We, the members of the MNSD Community Coalition Against Racism, are disappointed in the district’s failure to take a clear stance against racism in light of recent events following the murder of George Floyd. Furthermore, the decision to remain silent and overt inaction shows a clear disregard for the district’s non-white students, and goes against the district’s mission to “provide rigorous educational opportunities for all students in a safe, healthy, and responsive learning environment.” Non-white students cannot feel safe in an environment where racism has not been condemned by the leadership, and their peers do not face concrete consequences for racists actions. We find the superintendent and school board's failure to acknowledge the existence of racism within the district in response to concerned community members and student testimonials to be a form of reckless denial. The district’s unacceptable response indicates a strong need for education for staff and students in the form of both cultural competency training and improved curriculum. We believe the formation of the apparent Equity and Diversity Committee, which was not made known to the public until two weeks ago, is an evasive maneuver with no intent to bring about concrete change. We also find the district's anti-racism policies to be lacking if not nonexistent. In order to address the district’s deficiencies in the realm of the racial equity, we would like to see the following actions take place:

Equity Audit:

• Hire an outside, impartial organization to assess diversity, equity, and inclusion within the district. We have made contact with organizations willing to help. 

Transparency on the District Equity and Diversity Committee

• Clear and public announcements on the exact intentions and actions taken by the committee
• Viewable access to the minutes of the meetings amongst the committee for the general public
• Active public outreach to expand committee to community members beyond school board and district administrators

Clearly communicated consequences for racist and discriminatory acts and speech

• A retraction of the previous statement made about free speech and clarification on the exact parameters on what is permitted as free speech
• These should be delineated from and treated differently than “bullying”
• Written communication detailing said delineation and announcing a ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY for racism, separate from “bullying” policies 
• Clear escalation process for these issues
  • Should include exclusion from extra-curricular activities
• Clear policies for how staff and students should report such instances without retribution
  • A hate crime form can be distributed so these instances can reported but distinguished, including an anonymous reporting option
• Disciplinary actions for teachers and staff who fail to report such instances
• Rehabilitative practices and subsequent sensitivity training for student perpetrators
  • Potential rehabilitative practices can occur at after school detentions, Saturday detentions, and or in school suspension
  • Mandatory counseling appointments with the guidance center to work out the stem of racist ideologies could also be an option

Cultural Competency and Racial Bias training for students and teachers

• We have connected with outside organizations willing to do this
• These should be done in classroom groups, NOT assembly form so conversations can be responsive.
• Racial Bias training for teachers targeted to allow teachers to begin to understand how not to persecute POC students harsher than white students

Hire people of color as teachers and counselors

• Marple Newtown Senior High School currently has NO non-white teachers, despite both Marple and Newtown township averaging 6% of the population being people of color
• The Delaware Valley Equity Consortium, which the district is a part of holds career fairs for teachers of color, and also has an established and widely used job board where districts can post jobs for teachers from diverse backgrounds.

Discrimination Counseling and Mental Health Support for Students of Color

• Access to POC counselors for children to safely express trauma associated with hate speech and harassment
• Follow up by said counselors with the family of those who have experienced such trauma to further extend their support
• Wellness Days similar to Haverford School District where outside professionals come in to aid students with coping skills meant to handle discrimination, harassment, trauma, etc.

Initiate immediate changes to curricula

• SEL courses or units for K-5 schools to discuss topics of cultural diversity, racism, empathy etc. There are existing, FREE curriculum available
• Equal opportunity learning curriculum, targeted to end disparages in the percentage of Black students in enriched, honors, and AP classes
• Books by and about people of color included in canon of books used by language arts teachers K-12
• History and Social Studies curriculum needs to be reassessed to include more comprehensive African American history beyond slavery and the civil rights movement. There are comprehensive curriculums available.
• Curriculum should highlight and condemn racial biases and racism amongst prominent historical figuring, starting in kindergarten
• Reassessment of former racial equity lessons in health classes and modify lessons to better relate to the current issues of students
  • Outside guests commonly seen in the health classes can feature outside equity organizations with separate lesson plans to educate students
• Formation of diverse student, parent, and teacher committee, OUTSIDE of school board, to vote on inclusive changes to curricula, addition of books etc.
  • Curricula should educate students on issues of minority students and/or feature work written by POC 

We and those listed on this petition, demand that concrete and palpable action be taken on the items listed above and all responses be made public knowledge.