Who is One Westwood?

The letter below is intended to inform residents of Westwood, MA about the origins and the mission of a new organization in our town. The letter intends to push back against the lies, slander and mistruths directed towards our group. We will not succumb to bullying, intimidation or cancel culture.

Who is One Westwood? In the summer of 2021, a group of parents, grandparents, and other residents of Westwood gathered in a conference room on a warm summer night. We were united by a concern for our children in the Westwood schools. We came from all corners of town, with children in kindergarten through high school; some of us meeting for the first time. We were all witnessing significant changes in the priorities of our Westwood schools. We shared many stories and experiences from the last two years. We found comfort that we were not alone yet frustrated at how omnipresent these changes had become.

Instead of striving for academic rigor, excellence, and civic virtue, our schools were now laser-focused on a highly politicized version of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. While the words themselves are laudable, the real-life implications for our kids have been disastrous. We learned this effort is coordinated, strategic, and was planned well in advance. Many of the new initiatives were implemented while we were sheltering in our homes during 2020. Parents were waking up, paying attention, and not liking what they saw.

What exactly changed that had our group so concerned? Here are three examples illustrating how the dramatic changes are impacting every grade level and every area of study.

- In June of 2021, a parent of a first-grader discovered his child's class read a book on the topic of gender dysphoria (or transgenderism), along with a discussion of the Pride parade in Boston. The school principal, assistant superintendent, and school committee chair supported the teaching of this lesson. Unfortunately, this was not the work of a rogue teacher.

The same parent conversed with the school nurse at the kindergarten orientation only two years earlier and was assured that human sexuality and/or "gender identity" was not discussed at the elementary school level. Only in the 5th grade, the "My Changing Body" lesson is introduced. An opt-out notice always precedes this lesson. Sounds reasonable. Why did our schools change this policy?

Who decided 6- and 7-year old's are mature enough for books on gender dysphoria? Do these same decision-makers think it is appropriate for our children to watch R-rated movies in elementary school? Has the idea of "age-appropriate" been thrown out of the window? We don’t teach calculus in the first grade; we certainly shouldn’t be teaching gender theory. What is suitable at the high school level is not necessarily appropriate at the Sheehan.

- In January of 2021, while learning remotely, a parent listened in to a high school Piano Lab class. The class is intended to teach students to learn an instrument. The teacher asked, "can anyone give me an example of how the music industry is racist?" The printout for the class lists out sexism, homophobia, ableism, classism, racism, antisemitism, and other forms of oppression in the music industry. (Please view the printout here.)

Why are teachers discussing racial discrimination in a Piano Lab class?

- On March 21, 2022 we became aware of a 7th grade homework assignment by a Thurston Middle School science teacher. The assignment focuses on the following opinion piece, “Silence Is Never Neutral, Neither Is Science.”

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/silence-is-never-neutral-neither-is-science/

Here is a fun excerpt from the article.

What can scientists, academic institutions, and scientific organizations do?

• “Break contracts with local police, and pledge not to call the police for nonviolent offenses”

The homework assignment asks the students to ponder the following:

• Amidst #BlackLivesMatter protests and resounding calls for justice, many scientists, academic institutions remain eerily silent. While the coronavirus pandemic highlighted the importance of science and evidence, the #ScienceNotSilence sentiments seem to stop short of extending to another major threat to people in the US and across the world – systemic racism and race-based violence.

• Racism has permeated this country since its inception, leading to a health crisis in Black and brown communities.

• Scientific “progress” is built on racism in many cases.

• Ignoring science’s legacy of racism or a wider culture shaped by white supremacy doesn’t make scientists “objective.” It makes them complicit.

Webster’s Dictionary defines science as: knowledge about the natural world that is based on facts learned through experiments and observation. This assignment does sound super sciency to us.

Why are middle school science classes spending valuable learning time on politically charged “social justice” issues? Why are we criticizing police officers in a science class?

We think we know why. By design, the new ideology that has taken over the Westwood schools has permeated all grade levels and academic subjects. This highly politicized DEI worldview is the lens for which all learning and teaching is to be viewed. If this seems like hyperbole, please ask your children, their teachers and read the 4/1/2021 memo “DEI update-curriculum changes” from Assistant Superintendent Allison Borchers on our website (also posted on the Westwood k-12 district webpage). The remaking of the Westwood schools is happening in plain sight.

Each parent in our group had their list of examples. From the renaming of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, summer reading lists focused on "anti-racism," insistence on students using "preferred pronouns," hyper-focus on sexuality during middle school morning announcements, and an overall climate of indoctrination, intolerance and intimidation. The list of specific examples is long, impacting each grade level and every classroom.

One Westwood seeks to avoid separating groups into oppressors and victims. Our group identity is not fundamental to who we are as people. We should celebrate our students as individuals, with the agency to achieve great things, regardless of their color, sexual preference, or religion. We celebrate free thought and viewpoint diversity. Westwood schools used to believe in these bedrock principles.

For those hearing this for the first time, we implore you to research the district's Professional Development section on the district's website. Our tax dollars paid for overtly political professional development over the last two years. Politically radical activists posing as “education experts” are instructing our teachers. Many of our teachers have themselves become victims of the new ideology in Westwood. Speaking out in the face of this movement comes with consequences. Most stay quiet.

We implore parents and teachers to see past the flowery language of anti-racism and equity. Anti-racism is the fraternal twin of racism, exchanging one form of discrimination for another (see Asian-Americans v. Harvard). Equity isn't even a distant relative of equality. One idea has led to prosperity and freedom unparalleled in world history, and the other to the gulags. This vague and feel-good language is used intentionally to shut down discussion and intimidate dissent. One Westwood stands firmly against racism and hate in any form and supports a society that promotes equality of opportunity for all of our students. We believe these ideals are at the heart of western civilization. Anti-racism activists do not seek a colorblind future, and they do not seek equality of opportunity. They seek to redefine our schools and our society in a way that is unrecognizable to the world we grew up in.

For many of us, it has already gone too far. Some of the families in our group have left the Westwood schools in the last year for Catholic, independent private, or home school options. This reality has saddened families who moved to Westwood for the schools. Families feel forced to take on a significant financial burden for the benefit of their children. Ironically, our families do not feel "included" in the new Westwood school district. It has not always been this way in Westwood. We have gone in the wrong direction, and parents are finally waking up to this reality. While we are not looking to return to the 1950s, we would not mind returning to the 2010s.

One Westwood aims to be a positive voice and force in our town. In the face of the radical new priorities in our schools and the hostile environment that has ensued, we do not feel animosity towards the administrators, school committee members, and parent activists who ushered in these changes. While we believe they are terribly misguided and their initiatives are destructive, we think they're well-intentioned. We will continue to love our neighbors as ourselves, regardless of color, religion, special learning needs, or sexual preference, and remain open to healthy dialogue. We love our kids as they love theirs.

We hope for a bright future in Westwood.