Three weeks into the new school year, an 11-year-old Northfield middle school student has already faced multiple instances of harassment, according to his mother, who has reported the incidents to the school administration.
And it’s just one instance in an apparent pattern of harassment and recent acts of hate across the Central Vermont Supervisory Union.
“My child has been harassed, going on three years now,” said the Northfield parent, who asked not to be identified for fear of her son facing retaliation in a community that residents and community leaders say is grappling with racism, harassment and bullying.
The parent said her son is a trans student who is trying to find his identity and just started attending middle school in Northfield. When he was in elementary school, his mother reported to administrators instances of another student harassing him, she said. But that information was never passed on to staff at the middle school, she said. The student who harassed the boy the past two years is now in his class again, and the harassment continues.
The harassment has included “a lot of misgendering” and being called “a whore and a slut,” she said.
Superintendent Matthew Fedders from the Central Vermont Supervisory Union — which includes six schools in East Barre, Northfield, Washington and Williamstown — put out a letter on Sept. 12 to the community outlining a spike in hate in schools, without naming any particular incidents.
In it, he pledged more support to students and families who are being harmed, and he called on families to “partner with us by discussing these issues openly at home and helping children understand the harm caused by slurs, symbols, and discriminatory behavior.”
“These acts are unacceptable. While they may appear ‘isolated’ to some, their impact is not. For those directly targeted, they are painful reminders that hate can surface even in spaces that should be safe,” Fedders wrote.
Two days later, a group of anonymous residents responded with an open letter alleging the district is not just failing to take adequate measures to combat hate but “has given hate fertile soil in which to grow” by “consistently refusing” to name and denounce specific instances.
The letter states that students in the district have been called the N-word, trannies, sluts, whores and Black monkeys, and swastikas have been drawn on school buses and in restrooms.
It further alleges that children of color have received “harsher discipline than their white peers” in the district and “disabled children have had their legal rights denied to them by the very educators who are tasked with upholding them,” the letter states. The letter did not provide specifics or evidence about the incidents.
Fedders’ office said Thursday the superintendent was unable to respond to questions about the criticisms from the concerned residents outlined in the letter that VTDigger forwarded.
“He is also unable to comment on the letter from ‘Disappointed members of the Northfield community,’ as we have not yet received it,” Alysha Sickles, his executive assistant, wrote in an email.
Lack of follow up
The parent of the Northfield trans student, formerly a paraeducator in the Northfield school system, is among about two dozen residents who stand behind the unsigned community letter that has been shared via email and on social media. VTDigger has confirmed that at least five Northfield residents support the letter.
Also among them is Ryan Harlow, a Northfield resident and after-school administrator at the middle and high school, who has consistently spoken up at board meetings about the district’s inaction regarding harassment.
“The visible response from school leadership following each of these events has been mostly invisible from the perspective of non-administrator observers in the community and public,” reads the letter he submitted to the Paine Mountain School District that represents the towns of Northfield and Williamstown.
“As I have flagged before, there has been a throwing up of hands while administrators cite privacy concerns or scapegoat political figures on the national level. But there has been no apparent effort to ‘get out in front’ of issues in a way that would lead to community healing. Individual discipline seems to happen at times, but teachable moments are habitually missed at the community level,” reads the letter he shared with VTDigger.
Although restrictions under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prevent him from discussing particular cases, Harlow, whose job puts him in close contact with students and parents, confirmed the Northfield parent and her son have been reporting negative incidents “for years” without adequate responses from Northfield schools. He said the Paine Mountain School District that covers Northfield fails to consistently keep track of and document an affected student’s experiences and needs.
“It is exceedingly rare for me to be proactively given any heads up about a student’s disciplinary history, their history as a victim of hazing, harassment, and bullying,” he said. This extends to students who are on an Individualized Education Program, which outlines their special education service plans and relevant medical history.
“This information siloing has been a point of frustration for others as well,” he added.
Northfield resident Kelly Murch said her family has been “personally impacted by these problems.” In her public comment, delivered remotely via video call at the Paine Mountain board meeting Sept. 17, she asked the superintendent and board to provide “guidance and resources” to better equip school staff to discuss these issues with students.
“I think it would be great if there were specific resources offered publicly from the district to families as well, who might be interested in starting anti racist work in their own household,” she said.
Principals in the six-school district did not respond immediately to requests for comment this week.
‘Words alone are not enough’
Both letters were discussed this week in the Paine Mountain School District’s board meeting, which is part of the consolidated Central Vermont Supervisory Union.
Dan Morris, the board’s chair, said in his statement that the board “does not accept or tolerate racist, bigoted, or hateful acts in our schools” and is “deeply troubled” by the recent instances of homophobia, transphobia and hate outlined in the anonymous residents’ letter. He said he believes communities need to hear a “clear statement” on “these very troubling developments.”
The instances of hate “have a very real negative impact,” he said, and the board is committed to “eradicating hateful, bigoted, and racist language and imagery from our buildings.”
“Students can’t learn when histories of widespread violence against their demographic group are displayed in front of them. They can’t learn when they are constantly getting the message that they are inferior and unwelcome. They can’t learn when they are made to constantly feel unsafe,” he said in the personal statement that he shared with VTDigger.
Staff outlined training and restorative justice circles conducted by schools in response to hate and harassment in an effort to “demonstrate the positive.” They said conversations this week have encouraged middle and high school students to discuss the kinds of harassment, bullying and negative language and actions they are experiencing, seeing or hearing about.
“It doesn’t feel to me like now is the time for restorative circles and education,” said Danielle Moffatt, a Paine Mountain board member. Students know when they use certain words and engage in bad behavior, she said, calling for stronger measures to dissuade them.
“Those words have been wrong since they were 5 and you’re in high school. So I’m thinking that the reason they’re doing it is because the consequence is not strong enough to disincentivize the behavior,” Moffatt said.
Mia Schultz, president of the Rutland Area NAACP, also called for action.
“While the superintendent’s letter names the problem, the Northfield community is right to point out that words alone are not enough,” Schultz said.
“If we are serious about protecting children, schools must move past statements and into action,” she said, centering the most impacted families and students in shaping solutions.
This includes clear accountability when harm happens, robust education about racism, antisemitism and ableism, and the hiring and retention of educators who reflect the diversity of our communities, she added.
The parent of the trans student said she has not seen that level of accountability nor a victim-centered approach for her son in past years. If anything, the opposite is true.
“What they did in the elementary school was they had my child come up with a plan on how to support them in their gender identity,” she said.
After she informed the middle school about the past and the ongoing harassment her son continues to face, school leaders initiated a hazing, harassment and bullying investigation that determined this week the reported harassment was substantiated, she said.
“I hope that something will change,” the parent said. “There just needs to be more education and using these opportunities to have a teaching moment … to have school wide assemblies and say, ‘This is what’s happening right now.’”
Correction: An earlier version of this article misnamed the school district that covers Northfield.
