Milton Public Schools (MPS) has hired jamele adams as its new Director for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, the district announced Monday, Sept. 14.

adams will host a community open house at the Milton Public Library on Monday, Sept. 28, from 6 to 8 p.m. The meet-and-greet, open to families, staff and residents, is the first of what adams described as many planned community gatherings.

In a letter posted to the district website, adams introduced himself to the MPS community and explained that he spells his name in lowercase intentionally, inspired by author bell hooks. "My name is intentionally spelled in lower case to signal more focus on the work and that I am a smaller component in the energy of love," he wrote.

In the letter, adams describes himself as "a father, husband, son, brother and Black male" and says he uses he-series pronouns. He noted an indirect tie to New York City — writing that he hails "from the same city as the home of the 2026 NBA Champion New York Knicks" — while emphasizing that "my professional heart and love are proudly right here in Milton." His approach, he wrote, centers on love, inclusion and trust.

Before coming to Milton, adams served as Director For Love, Inclusion & Trust at Scituate Public Schools. That position was eliminated by the Scituate School Committee in October 2025, when the board voted to replace it with a broader social-emotional learning role. The decision drew public opposition at the committee's Oct. 20, 2025, meeting, where students, staff and community members challenged the move, South Shore News reported.

The hire follows a Boston Globe investigation published Aug. 19 that found nearly half of the roughly 100 students investigated for residency in the 2024–2025 school year were Black. Black students make up less than 12 percent of enrollment. White students account for nearly 70 percent.

Following that report, Interim Superintendent John Phelan told the Milton School Committee the district would end its anonymous tip line for residency checks and improve data collection to track factors including students' race.

Milton School Committee minutes from a June 25 meeting show the district had already been building out DEIB initiatives for the 2026–2027 school year. Plans include anti-bias hiring training for all leadership team members and completion of a Bias/Hate Incident Response Protocol (B/HIP), with a draft due to the superintendent by October and a School Committee presentation planned for November.