The Concord Public School System prides itself on the DEIB work it does to ensure all of our students feel welcome. The emphasis on “windows and mirrors” within the curriculum is a good case in point. Students are exposed to a wide range of age-appropriate learning experiences that enable them to see a window into the lives and experiences of cultures that may be less familiar to them, while also providing mirrors where they can see themselves and their experiences in the content.
I am asking you to support the naming of the new middle school building to be the Ellen Garrison Middle School. What better way to further the focus of the windows and mirrors curriculum! How wonderful for our students to be able to have a window into the life of a Black woman in the 1800’s. They can learn about this remarkable educator and activist who, despite the significant challenges she had in her life, prevailed and succeeded. Even more meaningful will be for our BIPOC students, who live here and who travel from Boston, to see themselves every day when they enter the building named in honor of a native of Concord who is a strong woman of color. Ellen Garrison’s picture and bio will be a window into a world that everyone can learn from/be inspired by AND a mirror for the BIPOC kids giving them a sense of pride or helping them to dream who they could become.
On March 18, the Select Board voted to recommend affirmative action and vote YES in support of Article 22. Vote YES to support Article 22 at Town Meeting to name the school the Ellen Garrison Middle School.
As John Lewis said, “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?”
Pat Brewer
Wright Road