Penacook may not be the center of race relations issues in this country, but one school board member wants students to have an opportunity to discuss what’s become national news.
At a July school board meeting, Caroletta Alicea, a Merrimack Valley School Board member, state representative and longtime Boscawen resident, mentioned the topic and suggested there be a district-wide assembly on racial equality sometime this month.
“I was pretty sad because there’s a lot going on in the country and has for the last couple of years,” Alicea said. “As a community member and school board member, I thought it was really odd we weren’t discussing it in the school.”
Superintendent Mark MacLean said he was happy to do so.
“With the current social climate we’re in,” he said, “we wanted to make sure we’re proactive.”
Alicea’s grandson, Samuel, has sparked a dialogue already in the school community by taking a knee before the start of football games, in the same manner as several NFL players.
Meanwhile, Alicea and MacLean are now in the midst of organizing an assembly to be scheduled in the near future.
Alicea said she has approached Boscawen police Chief Kevin Wyman, too, and MacLean said administrators are still working out how the presentation will fit into the school day.
From MacLean’s perspective, the goal is to examine what’s happening outside Penacook – officers shooting and killing unarmed black men, Black Lives Matter protests, etc. – and how it may be affecting some within the local community.
“To see if we can use it as a learning experience in our community,” MacLean said.
In Alicea’s eyes, the assembly is a way to encourage people to listen to one another even if they have different experiences and backgrounds.
“I think people fear the unknown,” Alicea said. “Often people are afraid to approach me, that’s my feeling.”
She said that the topic of race appears to be an uncomfortable one for many in the community. Merrimack Valley School District is even more homogenous than the state overall, since 96 percent of the student body in 2015-16 identified as was white, compared with 86.7 percent of New Hampshire’s population.
“I just would like people to be open to differences and to help make a change if they really care about the human race,” Alicea said. She added that her children had some poor experiences in relation to race going through the local school system, and said she felt some issues were still present at Merrimack Valley.
Alicea declined to specify, saying she didn’t want to discuss any teachers or incidents as a school board member.
“It makes me very sad if anyone’s unhappy or if anyone’s hurt,” Alicea said. “And I think we’re all responsible as human beings to correct injustice.”
MacLean said he hasn’t encountered any incidents of racism going into his third year as superintendent, though he added he still thought a conversation about race relations was a good one to have.
“Honestly, through my perspective, I think the school district handles it very well,” MacLean said. “I certainly want us to be open-minded and supportive.”