Town to review hate reporting, augment training

To address hate-based behavior in Acton, town leaders and community organizers are taking a multi-pronged approach. 

Acton schools are running their own programs. The League of Women Voters scheduled a community forum. A program of active bystander trainings is expanding. 

And on Monday, the Select Board unanimously backed creating the Bias/Hate Incident Reporting Work Group. It could form as early as November, is intended to flesh out the town’s method of tracking incidents and may deliver its report by next spring.

Acton’s multi-lateral response follows a bombshell federal brief, vandalism at a memorial to Israeli victims of the October 7 attacks, and a Acton Center rally denouncing anti-Jewish abuse.

“Everybody is holding their breath,” said Court Booth, co-chair of the Acton-Carlisle Human Rights Council. “What’s next?”

New work group

Incident reporting has been one of several topics of discussion since advocacy groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, described years of antisemitic acts that prompted at least one family to pull their child out of Acton-Carlisle High School.

The new work group will include five voting members and a town liaison. While members will review existing local and regional systems, Select Board member Paul Boehm said he expects Acton will create a new system of its own. 

The Select Board is recruiting two residents for at-large roles. Boehm, who authored the committee charge, said he doesn’t expect the work will be “a long-term heavy lift.” He hopes to have the group start meeting in November and expects recommendations within six months of its formation. 

While officials and community leaders discussed new initiatives this summer, town brass promoted a previously scheduled set of “active bystander trainings” offered through the HRC. 

Before new antisemitism allegations surfaced, the council had won a $2,200 grant from the Bud Ackerman Foundation for three training sessions. Interest spiked ahead of the first session this summer, and Booth said each event was filled to capacity. 

The HRC has added a fourth session on September 30 at 5:30 p.m. in the Ellen Garrison Building at Acton Middle School. 

The non-profit Quabbin Mediation is running the classes, which focus on helping people recognize and intervene in acts of hate. Beyond the HRC-organized events, town Communications Manager Donna McIntosh confirmed Acton officials hope to hire Quabbin for staff training.

Booth said newly revealed incidents didn’t change how facilitators structured this summer’s events — but might have changed participants’ mindsets. 

“Our social justice nervous system got activated,” he said.

‘We stand against hate’

Acton’s most recent active bystander program took place at the Kerem Shalom synagogue. Attendees gathered in what was once the sanctuary. A banner proclaimed, “We stand against hate.”

The training opened with icebreakers and continued with a mix of talks from facilitators and group discussions about what to do if faced with a given hate incident. 

Near the halfway mark, attendees split into breakout groups to discuss individual scenarios. 

Congregant Jo Ann Simon said she appreciated the training, noting that her children are half-Chinese and half-Jewish and were bullied for their identities. 

“I tried to deal with it as best I could,” she told The Acton Bridge. 

“Having these skills is useful,” she later added.

‘A sense of urgency’

As the town continues to grapple with hate, Booth said, “We know we have an obligation for follow-up training.” 

Booth said he expected the active bystander training at CMS would fill up quickly. Though the program is open to students, he said he wants to avoid supplanting student-facing initiatives.

Booth, a former School Committee member, criticized district leaders shortly after the filing from the ADL and other groups. Asked last week whether the schools are now moving adequately to address hate, he said, “I think so; I hope so.”

The community wants to respond, he said. But the clock is ticking — and whether as individuals or members of a group, “we only hold a sense of urgency for so long.”