Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Delco students speak out about racism in schools
Students from school districts throughout Delaware County shared their own experiences with racism and offered some solutions during a roundtable hosted by state Sen. Tim Kearney, D-9 of Swarthmore.
“We’re holding this conversation because we need to do a better job of realizing that racism and bias exist everywhere in many forms,” Kearney said. “It’s not just police brutality that you see on television. It’s also the microaggressions that many people experience in their day-today lives.”
As a new member of the Senate Education Committee, the senator held the “Student Roundtable - Racism in Schools” conversation to hear directly from the students, to see how these issues are playing out in schools and to extend the conversation on racism and bias beyond Black History Month.
The first part of the forum was to hear from students about their personal experiences.
“Last year, I was sitting in my first period and two of my peers asked me if they could have the Nword pass and I didn’t know what to do about it, so I just kept ignoring them and saying no and they kept on asking,” Monica Harris of Great Valley High School said. “The reason I kept it to myself was because I thought no one would help me or no one would understand it because I’m the minority in my school, there’s really no one for me to branch out to except my family.”
She said she eventually told her mom and her school now has a Students of Color Affinity Group where students talk about racism in their school in a safe space and how that can be changed. Franchesca Parker of Interboro High School shared the pain she felt in her community. Last August, a former Interboro School Board member resigned after she was caught on videotape yelling racially charged words as a Black
Lives Matter group walked past her.
“It was very upsetting as a Black woman seeing that, especially since I’ve been a student representative on my school board,” she said.
She also told of a time she attended a weekend leadership conference and returned to school only to learn of a teacher who used the n-word approximately 15 times.
Parker added that her school now has an Equity Team that meets regularly and communicates daily to improve. Nazeq Abudaya of Upper Darby High School told the story of a fellow Black student who was struggling in class and whom she helped tutor.
“I asked her, ‘Is the teacher doing anything to help? Did you ask the teacher for help?’” Abudaya said. “She responded that she had asked multiple times but the teacher has ignored her and kind of overshadowed her for other students.”
She said her friend talked to other Black students in the class to see what their experience was.
“And the same thing has happened to them,” Abudaya said. “The teacher just kind of overshadowed over them and focused more on the other students instead ... She told me that I had helped her more than the teacher ever did.” Kayla Cocci said she’s had a decent number of racial incidents while at Ridley High School.
One that she shared was shortly after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor last year.
“I had reached out to my school in hopes of organizing a COVID-safe event for the community during this time of racial tension and divide,” she said. “I was told no and to hold off until later.”
She then asked if she could do a virtual event and said she was told again she’d have to wait until the following fall.
So, Cocci then hosted her own forum attended by Kearney, U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5 of Swarthmore, and state representatives. She said representatives from her school district eventually came but had initially given her various reasons why they couldn’t attend. Conestoga High School junior Namtra Wagle said conversations on these issues need to occur.
“It’s important that we talk about these kinds of things because a lot of kids don’t talk about it,” she said. “It’s addressed because it’s micro, it’s not blatant racism but it’s something that happens almost every day.”
Colin Woodland of Strath Haven High School told of a Black Lives Matter that occurred at his school.
“We had a Black Lives Matter Day at school and it was supposed to be an event of affirmation and understanding within our school community … and it was not well received at all by the students,” he said. “It was almost like a lack of care, even the teachers weren’t that invested in it and it didn’t feel like it was as impactful as it could have been.”
He said it seemed that there was a lack of direction from staff about the event and about addressing racism and equity.
“It felt like they were scared of controversy,” Woodland said. “They were scared of the controversy of the conflict that would arise. I feel like so much change is swept under the rug because people are afraid to get uncomfortable. You can’t be afraid how received it will be. You have to know that this is an important issue and it needs to be solved right now and you need to put your all into it.”
Too often, he said, the onus is put on the students of color.
“And you need to stop looking to the students,” Woodland said. “I’m glad to help, I want to help but I don’t have the authority as a teacher to help and you can’t rely on me ... If you can’t tell your Black students that they matter, then are you really doing your job? As an educator, as an administrator, show your students you care about them, that their lives have value.”
Other students in the forum agreed that the burden of learning about racism and equity shouldn’t be on the students.
“To me, its upsetting to walk into school sometimes and have to teach adults,” Parker said. “We have other things in school that we have to focus on – grades, extracurricular activities, and the last thing we want to do is have to fight for rights that seem so obvious ... We just want there to be a day when we walk into school, walk into a public place and know that our rights are just as same as a white person.”
Wagle said equity training for teachers, staff, administrators, and even students, should be mandatory.
“It’s not the job for students to educate adults so therefore there should be some kind of education that adults should go through for them to be able to have conversations that get uncomfortable especially in the classroom,” she said.
Cocci told of a teacher who told her, “You should make a video of yourself about why you’re special just don’t make it solely on the fact that you’re Black.”
She likewise supported mandatory equity training, adding, “Ridley School District has not had a mandated bias training for the teachers in over 23 years.”
Nylla Miller of Penn Wood High School spoke of having representative administration and the differences in resource allocation.
She explained that while the student body at her school is predominantly Black, most of the teachers, staff and administration is white.
“The solution for me would be to see more administration that looks like me,” she said, adding that she appreciates the teachers who support her. “Nobody understands me more than somebody who’s walked the course just like I have.”
Miller told of a visit her speech and debate team made to Lower Merion High School.
“Just walking into the school I was amazed with the resources that they have, the way the school looks, the way the school is cleansed, just the different resources the school has,” she said.
Miller said she went home and asked herself, “What’s the difference between Lower Merion High School and Penn Wood High School? I think that the main thing that I noticed was there’s more white students at Lower Merion.”
Parker said staff and administrators need to held to the same standards as students.
“For students, we have seven levels of infractions or punishments if we do something wrong, if we are racist,” she said. “If you look at the code of conduct for staff and administrators, there is not a single punishment in the book ... The concern that I have … is how do we keep people who are racist and don’t have the best interest of the students out of positions of power.”
Without it, it can be challenging to right an injustice, she said.
“It was extremely hard to just try and convince our school that someone is not doing something right,” she said. “To me, the students are held to a higher standard than the people that make the rules for us.”
For many, it was simply about being treated with basic human dignity.
“Even though we have to learn math and science, I think it’s way more important to learn respect for people,” Rushdania Shumaita of Beverly Hills Middle School said.
Edward W. Brown, one of four Upper Darby School Board members who viewed the forum, praised the youth for their courage, their conviction and their sharing.
“I’m encouraged for the future because of the eloquence I’ve heard tonight so continue doing what you’re doing,” he said. “Hold us accountable as educators, hold us accountable as elected officials and make sure you get what you deserve.”
After thanking the students for their bravery and attendance, Kearney said an hour is not enough to address all of these issues.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us and we all want to create communities that are more fair and more just,” the senator said. “We can do that by listening to people and really listening to you, the students.”
At least one viewer expressed thanks to the senator for hosting the event.
“Thank you for doing this, Sen. Tim Kearney,” Interboro resident Paul K. Johnson said. “It’s informative to hear these experiences from our students. Too often these issues are swept under the rug.”