At Boston meeting, METCO families note progress and room for growth

After recent tumult, some Acton METCO families say the district is making progress. 

Families also note lingering issues, though, and say the district should do more to support students. 

“I think they are working at making it better,” said Acton-Carlisle High School parent Coretta Morpeau. “It’s not perfect.” 

The School Committee usually holds its meetings at the Ripley Administration Building. On February 26, the committee hit the road for a meeting at the Salvation Army’s Boston Kroc Center. 

In addition to regular business, committee members and school administrators recognized student ambassadors for the METCO program, which brings students from Boston into suburban schools to increase diversity. 

This meeting was part of an annual effort by school leaders to hold a meeting and/or a social event in Boston. After the School Committee adjourned, schools Superintendent Laurie Hunter said they had a “great turnout.” 

She said officials want to be accessible to METCO families. “We’re just trying to connect with folks,” she said. 

Recent concerns

Acton has METCO students in its K-8 and high school systems. 

Simmering frustrations with school administrators boiled over in November when the Acton-Carlisle METCO Parent Teacher group dissolved. METCO’s CCHS School Committee representative, Domingos DaRosa, co-chaired the PTG. When the PTG folded, he resigned his School Committee seat and criticized leaders. 

CCHS METCO director Debra Jemison stepped down in the final days of 2024. Though she was already on leave, and while she cited medical issues, some parents lamented this as the latest in a line of METCO leadership resignations dating back several years. 

Ninth grade METCO ambassador Laila Smith spoke to The Acton Bridge outside the February 26 meeting and remembered feelings of isolation as the only person of color in some elementary school classes. 

She said she wants Acton schools to do more to help students from Boston connect with their peers. At the end of Black History Month, she said she also wants the schools to better publicize its diversity efforts so more students can participate. 

While noting room for improvement on other issues, Smith said the CCHS response to the discovery of hateful graffiti in school bathrooms beginning in mid-November was productive. Compared with other incidents earlier in her school career, she said CCHS leaders “definitely acted faster.”

Twelfth grade ambassador Amelia Razack said she’s happy with her experience in Acton schools. 

She said she doesn’t see a need for major changes. Similar to Smith, she said administrators’ response to recent graffiti incidents was “very productive.” 

Parent perspective

Smith’s mother, Morpeau, said their experience “was not a smooth road.” But she said sending her daughter to Acton school was “definitely worth it” for a better curriculum and enhanced opportunities. 

Though she didn’t closely follow discussions about the PTG, she told The Bridge she wants the schools to break down divisions between Boston students  and Acton students. r Recalling kindergarten luncheons and after-school events that she couldn’t attend, she said she wants the schools to make such opportunities more accessible to Boston families. 

Morpeau said the schools should hold more events like the February 26 meeting but urged Acton families to make the trip. 

New METCO rep

Morpeau said turnover among METCO directors also raises red flags. 

“It makes it hard for the children to build a community and have that safe space, because they’re always rebuilding it with someone new,” Morpeau said.

Acton school leaders said they wanted to fill DaRosa’s seat on the School Committee. After she initially struggled to find interested parents, remaining METCO representative Ayesha Lawton said several had contacted her to learn more about the position as of February 26.

Lawton told The Bridge that she had a meeting scheduled February 27 to discuss the path forward. She said officials hope to fill the seat, “as soon as possible” and want to move forward with initiatives to create a “good relationship” with METCO families.

Lawton said the district was interviewing candidates for METCO leadership.