Worcester agrees to change how it elects its school committee

Worcester is changing how it elects its School Committee. That's after a lawsuit was filed alleging the current system violated federal law.

Worcester has become more diverse in recent years, but its School Committee is all white. Earlier this year, the local branch of the NAACP and other plaintiffs sued the city.

They argued the way Worcester chooses its School Committee members diluted the voting power of communities of color.

Oren Sellstrom, who is the litigation director of Lawyers for Civil Rights, filed the action.

"We allege that a main reason for that lack of diversity on the School Committee was because of the all at-large electoral system by which School Committee members are elected," he said.

That means voters can vote for all seats regardless of where they live.

The Worcester City Council agreed to move toward more seats based on districts, two of which will be mainly people of color. The change would take effect next year.

The Worcester branch of the NAACP was one of the plaintiffs.

Fred Taylor, who leads the organization, said he was happy with the City Council's decision — but that its impact will only go so far.

"I'm not blind to feel that because we changed the districts or we have two minority-majority districts that automatically will make it to where we have people of color representation on the School Committee. But what it does is, it increases the probability," Taylor said.

A judge still needs to sign off on the agreement, and the City Council needs to hear public comment on three different plans which have varying numbers of district-based seats. It will then pick one.

The changes would take effect for the 2022 elections.

This story is a production of New England News Collaborative. It was originally published by New England Public Media on Oct. 18, 2021.