The resignation of Caroline Baumann as director of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum has local ties to another institution with its roots in design.     

Educators, parents, students, employers, and community members have been invited to a series of regional meetings hosted by the New York State Board of Regents, which oversees public education, as part of the board’s new review of high school graduation requirements.  

“It’s important, because black people don’t see black people in books,” said Carol Spencer, the owner of a traveling bookstore, “and in the history books they are always slaves.”