WESTMINSTER — Last week at New England Kurn Hattin Homes, the school used the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as the centerpiece of a week-long program on diversity that featured a string of activities, presenters, and discussions on the subject.
School Principal Scotty Tabachnick, who was a diversity teacher at Brattleboro Union High School before taking the job at Kurn Hattin, said he developed Diversity Week as a run-up to a program on multiculturalism the school already had in the works.
According to Connie Sanderson, Kurn Hattin's acting executive and co-deputy director, the school, overlooking the Connecticut River Valley, is known for promoting diversity, and is a friendly place where students from all backgrounds manage to blend together with few problems.
“These kids come from all over the Northeast and diversity is very much accepted throughout the school,” she said. “You don't see many issues based on intolerance occurring in our school.”
In this sense, she said, Diversity Week - an annual time to reflect on and celebrate differences - is a natural addition to the school's curriculum.
King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, which protested racial discrimination in federal and state law.
Contributing to Hurn Hattin's Diversity Week activities was a theatre group put together by Stephen Stearns, a professional clown, mime, director, and founder of the New England Youth Theatre in Brattleboro.
“He's an incredible guy who works really well with the kids,” said Tabachnick.
Stearns and a group of interested students prepared hours a day for a week in the auditorium, first running through acting exercises, and then rehearsing an anti-bullying play they'd written. They performed the play Jan. 25 for the student body, community members, and guest students from Westminster Elementary School.
“It has always been a passion of mine and [this play] is a good way of naturally inspiring our students,” Tabachnick said. “It allows them to have their own voice, and impact culture with great direction.”
He added that he hopes that the activities the children experienced throughout Diversity Week expand their awareness, and will reach others.
Some events were live-streamed on the Internet.
Other Diversity Week guest presenters and performers included Dottie Morris, chief officer for diversity and multiculturalism at Keene State College; Robert Fay, photographer and poetry teacher; musical artists Moonlight and Morning Star; Eugene Uman, founder of the Vermont Jazz Center; percussionist Todd Roach; Mike Szostak, the Brattleboro School District's restorative justice coordinator, and representatives from the Women's Freedom Center of Brattleboro.