The Essex Westford School District voted unanimously to have each of its schools fly a black lives matter for the entire school year.   

On Thursday morning, each school raised its own flag to express solidarity with people of color in their community.  

The student body president of Essex High School, Tilly Krishna said she’s proud that her school district is doing this. 

“We stood our ground and everyone is still very sure they want to fly this flag and to me that just shows as a district we are firmly believing in this movement and we are standing with them,” Krishna said.

The Essex Westford Schools are actively working toward being an anti-racist organization through professional development, cirriculum analysis, hiring practices, and policy review to enusre the recognization of assets of all cultures, ethnicities, and races. 

Essex High School, Westford School and Lawton Intermediate School actually had their B-L-M flags up already, but the district hoisted them again, at the same time, as a symbol of unity. 

Essex Westford School District Board Member, Liz Subin said the students made this possible.

“This was on the heels of about three years of working with the board and the district to create guidelines that allow us to determine whether a flag is worthy of the pole or not. These requests came from the students in our community, passionate delivery to the board about why it matters and this today is a recognition of those students who express their voice and their desire to be welcoming and inclusive,” Subin said.