Wayland Select Board appoints four new HRDEIC members in wake of racist graffiti

WAYLAND -- February 13, 2023, Wayland Select Board adds three students and a Boston METCO parent to its diversity committee amid racist graffiti fallout. The board voted 5-0 to seat sophomores Eunjie Kang and Kanmani Sekhar through June 2025, Carlin Gruber through June 2024, and Boston Public Schools teacher Chloe Boyd, a METCO parent, as a non-voting member through June 2024. The appointments followed a presentation by HRDEIC Vice Chair Karen Blumenfeld and member Heather Pino on the committee's Dec. 30 response to anti-Black graffiti found Dec. 21 targeting Superintendent Omar Easy, who has since filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination naming the town. Acting Town Manager John Bugbee said an incident reporting line will launch within a month. Board member Adam Gutbezahl, the committee's liaison, read a personal statement disclosing that Black students are referred to as "the Boston kids" in town and called the practice "unacceptable." Blumenfeld told the board, "This town is fractured. It's a mess." The board also approved a National Grid grant of location for 580 feet of new gas main on Concord Road.