District Communications

There is a George Floyd in every city in America.  

Our hearts break for George Floyd’s family, friends and community. Our hearts break for our country. Our hearts break for our students – who have inherited a system founded on racism and injustice. 

The Winooski school community vehemently condemns the mental and physical violence directed at People of Color in the United States. As an organization, the Winooski Board of School Directors firmly believe that everyone should be afforded their inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The abhorrent killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and many, many others demonstrates that we are utterly failing to uphold our country’s founding principles in the Black community.

The condemnation is easy. What is much harder is knowing what to do now. We may not be able to solve the country’s problems, but we can take ownership of what happens in Winooski and its school district. 

Our Board of Trustees vows to:

• Build trust with marginalized communities, truly listening to the voices that are often left unheard. 
• Be vigilant and consistent in dealing with racism in any form.
• Require that all of our students and staff are treated fairly and equally.
• Examine our policies and practices to ensure that we are truly meeting our ends statement for all. 
• Require measurable equity progress, as shown by data that is based not just on students’ academic achievements but also on connection to our community and school. 
• Ensure everyone in our learning community has access to bias and equity training.
• Educate our students to be allies in ending discrimination.
• Empower our students of color to speak up for themselves and others. 
• Hold ourselves to high standards of accountability to our community in meeting these equity goals. 

We are the board of the most diverse school district in Vermont. WSD has the highest percentage of students who identify as Black within the second whitest state in the United States. We have a profound responsibility to our students and their families to do better.

We also recognize that many of our students are discovering racism since they moved to our country for safety. Tragically, our students are quickly learning that the U.S. does not, in fact, guarantee safety to people who look like them.

We might not be able to end institutional racism across America. But we can try to end racism in Winooski. Providing an equitable education to our students is the best tool we have to accomplish this goal. We will ask our students: What do you want from your future and how do we get you there? They will see their dreams and goals reflected in our policies, practices and course offerings.

The School Board of Winooski Schools is committed to providing this equitable education. We, the Winooski School Board of Trustees, call on the community of Winooski to stand with us in combating racism in all its forms to ensure each of our students are truly afforded their inalienable rights.

In solidarity,

• Michael Decarreau, WSD School Board President
• Margaret Bass, WSD School Board Member
• Tori Cleiland, WSD School Board Member
• Matthew MacNeil, School WSD Board Member
• Alex Yin, WSD School Board Member

The Winooski School District Leadership Team wants to express our deep sadness and outrage at George Floyd’s death, yet another Black person killed because of the systemic racism inherent in our nation. 

We understand that despite the long history of racism and injustice in our country and in our schools, Families of Color continue to entrust us with their precious children’s education. We must be worthy of their trust. These are some of the ways we are trying to combat racism in ourselves and our schools:

• A group has been reviewing our hiring procedures and drafting a hiring statement for the active recruitment of teachers of color. We are prepared to back this work with financial resources.
• We are committed to offering a safe space for our students to process their emotions and express their voices – through art, video activism, and letter writing.
• We are training our staff to help facilitate these challenging conversations with our students.

Over the last few years, educators at the Winooski School District have begun the journey of engaging in courageous conversations together about race and equity through different types of professional development. There is much more for us to do. It is moments like this that highlight why this work is so important and it must serve as a catalyst for promoting change in our community so we can expand this important work.

 We recognize the need to develop a clear vision and action plan for moving our school community’s equity work ahead. This work will take shape over the course of the next school year.  We are organizing informal equity dialogues over the summer to begin this process. If you would like to participate in these groups please email Kirsten Kollgaard at [email protected].

In solidarity,

• Sara Raabe, JFK Elementary Principal
• Kate Grodin, WMHS Co-Principal
• Jean Berthiaume, WMHS Co-Principal
• Kirsten Kollgaard, Director of ELL & Curriculum
• Robin Hood, Director of Support Services & Early Learning
• Nicole Mace, Finance Manager
• Sean McMannon, Superintendent