Chairs: Mona Roy, Manasi Singhal & Hemali Nigam
Youth Chair: Diya Nigam
The IAL Education sub-committee assesses the needs of Indian Americans to support students and their families as well as community members in their engagement with the school system as well as other initiatives relating to education. The key objectives include supporting Indian Americans in Lexington to interact with/join various school-related groups, provide educational programming, and to solicit concerns and perspectives from the community regarding any issues relating to education. The Committee achieves this objective by building a coalition with schools and PTA/PTO members through the IAL school liaisons.
In 2023-2024, we conducted:
Series of meetings with LPS Middle Social Studies department head and teacher representatives about middle school curriculum
Presented on topics related to India that can be sources of misinformation or misrepresentation including Hinduism and Indian independence.
Heard from the teacher representatives about topics they cover where we can give our input.
Shared alternative resources that can be used in the classroom.
Planning teacher workshop in December
Hosted three Chai, Chaat, and Chat events in December 2023, June 2024, and September 2024 where community members and students were able to meet and talk with School Committee Members Deepika Sawhney, Larry Freeman, and Eileen Jay about major education-related issues in town, share their feedback and interact with each other.
Provided chai and snacks to LPS officials for a third year in recognition of their hard work in support of our students.
Continued to work with all three LPS Social Studies Departments heads on curriculum issues related to Indian history, religion, and culture.
Continued periodic feedback forms to the Indian community to learn of their thoughts and opinions on several topical issues related to education and collect information on the needs of the community to better inform the programming, resources and support we can provide. Some of the topics included graduation requirements, class leveling, standards-based grading, etc.
Members are attending Lexington School Committee meetings to learn about upcoming policies and decisions as well as representing the interests of the Indian community.
Participated in the Lex250 Calendar Countdown on July 21st for Guru Purnima when we honor teachers, and had a large gathering of teachers, students, and community members.
Two IAL Education Committee Youth members participated as panelists in the AAPI Heritage Month event which was co-hosted with CALex’s “My American Story”
Participated in the Collaborative Reform Group and supporting its initiatives on providing access and information on mental health supports.
Collaborated with CAAL Education Committee and LHS PTO in Navigating Life After LHS event took place on March 21st, 2024.
In 2021-2022, we:
Created a document with information about and linked resources on Festivals and Holidays celebrated by Dharmic religions and shared with Johnny Cole (LPS Director of Equity and Student Supports) and LPS to be made available to teachers and on their website to better inform the wider community and support our students.
Interfaced with Johnny Cole regarding viral video of Indian student being bullied to understand Bullying Policy in LPS and how to direct parents to appropriate resources on how to report incidents and educate themselves.
Met with Kerry Dunne, new LHS Social Studies department head – heard LPS plan to increase inclusion of Indian topics in the curriculum and they have already included more modern Indian history this academic year. Also shared resources that could be helpful and are keeping line of communication open to continue collaborating.
Provided chai and snacks to LPS officials in recognition of their hard work in support of our students.
Represented IAL at LexELPAC (Lexington English Learner Parent Advisory Council) events for families new to Lexington on October 12th and 19th, building connections and sharing important information about the work IAL is doing and resources they can use.
Initiated conversation to meet with Elementary Social Studies department head on ideas she has about the curriculum related to India being taught at that level
Continue to work with all three LPS Social Studies Department heads on curriculum issues related to Indian history, religion, and culture.
Sent Diwali Toolkit to LPS representatives to share with teachers of all grades and subjects and this was appreciated as it includes facts and activities.
Initiated feedback form of the Indian community to learn of their thoughts and opinions on several topical issues related to education and got over 100 responses. We plan to continue periodic surveys to collect information on the needs of the community to better inform the programming, resources and support we can provide.
IAL co-sponsored the "My American Story" event organized by the Chinese Americans of Lexington (CALex) which was held in celebration of AAPI Month 2022. Seven members of the Asian American community in Lexington including Manasi Singhal participated in the event and one of the key messages she shared was building communities that "think like us" rather than just "look like us" as a way of finding our place in our new home.
2019
Building a coalition with School and PTA/PTO members through the IAL school liaisons. There are now 1-2 representatives at each school that connect on a monthly conference call to share information, ideas and concerns.
Based on the recommendations of this group, IAL hosted a community event to raise awareness about and answer questions in the community about important issues related to the transition from elementary to middle school such choosing classes and extracurricular activities, handling phone usage and social media, academic pressure, bullying, and vaping.
Building Bridges with Community Cultural Organizations – Our team worked on a project to learn about the cultural perspective students and parents from India, China, Japan and Korea bring to the classroom. The goal of this project was to share relevant cultural information about education between students and their families from around the world and teachers in Lexington. Our team members were very resourceful in finding sources in India to help us with this research project and provide this information to the School System.
Homework Policy – Worked with Lexington School Committee to send the information to our community to get their feedback as well as send a comprehensive IAL School Committee response to the Lexington School Committee
Please look out for our signature College and Career Workshop on December 7th where we will be focusing on different career paths our students may be interested in and give them the opportunity to learn about what they entail and what they may need to do to pursue them.
Promoting Vegetarian options in Lexington Public Schools by working with the cafeteria vendor and community at large to increase vegetarian food options in the schools and come up with strategies so that students and families are aware of and take advantage of the additional offerings.
IAL School Committee Members: Archana Singhal, Parul Kumar, Deepti Bhargava, Manasi Singhal, Nimisha Asthagiri, Suman Murali, Ranjani Sriram, Mona Roy, Archan Basu, Monika Manocha, Jaya Vatsyayan, Samita Mandelia
IAL PTA/PTO Liasons: Deepti Bhargava, Nimisha Asthagiri, Suman Murali, Monika Manocha, Jaya Vatsyayan, Subha Sainathan, Rajeshwari Godbole, Kirthika Ramakrishnan, Paulomi Gutka, Purvi M., Swati Mehta, Anjali Kannan
2016
We have formed a School Committee and have started an initiative to have an IAL PTA representative in all of the schools in town. As a result, we now have the means to understand and address the needs of the Indian community in our school system. We continue to work with the PTA/PTO and organized a workshop called “Success through Connection” on January 25th, 2016, to make the audience understand how and why they should become involved in the PTA. IAL hosted a School Committee Candidate Forum and invited all of the candidates running for School Committee election so that they can address questions and concerns of our Indian community.
The IAL Youth Affairs group organized a College and Career workshop called “Debunking Myths” showcasing multiple pathways to success where the audience heard from current LHS seniors, LHS alumni and the workforce, parents and professionals and learned about what you REALLY need to get into good colleges and do well in life. This was the first workshop put together by our newly formed Youth Affairs group and was a great success. The group is planning to offer a similar workshop as well as other programs to cater to the various needs of our youth in the town of Lexington.
