Parent-circulated petition seeks ‘meaningful and systemic change’ to address racism, bias in SCASD
The State College Area School District has made racial inequities and disparities a focus the past few years, but some parents are pushing for “meaningful and systemic change” sparked by national and local events.
Parents Cynthia Young and Mandy Vactor, co-chairs of the district’s Race and Marginalized Populations Committee, crafted in the past week an online petition addressed to SCASD Superintendent Bob O’Donnell and the district’s school board.
The petition included several requests based on “data, personal experience, community complaints” and conversations over the past two years with SCASD’s Equity and Inclusivity Director Seria Chatters, Young and Vactor wrote.
Requests included:
- Remove school resource officers from SCASD schools
- Ban suspensions and expulsions in the district until SCASD “eradicates” systemic bias
- Institute new disciplinary procedures designed to root out bias, establish transparency, gather data and report it publicly
- Establish a well-funded office and hire increased personnel to “deepen the equity work” done by Chatters
- Require annual anti-bias professional development for all SCASD teachers and staff
- Institute immediate curricular changes that make the analysis of anti-Black racism and other forms of discrimination, as well as social justice efforts against it a part of the SCASD curriculum at all levels
- Develop metrics and a clear timeline for increasing teacher and administrator diversity
- Develop metrics and timelines for each action item and make them public so that the district can be held accountable for any inaction
“Because these problems derive from deep histories of racial inequality, they can only be addressed via systemic change,” Young and Vactor wrote. “We are not asking merely for anti-bias training. We are asking for meaningful reforms to curriculum, safety protocols and disciplinary policies that will better educate all of our students and better protect our students of color.”
A second online petition organized in opposition of Young and Vactor’s petition argued police officers are an integral part of fostering a healthy relationships between students and law enforcement.
“We feel elimination of these entities, as well as negative labeling of those who support them, will ultimately result in a deepening of the chasm developing between factions of our district,” the unidentified organizer wrote.
O’Donnell, who said the district is aware of both petitions and is open to community feedback, took a measured approach Tuesday.
The district is “deeply committed” to identifying and eliminating racism and is preparing to conduct a comprehensive equity audit, O’Donnell said.
Other efforts include training faculty and staff in equity-based, trauma-informed teaching practices.
The district may also expedite its social studies curriculum change to better address racial inequities and disparities, O’Donnell said earlier this month. SCASD previously implemented English and math curriculum changes.
He did not take a firm stance about the presence of police officers in schools. The district plans to schedule a town hall to “further the conversation and answer questions,” O’Donnell said.
“For many years, our district has been utilizing school resource officers for safety, and we value this long-standing relationship while also recognizing the need to evaluate this program,” O’Donnell said in a statement. “Therefore, we intend to examine the role of our school resource officers to ensure it aligns with our equity efforts while helping to keep our students, faculty and staff safe.”
SCASD was one of the first districts in the state to hire an equity and inclusivity director. The wide-ranging position, which Chatters has held since 2018, has no shortage of challenges, and central among them is changing students’ — and sometimes their parents’ — attitudes and behaviors.
While Chatters acknowledged in an interview last week that SCASD still has work to do, she said it’s ahead of some other districts, organizations or institutions that are just now taking steps to address racism or bias.
“The one thing that I think is different from our organization versus some others is that we’re aware of how far we have to go,” Chatters said. “There’s a number of organizations now that are coming out with statements and doing different things, and they’re just now becoming aware that this is an issue.”
Chatters spearheaded several professional development offerings, including an anti-racism and social justice workshop for the district’s English and social studies departments.
She also developed a weeklong summer program that trains a select group of students as peer advocates, which is then parlayed into a yearlong servant leadership program.
About 80 students participated this year, about double how many participated last year, Chatters said.
“We know that the better we can make the environment that they’re able to learn and grow in, the better citizens (and) change agents they become,” Chatters said. “I know we’ve been seeing a lot of youth energy around this and I really want people to know we support that energy.”
This story was originally published June 23, 2020 at 3:51 PM.