Meeting the Needs of Every Student
At its core, this work is about belonging. Every student should feel that they are a valued member of their school community, and one of the most powerful ways to build that sense of belonging is through academic success and meaningful engagement. When students feel capable, challenged, and supported, they are more likely to feel connected to school.

Supporting Students with Learning Disabilities
For students receiving special education services, belonging begins with access to instruction and supports that allow them to succeed alongside their peers. This means delivering individualized, evidence-based supports that are meaningfully implemented, along with strong literacy instruction and targeted interventions.

It also means investing in skilled paraprofessionals and continuing to support high-quality programs like LAHB that we know are effective. When students experience success in the classroom, it builds confidence and independence and strengthens their connection to school.

Advancing Racial Justice and Closing Opportunity Gaps
If we are serious about building a sense of belonging through academic success, we must confront persistent disparities in outcomes, including gaps in MCAS performance and college matriculation between white and Asian students and Black and Latino students.

Closing these gaps requires early intervention and consistent access to rigorous learning opportunities, as well as early and effective interventions with robust feedback loops based on data analysis.

We must also ensure that every student, regardless of economic background, enters Brookline High School with a strong and consistent academic foundation.

Supporting Multilingual Learners
For students who are learning English, belonging begins with access. These students need both strong language development and access to rigorous academic content so they can fully participate in their classrooms.

That means investing in high-quality English learner programming, strengthening early literacy supports, and ensuring that language is not a barrier to opportunity. It also means building strong communication with families so they can be partners in their children’s education. When multilingual learners are fully included in academic life, they are more likely to feel confident, capable, and connected.

Challenging and Engaging Advanced Learners
Belonging is not only about support. It is also about challenge. We have students who are ready for more advanced academic work but are not consistently being pushed or engaged.

When students are not challenged, they can become disengaged from school. Families with greater means often fill this gap with outside enrichment, while others cannot. That makes academic challenge an equity issue.

Keeping students engaged and inspired is essential to both excellence and equity, and it supports students’ overall well-being and connection to school.

Addressing the Needs of Boys
We also need to pay attention to emerging trends in student outcomes. Reporting by Meghna Chakrabarti on WBUR has highlighted a growing gap in which many boys are falling behind academically.

This is a complex issue, but it underscores the importance of engagement, relevance, and connection in our classrooms. If we are serious about belonging, we need to ensure that all students, including boys who may be disengaging, see themselves as successful learners and feel connected to school.

Supporting LGBTQ+ Students  
A strong sense of belonging also means that students feel safe, seen, and respected for who they are. Supporting LGBTQ+ students is deeply important to me, both personally and as a parent and community member.

Creating inclusive spaces such as Gender and Sexuality Alliances, and fostering school environments where students can express their identities openly, are essential. When students feel affirmed, they are better able to focus on learning and fully engage in school life.

Conclusion
Ultimately, the role of a public school system is not only to educate, but to ensure that every student feels they belong and can succeed. By building a strong academic center of gravity that supports, challenges, and engages all students, we can create schools where every child feels valued and capable of achieving great things.