Community Responds to Stabbing of METCO Founder

**CONTENT WARNING: mentions of violence

On October 11th, 2022, Dr. Jean McGuire, co-founder of METCO and all-around civil rights icon, was walking her dog in Franklin Park, Boston, when she was stabbed multiple times. No arrest has been made as of yet, but her family is encouraging anyone with information to contact the police.

McGuire doesn’t remember much from the attack, but she extends her thanks to the individuals who found and helped her in the aftermath, calling them two “angels without wings.” Dr. Sammy Dowlatshahi, the surgeon that operated on her, said that she can expect a “very satisfactory” recovery.

“We take for granted good healthcare,” said McGuire in her first public statement after the attack, “but there's nothing like the high quality that you get at a place like Beth Israel, Boston Medical Center and Tufts, in a city like Boston.” She also addressed a number of issues that she is passionate about, including healthcare for students, food insecurity, and inflation.

The act of violence against a beloved educator and activist has shocked the community, but McGuire’s response of gratitude and passion has brought to attention her life’s work. 

As a child, she had been one of the only Black students in her classes at Brookline Public Schools and faced accusations of plagiarism, as well as racist remarks of disbelief at her abilities. Later, she attended Dunbar High School in Washington D.C., which was all Black due to segregation, where she received the support, role models, and inspiration to excel absent from her education up until then. 

After earning her degree in education and working as an educator for two years, she became the first Black Pupil Adjustment Counselor at Boston Public Schools, “working with students who had emotional and environmental difficulties in districts all around the city,” according to Northeastern University.

In 1966, McGuire co-founded the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, a voluntary educational desegregation program designed to remove barriers to opportunity by providing busing to schools in the Greater Boston Area. She has served as the program’s Executive Director from 1973 to 2016, and has made her mark on history as the first Black woman on the Boston School Committee.

McGuire, known as a “fierce advocate” for Black students and educators, said in an interview with the WGBH program Say Brother, that “it’s very difficult to get people to focus on the real issues,” such as “pollution or housing … as long as they can focus on vehicles like the school buses or the issue of whether Black teachers are qualified.” 


After last month’s attack, she established the Jean McGuire Educational and Health Fund, hoping to refocus attention on the issues she believes really matters. Her family asks the community to show their support however they can, whether that be donating to the fund or advocating for METCO. Stop by room 145 (the METCO office) or room 154 (conference room by the Counseling Office) to make a get-well card in support of Dr. McGuire.

by ANANYA KATYAL

Lex Perspectives