“living racialized experiences every moment of every day”
The Plymouth Public Schools spent $7000 for a day long critical race training session attended by a select group of students and staff at Plymouth South High School earlier this month, according to documents obtained by 1620Today.
The session was designed to reject color blindness, induce white “guilt and shame” and have participants recognize they were “living racialized experiences every moment of every day” before eventually asking white participants what “type of White person they want to be.”
The training asked participants to place themselves on a “Racial Identity Development” continuum [see below] divided by race: African American/Bi-racial/White. The continuum for each race was distinctly different. The training was conducted by Henry J Turner, principal of Newton North High School, who also hosted a one hour faculty meeting titled the “anti-racist educator.” The full day training session was billed at $6000 and the one hour faculty meeting at $1000 [invoices below].
In the white racial identity continuum, whites “after feeling guilty and ashamed, Whites may move into the emergence stage where they start to understand their privilege and how it has and continue to benefit them. They also now begin to take control over the type of White person they want to be like.”
In the first “contact” stage of being white, the training asserts “The individual adheres to the ‘colorblind’ motto. They see racial difference but do not find it salient and in fact may feel that racism is in fact propagated by the discussion and acknowledgement of race as an issue. In this stage, there is no conscious demonstration of racism here. This seemingly non-racist position can cover unconscious racist beliefs.”
Plymouth South High School originally posted the session on its Facebook page with the caption: “PSHS staff and students worked today with Newton North High School Principal Mr. Henry Turner. Henry is helping our school community begin the important work of developing a racial identity. Thank you to all staff and students who participated today!”
When asked how a “school community” develops a “racial identity” Plymouth South responded on Facebook: “We are working to develop an identity that is free of bias and truly welcomes all students. This has always been our goal but this is more intentional. Some of our guiding questions are: Who is included? Who is not included? What do we need to do to make sure more students are included? Feel free to reach out to the school at 508-224-7512 and we can share more of the focus.”
The documents below were obtained by a public records request to the Plymouth School Department. Click links in presentations to dive deeper into the training.
Since August when the Board of Health imposed a mandatory mask order, with a $50 fine for non-compliance, the Town has never issued a citation for non-mask wearing downtown. Rather the Town has relied upon “enforcement through education” providing masks for the unmasked by “ambassadors” hired by the Town.
Short of calling and waiting for the police, it remains unclear what, if any authority, the ambassadors have to detain and compel an offender to produce identification for the purpose of issuing a fine. Upon casual observation, compliance appears high, but not universal.
The Board of Health has not considered lifting the fine policy, even as the Town’s Director of Public Health Karen Keane said late last week “the active number of cases is 95, which I think is a good number…and that number is decreasing all the time, and something important to point out.”
When the Board of Health issued the order they proclaimed “this regulation will be strictly enforced in the area designated as the downtown dining/shopping and waterfront area…this order is to provide a safer environment for our community, as well as to stimulate our businesses and economy.”
Part of the enforcement challenge lies with the massive area the Board of Health has designated for the $50 fine, including the streets of:
Brewster Garden, Nelson Park Ave, South Park Ave, North St, Leyden St, Market St, Court St, Water St, Pilgrim Memorial Park, Town Wharf, Memorial Dr, Middle St, Main St Extension, Town Square, South Russel St, School St, Russell St, North Park Ave, Brewster St, Carver St and Main St.
The 20 year old driver charged with driving under influence after a late night Saturday crash which required one of his passengers to be airlifted to the hospital, is now the co-beneficiary of a GoFundMe effort which has raised over $45,000.
As of noon Friday, the GoFundMe description states that the men “were recently in a traumatic car accident” but does not mention that the driver, Austin Budrow, faces charges related to the accident for “negligent driving and driving under the influence of alcohol” according to Plymouth Wicked Local.
Hi-Way Safety Systems has been re-authorized to bid on state highway contracts once again. The Baker administration had prohibited the company from bidding on state contracts shortly after a company employee, driving a company pick up truck was involved in a fatal accident on December 29th, 2019 killing Plymouth teen Clare Zissserson.
But a review of state records indicates that Hi-Way Safety Systems has not made the required changes to its corporate structure as required by MassDOT. MassDOT spokesperson Jacquelyn Goddard told Boston 25 that the company has been reinstated “after the company agreed to a monitorship (sic) arrangement by an outside legal firm, removed Ken Horn as one of the firm’s owners, changed its board membership, established new corporate bylaws and related documents, and adopted a code of ethics.”
Since the reinstatement last month, the only filing with the Secretary of State’s Office has been a change of legal counsel, the company has not amended their board of directors, which still includes Ken Horn, or filed new corporate by laws.
Top Boston law firm Goodwin Procter has been appointed by the state to monitor Hi-Way Safety Systems compliance with new procedures at the company.
