In Amherst on March 28, there will be a No Kings march, starting at 12:30 p.m. at Kendrick park. The same day in Greenfield, there will be a No Kings march starting at noon at Beacon field. In Brattleboro on March 28 at 10 a.m., a march will start from a location to-be-determined, organizer MD Baker told the Valley Post. The details will soon be at www.NoKings.org, she said. There will be rallies in Holyoke and Northampton. Details are on the No Kings web site.
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Twenty percent of students in Brattleboro public schools are people of color, school board member Timothy Maciel told the Valley Post. All the schools' principals are white, as is the superintendent. Seven percent of teachers in Brattleboro public schools are people of color, the schools' HR director told the Valley Post.
Maciel said in an email, "One of the most effective ways of increasing diversity in the workforce is to focus on diversity in the upper echelons of the administration. It's extremely important to recruit well-qualified BIPOC teachers and paraeducators and we can achieve this goal by focusing our efforts on increasing diversity among our senior administrative staff as well as athletic coaches, directors, and many other leadership positions throughout the district."
BIPOC means Black, Indigenous and People of Color. Maciel's official title is, "Director on the Windham Southeast Supervisory District School Board."
Dr. Mary Gannon is an “Educational Equity Strategist and Educator/3rd VP Windham County NAACP Branch,” she told the Valley Post. Brattleboro is in Windham county. In an email, Gannon told the Valley Post, “I can speak about the value and the critical need for more BIPOC educators, staff, admin in the district. Vital for our kids to see themselves reflected in those adults who are teaching and supporting them. Diverse work populations are good for everyone, benefits all in the workplace, all students, all staff. Recruitment and retention need to work hand in hand. We have seen many examples across the state of schools and other institutions where folks of color have been recruited but the work of retention, the tools and the processes for retaining are not in place.”
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New Haven, Connecticut, population 138,000, is about 45 minutes by car from the Pioneer Valley town of Longmeadow, Massachusetts at the speed many people drive on Interstate 91 (75 mph). There are eight to 10 daily round-trip passenger trains between New Haven and Springfield, Massachusetts, meaning there are 16 to 20 daily departures, depending on the day of the week.
In New Haven on February 20, the former police chief, Karl Jacobson, was arrested. The prosecutor said Jacobson embezzled “as much as $85,500” from the city. In January the mayor put the chief on leave; the chief resigned the same day. Sixty-five percent of people who lived in New Haven in 2024 were people of color, according to the Census. Jacobson is white.
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