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Date: 2/16/2022
AMHERST – In an event put together by the Racial Justice Committee and the Amherst League of Women Voters, residents were invited to attend virtually a presentation from Doreen Cunningham, assistant superintendent for Diversity, Equity, and Human Resources for the Amherst Regional Public Schools, titled “Changes and Hopes for the future of Amherst Schools.”
Jamaican born, Brooklyn, NY raised, Cunningham has experienced the many faces racism and lack of diversity can wear. As the first Black, female assistant superintendent of the Amherst-Pelham Regional Public School system, Cunningham has helped the district increase its diversity from 16 percent to over 30 percent in just over four years. She has brought her vision of diversity, equity and inclusion to the town and has created noticeable change in a short amount of time.
Cunningham’s presentation showcased the improvements in hiring and retention practices for minority teachers within the schools during her now five-year tenure.
Some of the major goals Cunningham was faced in when beginning in 2017 were to increase diversity in staff to meet diversity in students, incorporate restorative practices, and incorporating classes for students regarding racial equity in the high school.
“We looked at how things were and what we can do different. We looked for biases and help those limit and acknowledge their biases,” Cunningham said.
When showing the date collected over the past five years, the district has seen an increase in African American, Latino and Asian staff. Amid the pandemic, the schools saw some retention issues due to the impacts of the pandemic but overall have continued to grow diversity among staff. Both Amherst and the region have high retention rates from the last five years, varying each year from 87 percent to 92 percent.
In working towards retaining the diverse staff that Amherst has been trying to grow, Cunningham said a key part of retention is improving relationships with new staff and she has used ways of mentoring through workshops with staff in efforts to build a better community.
When speaking about moving forward from this point for Amherst schools, Cunningham brought up the recent report done that looked at leadership retention among the region’s schools.
“I know that many have hear of the report from Rick Rogers where he talked about the retention rate of administrators. Some people were very upset about what was written in the report and there were some who embraced it,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham mentioned how through Rogers’ interviews it was uncovered through administrators, current and past, that it can be challenging to work with the voices within the community that challenge leadership and question individuals’ credentials.
She added that this was a concern and was going to be continued to be address until they can create a positive change like that of what has been accomplished already to this point through staff.
“I want to say thank you because when I started, I was asked what can we do and I said give it time. I know a lot of these things Amherst wants fixed have been taking place for many years and I can’t come in and clean it all up in one year and I don’t want my name dragged in the mud,” Cunningham said. “Thank you for your time and patience. For us to move forward together, I also want conversations. I think we’re doing a great job in our schools, but we can always do better and become very strong and a force to be reckoned with.”
Cunningham opened the floor to questions from anyone in virtual attendance and received many thanks and gratitude for her work and accomplishments to this point. One question came from Nancy Eddy, who asked Cunningham if she could provide the statistic showing how the diversity in staff currently matches up with that of the students. Cunningham shared that 45 percent of students identify as students of color, and the staff is currently sitting at about 32 percent for individuals on staff.
Another question came from Adrienne Terrizzi and she asked how did we retain a leader like Cunningham when the recent report details so many school leaders leaving.
“People have reached out and connected with me with support,” Cunningham said. “I have faced so many forms of racism, things have happened where now I’m saying to myself, I can make a difference for others so they don’t have to go through those experiences.”
Cunningham added she has been proactive in reaching out to potential candidates and making them understand their talents are needed for the betterment of Amherst schools and not to just check off a diversity box.
“When I look at the slides and see those numbers and see the people behind those numbers, I just know we are doing great work for the community,” Cunningham said.