Cambrdige, massachusetts
Cambridge Massachusetts School District
This page will contain information and documents from the Cambridge Massachusetts School District for posterity.
My investigation of the Cambridge Massachusetts school district found that they were using a professional development trainer for their teachers named Dena Simmons that is on the record saying she wants to abolish whiteness and capitalism. Read my full report on Dena Simmons here.
Documents Obtained via FOIA/Public Records Request
In conjunction with my investigation of Dena Simmons, I made Public Records requests for the presentations used to train teachers. The city refused to send me Dena’s work directly, but did send other documentation. You can view those files here.
becoming an anti-racist educator, session 1
becoming an anti-racist educator, session 2
becoming an anti-racist educator, session 3
becoming an anti-racist educator, session 4
becoming an anti-racist educator, session 5
becoming an anti-racist educator, session 6
intersectionality and gender in the classroom, session 1
intersectionality and gender in the classroom, session 2
intersectionality and gender in the classroom, session 3
Strategic Initatives workshop
Rainbow Club and Pride Workshops for Middle and High Schoolers
The Cambridge Public Schools have a Rainbow Alliance that is open to children starting in Elementary School. This was in an email forwarded to me by a concerned parent:
That parent also made a public records request to find out more about what this is. Here is what the school sent her. See the full PDF.
Note: There’s a public records request in progress to get what those “gender identity resources” are that are mentioned by the K-4th grade gym teacher.
The Cambridge Public Schools also hosted a community pride for middle and high schoolers that included workshops like “Drag Workshop” and “Play with Gender and Makeup.” The featured speaker was Ericka Hart – @iHartEricka – who is also a “sexpert” in the adult industry.. Parents were not allowed to attend the workshops – they were restricted to students only.:
Important Documents and Website Archives
This is a list of important documents and websites from the Cambridge Massachusetts School District’s equity initiatives. All websites will have a live link but have also been archived in December 2022 just in case they are removed. If you find a document from Cambridge Massachusetts School District that is not listed, please send to activelyunwoke (a) gmail.com
Annual District Equity Reports & Strategic Plan
Cambridge public schools started integrating equity into their teacher training in 2017 with Educator leaders for Equity, and then in 2018 with Building Equity Bridges but only recently created an Office of Equity, Inclusion and Belonging in 2020.
- Approval of the Anti-Racist Vision & Mission Statements, 2021
- School Committee Meeting from June 15, 2021 where they discussed and approved the anti-racist vision and mission statement (starting around 2 hours and 38 minutes).
- Inaugural Equity Plan, 2021
- Building Equity Bridges (2018-2020 equity program)
- Educator Leaders for Equity, 2017
- Educator Leaders for Equity presentation to CPS, 2019
Other Documents & websites
- “CPS’s Journey to Becoming an Anti-Racist District” – Dissertation on Equity in the Cambridge School Districts written by a member of the Director of Equity documenting their work. (Link on Harvard’s website)
- Equity Collaborative – the school district is funding projects to “address racism, inequity, injustice, and oppression in Cambridge Public Schools.”
- Family communications document, in which they say that all of their communication will be anti-racist and that “Progressive stacking used in all meetings”. Progressive stack is another way of reference the woke oppression hierachy – people will be allowed to speak in meetings based on skin color and other intersectionality victim points.
- School-based equity teams
- Professional development for teachers
- Leadership coaching cycle to “support school leaders on their journey as actively anti-racist leaders”
- Microaggressions working group
- Speakfully, the microaggressions reporting system
- Curriculum Review for “cultural responsiveness”
- Employee resource affinity groups (Asian, Black, LatinX, LGBTQIA+, White anti-racism, Muslim, Jewish)
Community Partners used by the CAmbridge Massachuetts School District
Community Partners are outside organizations and non-profits whose resources are utilized by a school district in some way. Very commonly, these are advocacy organizations.
- Dena Simmons, LiberatED
- Cambridge Education Association (the teachers’ union)