Editor’s note: This academic year, the Bedford Public Schools are marking the 50th year of affiliation with the METCO program. Among the accomplishments over five decades are three graduates who serve as school district METCO directors. They reflected on their experiences in recent interviews. The second story in this series focuses on DeWayne Clachar.
If there was ever a METCO “lifer,” it has to be DeWayne Clachar.
The 2009 Bedford High School graduate, currently the METCO director for the Concord Public Schools, joined the wait list as soon as he could.
“My dad signed me up for METCO when I was one day old,” he laughed.
Now he is responsible for 77 Boston students in kindergarten through eighth grade (Concord-Carlisle High School has its own METCO administration). His staff comprises academic liaisons at the elementary and middle school levels, a tutor, and a bus monitor, as well as an adjustment counselor who once worked as a director.
From first grade through high school, “I had a tremendous experience with Bedford METCO,” Clachar said in a recent interview. “I never had one time I didn’t feel that way. The community really embraced me, and my family was all in on my being a METCO student. And it’s about a whole family being part of that process.
“Joe Tiano was the first friend I made at Davis School, and I was at his wedding three years ago,” Clachar said. “I have endless friendships and relationships in Bedford. It’s kind of neat to be working the next town over from where I had such a great experience.”
As an undergraduate attending night classes at Northeastern University, Clachar worked for Mike Vance, a Bedford METCO parent and a manager at Action for Boston Community Development. He earned a degree in communication studies and a master’s in sports leadership at NEU, while also working in the admissions office.
“There was a real emphasis on athletic administration,” Clachar said, and he saw that as his career path.
“I always loved sports and always wanted to be part of the game,” he said. “I knew I wouldn’t be a college athlete, but I wanted to help kids and be involved in that capacity.”
He accepted a position in 2020 with All Dorchester Sports and Leadership, but much of the programming was limited during the heyday of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In October, he reduced his workload at All Dorchester because another opportunity came along: METCO coordinator for the Wakefield schools. He served there until landing the post in Concord last August.
Akil Mondesir, Bedford’s METCO director and a BHS graduate, “is formally my mentor through the METCO Directors Association, but informally he has always been my mentor,” Clachar said. “He is a tremendous resource in my life.”
In Concord, Clachar said, “the superintendent, the district, are all for the mission. They do value our Boston students.”
“There’s an underlying narrative that a receiving community doesn’t realize that the students coming in are giving you a different perspective on life, on culture, on economics,” Clachar said. “METCO provides an awareness of different people you normally wouldn’t have,” and that “prepares any student for the real world, as eventually they are going to integrate with people of mixed backgrounds.
“Our teachers expect excellence from our students. But teachers and other people in the community should also understand the demands on time,” Clachar said.
Students are on their bus around 6:30 a.m. and with after-school activities, some don’t arrive home until 7 p.m. Then there’s dinner, homework, “talking to the family, maintaining a social life. Then rinse and repeat.”
“That is a sacrifice that you sign up for as a family to get a quality education,” he observed.
“So, when a student isn’t really juiced up to go to, that’s something to factor in. METCO students are absorbed by a district, but there are times when we need to differentiate.”
Bedford High School, with a cohort from Hanscom Air Force Base as well as Boston, was especially sensitive and “it has worked so well,” he said.
He added that the METCO bus driver and bus monitor are “the two most important people in this experience. They’re almost like parts of the family, making sure these kids are okay and are doing the right thing. They are trying to help regulate kids and make sure parents feel secure.”
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Excellent article.