in our spaces?” she said. “Nothing was done, as far as a community approach, to answer that question.”

Earlier in the meeting, Nicole Carter, assistant superintendent and director of equity and student services, presented a district policy addressing racist acts and speeches. The two-pronged policy outlines how the district currently helps prevent employee harassment, as well as student hazing, harassment and bullying.

According to Carter, there was too little data pertaining to employee harassment to present without breaching confidentiality. But she said there were 72 investigations into student hazing, harassment and bullying during the 2022-23 school year. Of those, 7% were specifically related to race, Carter said.

Some board members raised concerns that both buckets were not given equal treatment, and that because of confidentiality issues, there was no process in place to let the board know when an incident triggers an investigation. They also asked about what restorative practices were in place. Carter said there were none.

Timothy Williams, the interim school superintendent, said last week that the Addison Central district was working to advance diversity, equity and inclusion; has hired experts for professional development; and is finalizing a draft strategic plan to support the prevention of and responses to incidents of racism.

Weiwei Wang, representing the statewide nonprofit Vermont Professionals of Color, said Charlestin’s experience is not the first instance of racism in Middlebury that the organization has heard about. 

“I really want to emphasize that you all, as a school board, have the opportunity to be leaders in the state to turn your current system around and make the district safe for Black and brown students, faculty and staff as well as community members,” she said.

Charlestin — who has since started a company to provide strategic planning and build culture through diversity, equity and inclusion education — said the district needed to improve its systems and put better policies in place. 

“I believe in this community,” she said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She said she knows there are plenty of people in Vermont who do the work and feel the same way. But for those who are white, she said, “know that you all have blinders because it’s not part of your experience — and that’s OK. Do we have folks helping us with the blinders, is the question.” 

“My ask is that you’re intentional,” she said. “I ask that you think of my story and say we won’t let this happen again to another BIPOC person we hire and bring into our community.”

Speaking for herself as a community member, school board chair Barb Wilson told VTDigger Tuesday that she “really welcomed” the comments.

“I believe that racism is a major issue in the state of Vermont and must be addressed. No community, including ours, is exempt from this and I am committed to keeping our focus on this and ensuring that the board has the training and support it needs to make sure that our policies are effective in helping to address racism in our schools,” she said. “I also look forward to working with the community because it’s going to take us both to make the strides that we need.”