Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE)

Racial Imbalance Advisory Council

The Racial Imbalance Advisory Council (RIAC) advises the Commissioner of Education and the Board of Education on matters pertinent to racial imbalance in schools and districts the Commonwealth. Specifically, the Council will:

assesses statewide trends and needs;
seek public and professional input;
analyze information regarding racial imbalance;
advise and make recommendations regarding legislation, regulations and program guidelines; and
provide other programmatic recommendations as it deems necessary to fulfill the goals established by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Meeting Schedule

Meeting Date & Time	Meeting Location
Monday, 10/2/23 @ 9:30–11am	If you would like to attend this meeting, please reach out to Sylvia.Lam@mass.gov for the Zoom meeting information.
Friday, 11/3/23 @ 12–1:30pm	If you would like to attend this meeting, please reach out to Sylvia.Lam@mass.gov for the Zoom meeting information.
Monday, 12/4/23 @ 10–11:30am	If you would like to attend this meeting, please reach out to Sylvia.Lam@mass.gov for the Zoom meeting information.
Monday, 2/5/24 @ 9:30–11am	If you would like to attend this meeting, please reach out to Sylvia.Lam@mass.gov for the Zoom meeting information.
Monday, 3/4/24 @ 9:30–11am	If you would like to attend this meeting, please reach out to Sylvia.Lam@mass.gov for the Zoom meeting information.
Tuesday, 4/2/24 @ 9–10:30am	If you would like to attend this meeting, please reach out to Sylvia.Lam@mass.gov for the Zoom meeting information.
Monday, 5/6/24 @ 10–11:30	If you would like to attend this meeting, please reach out to Sylvia.Lam@mass.gov for the Zoom meeting information.
Tuesday, 6/4/24 @ 9:30–11am	If you would like to attend this meeting, please reach out to Sylvia.Lam@mass.gov for the Zoom meeting information.

2023-2024 RIAC Council Members

Councilmember	Title
Cleonie Mainvielle	Productivity Coach & DEI Consultant
Darlene Spencer	Program Officer at the Carney Family Charitable Foundation
Jessica S. Samuel, Ph.D.	Education Equity Consultant
Josephine M. Kim, Ph.D., LMHC, NCC	Senior Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Lamikco T. Magee, M.Ed., J.D.	Dean at Amherst Regional Public Schools
Lateefah Franck	Director of Equity, Integration, and Community Partnerships Westwood Public Schools
Laurie Hunter	Superintendent of Schools, Concord Public Schools and Concord Carlisle Regional School District
Matt Brunell	Co-Executive Director of Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership (SEZP)
Monica Roberts	Executive Director/Senior Vice President at City Year Greater Boston
Raul Fernandez, Ed.D.	Senior Lecturer of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development
Renée Heywood, Ph.D.	Assistant Superintendent of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for Brockton Public Schools

Contact Information

DESE Liaison
Sylvia Lam
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
75 Pleasant Street, Malden, MA 02148
Telephone: 781-338-3567

Resources

Annual Reports to the Board of Education

Related Resources

Chapter 15: Section 1I
Chapter 15: Section 1J
Chapter 76: Section 12A
Chapter 71: Section 37C
Chapter 71: Section 37D
Chapter 71: Section 37I & 37J

Charles V. Willie, Ph.D., & Michael Alves, Ed.M. (1996); Controlled Choice: A New Approach To Desegregated Education and School Improvement. Education Alliance Press.
Carl A. Grant (1995); Educating for Diversity: An Anthology of Multicultural Voices. Allyn & Bacon
Schott Foundation for Public Education (2008). Given half a chance: The Schott 50 state report on pulbic education and black males. Executive Summary. Cambridge, MA: Author. Retrieved October 20, 2008
Singleton, G. E. & Linton, C. (2006). Courageous conversations about race: A field guide for achieving equity in schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Uriarte, M., Chen, J., & Kala, M. (2007). Where we go to school… Latino students and the public schools of Boston. Boston, MA: The Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino community Development and Public Policy. Retrieved on October 20, 2008
Noguera, P. & Wing, J. Y. (eds.) (2006). Unfinished business: Closing the racial achievement gap in our schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Last Updated: September 27, 2023