In light of recent events we, the undersigned, demand that students, parents, and administrators at Southwick Regional School be held accountable for racism, harassment, and discrimination against the school’s Black students. 

Local news outlets have reported that recent incidents targeting Black students at the district’s 7-12 school “include everything from the use of derogatory racist language to the creation of an online ‘slave auction’ in a Snapchat group called ‘Black people are low class,’ where they placed bids of $2 and $4 to purchase Black students at the school.” This harassment is terrifying, violent, and inexcusable in any community, let alone a public school community that in its mission statement, “strives to provide a safe, supportive, respectful environment, dedicated to the academic, personal, and cultural evolution of every student.” 

Attacks like these are heinous but far from new at Southwick Regional School, where administrators have tolerated and excused racist, xenophobic, and homophobic harassment of students and community members for years, ranging from disparaging comments in classrooms and the display of confederate flags on school property to the use of racial and homophobic slurs and death threats against students. In 2022, SRS made headlines for racist graffiti found in one of the school's restrooms.

We echo Bishop Talbert W. Swan and the Greater Springfield NAACP’s calls for an investigation into what has transpired at Southwick Regional School. The school’s handbook states that, in substantiated instances of bullying, “the principal or designee will take reasonable steps to prevent recurrence and to ensure that the target may fully participate in school and school activities.” The harassment detailed above is an attack on both individual students and the school community as a whole, and to allow the students responsible to return to SRS sends a message that we condone racism and harassment in our schools.  

We further call for the resignation of Superintendent Jennifer C. Willard, Principal Serena Shorter, and all other administrators found complicit in the school leadership's failure to curb harassment and bullying of Black students at Southwick Regional School. Bullying of students of all identities has long been unaddressed at SRS, forcing some parents to pull their students from the district's schools entirely. New leadership must be installed with the express purpose of investigating bullying and discrimination in the district’s only public schools and taking action to change the school’s culture and protect students moving forward, ensuring that ALL of our community’s children have access to an education free of violence and intimidation. 

Our hearts go out to the children and families who have suffered at the hands of a school community that has failed them, depriving them of their right to a safe and equitable education. We pledge our solidarity in the fight for justice, peace, and equality, and encourage all members of our community to make their voices heard in the fight for a better future for our children and our schools. 

For further action, see here for the school’s handbook and for contact information for the SRS administration and the school committee. We encourage you to reach out and tell our schools' leaders that we will not tolerate racism or bullying in our schools. 

**While we know it may be painful, we urge those who have experienced bullying and discrimination in Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional Schools to share your experiences in the comments so that we can hold our schools accountable. You, your children, and your families are not alone.**