Gov. Charlie Baker said there is little he can do about the racial and gender disparity of top-level positions in his education leadership team, according to Eos Foundation President Andrea Silbert, and has ignored a petition asking him to promise to focus on the issue.
Silbert said that when she approached Baker with the issue in February, he said that there “wasn’t that much he felt he could do about it.”
Last month, Silbert sent Baker a letter, along with a petition signed by 1,600 residents of the commonwealth, asking that Baker commit publicly to having an inclusive statewide leadership in education. Baker has not responded, according to Silbert.
“The non-response sends a really clear message that this isn’t a priority,” Silbert said. “He needs to lead. He needs to tell us — he’s newly re-elected — that this is a priority. That it matters. That as a businessman, this is good business.”
