Mystery memo revealed: Chief Equity Officer warned Skipper about BPS discrimination
“I am concerned about what appears to be a pattern that has a disproportionate impact on senior leaders of color.”
By Alain Jehlen
The mysterious memo warning of discriminatory treatment of Boston Public Schools central office administrators of color, which spurred a year-long investigation, was written by Dr. Charles Grandson, the former BPS Chief of Equity and Strategy.
That’s the main new piece of information contained in the memo, which BPS has never made public.
Dr. Grandson left his position some time last fall, leading to rumors that he was the victim of the same unfair treatment that he warned about.
Dr. Grandson did not respond to a message asking for comment.
The memo, dated August 17, 2022, is posted here.
“It is my understanding that over the past 10 months there has been a significant number of senior administrators of color — mainly Black men and women, who have been placed on administrative leave pending investigation or placed under investigation,” Dr. Grandson wrote.
He said that being put on leave “casts a shadow and stain on the reputation and integrity of employees.” He added, “It is also my understanding that in many of these instances there have not been any substantive findings that have warranted such action.”
Dr. Grandson proposed that the district retain an external investigator to look into these “potential patterns of implicit bias or racial discrimination.”
Retired educators of color demand action
A week later, on August 24, 15 prominent retired administrators of color wrote a letter to incoming Superintendent Mary Skipper charging that “investigative meetings” and administrative leave have been “weaponized” as a way to get rid of Black and brown officials who are seen as troublemakers.
“These cases seem to be orchestrated and intentional, primarily to deliver a message … that you will be discredited and destroyed if you speak out against racist and ineffective policies and practices,” the retired BPS leaders wrote.
The letter went beyond Dr. Grandson’s memo in specifying that Black and brown administrators were put on administrative leave if they raised objections to racist practices.
The retired educators sent a copy to Interim Superintendent Drew Echelson.
A quick response, then silence
Two days later, on August 26, Skipper answered that she would look into the matter “immediately” and get back to them. The signers say they heard nothing further for nearly two months.
On October 19, responding to a question about the letter from Schoolyard News, BPS Chief of Communications Gabrielle Farrell said Attorney Natashia Tidwell was “reviewing the concerns that were raised.”
We posted the retired BPS leaders’ letter the next day.
What was Attorney Tidwell investigating?
Over the next few months, Skipper several times responded to School Committee members’ questions about the retirees’ letter by talking about an investigation she had asked attorney Natashia Tidwell to conduct.
But on August 30, 2023, when Tidwell finally gave her report, she and Superintendent Skipper said the investigation had not been about the retirees’ letter. Instead, they said it was sparked by an internal memo that warned of a “sudden increase in number of BPS senior administrators of color investigated and placed on administrative leave” as Tidwell put it in her slide presentation.
Tidwell told the Committee that she reviewed three years of disciplinary hearings and did not turn up proof of discrimination.
A public records request fails
Schoolyard News has been asking since March 5, 2023, for copies of all written communications relating to discriminatory treatment of central office administrators of color that were sent during the month of August 2022.
BPS first said no such documents existed, even though the retired BPS leaders’ letter fit the description and was already public.
The internal memo that Tidwell described in her August 30, 2023 report also fit our public records request, so we asked again on August 31. On October 18, we appealed to the Secretary of State, who administers the public records law, for help in getting an answer. And on November 2, the Secretary of State’s office directed Boston officials to respond.
Since then, Boston officials have twice said they are reviewing the matter. Two more appeals to the Secretary of State’s office for help were not answered.
We got a copy of the memo from another source. We still don’t know if there were other written communications in August 2022 besides the retired leaders’ letter and Dr. Grandson’s memo.
The BPS press office did not respond to a request for comment.
