The Diversity Initiative: South Middleton administration says it will seek more parent input in planning of JEDI initiative

“The last few weeks have been some of the most divisive that Boiling Springs has had in years,” said Knouse, president of the South Middleton School Board. She was speaking during a virtual board meeting Tuesday night.

“Neighbors aren’t talking to neighbors and friends don’t talk to friends,” she added. “It’s a rough time for our district and our community.”

Knouse traced the source of this division to a diversity initiative underway by the school district. In setting the stage for the next steps, she asked the public to remember Daniel Kaufman, a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

Before he founded the town of Boiling Springs, Kaufman was involved in a network of covert operatives who led escaped Black people from slavery in the South to freedom in the North. But Kaufman was caught in the act and sued in court by a slave owner who won the case and a large payout.

“Kaufman worked tirelessly to ensure the freedom of others even to his own detriment,” Knouse said.

Now the district faces its own test. Can the diversity initiative work to make every student feel welcome in school without shutting out and shutting down the right of every parent to have a say in the education of their child.

“These courageous conversations are worth having,” Knouse said. “Even if it’s hard, even if it’s uncomfortable, even if it’s contentious.” She then outlined a new board directive for Superintendent Matthew Strine and his administrative team.

“We would like you to recalibrate, review and refocus the JEDI committee efforts,” Knouse said. JEDI is short for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

“Parents and the public want to have their input considered in this initiative,” Knouse said. “That’s clear. That has always been clear. Please provide parents and the public a way forward on how they can be involved in the district planning. This needs to be developed and communicated widely…And soon.”

Parental mistrust surrounding the JEDI initiative was apparent at a March 30 meeting between Strine and a group of close to 100 parents. In a phone interview April 2, Strine outlined the groundwork that is already underway to bridge an apparent disconnect.

Strine said he is looking for parents and community members with experience and training to help the JEDI steering committee develop best practices that benefit students.

In addition, administrators plan to launch a new app in mid-to-late April designed to improve communications between the district and its families. One goal of the app is to push out notifications on future parent meetings to gather input for the initiative.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Strine said during the interview. “It will be launched under the marketing of ‘Everything Bubbler in Your Pocket.”

Strine added he was taking notes during the March 30 meeting. “Some of the speakers have stated that they have expertise,” he said. “From here on out, our community will be involved.

“These are conversations that need to be had across our country,” Strine added, referring to social justice. “We are taking that at a local level. I think that’s good for us. There’s power in discourse. There’s power in discussion. There’s power in decisions. In a world where there’s a lot of divisiveness right now, we need to be stronger.”

What about us?

At the March 30 meeting, Danielle Archulet said she felt betrayed as a parent by a process that started in August after two Boiling Springs High School alumni lobbied the school board to bolster efforts to incorporate greater social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion into the school district climate and culture.

The lobbying effort came at a time when social injustice and systemic racism moved to the forefront across the country. One result of the national debate has been a push by advocates to have school districts reexamine the way they deliver curriculum and instruction.

That input from Jacob Robb and Slater Ward-Diorio was a catalyst that led the board to hire a consultant and the administration to form a steering committee of teachers and administrators to guide the process.

Up until last week, the process has not involved direct input from parents, which is a sore spot for Archulet and others in the community.

“If you’re going to listen to two gentlemen who graduated in 2017, I would appreciate it if you listen to me,” she asked Strine. “I graduated in 2003, actually have children in the district, and I’m an educator as well.”

To date, steering committee meetings have been closed to the public. Instead, the district has posted meeting minutes on its website which have come under the scrutiny of parents who view the JEDI initiative as potentially divisive.

“We’re not against trying to make things better,” Archulet said. She added, instead, what parents are asking for is the opportunity to provide input before any decisions are made on curriculum, resource materials and the professional development of teachers.

Joe Salisbury, a parent and coach, was even more direct in his criticism of Strine and of the perceived disconnect between the district and the community.

“What we don’t have are professional educators listening to the voice of the customer by opening up the schools and setting our children up for success,” Salisbury said. “You have one job and that is to educate my children. Keep your views off my children and do your damn job.”

A quick reminder

During an April 2 phone interview, Strine defended his administration by reminding the public of the process the district used last summer to obtain parental input on the school reopening plan.

The outbreak of COVID-19 in mid-March 2020 forced the closure of school buildings across Pennsylvania and prompted the need for school districts to pivot to some form of online instruction.

South Middleton and other districts used the summer that year to develop reopening plans that incorporate a continuum of delivery methods that range from fully remote to fully in-person instruction with hybrid options in between.

In the case of South Middleton, the original plan called for all students in grades K-12 to start the current school year in a hybrid model. A team of teachers and administrators rolled out this plan to parents for their input through the Thought Exchange online platform, Strine said.

The input the district received from parents and community members changed the plan to one where the elementary students attend classes five days a week while the secondary students are on a hybrid schedule.

“Top to bottom, inside and out, our leadership has done its job,” Strine said. “We worked to get our K-5 students back into school from day one.”

Throughout the year, district officials adjusted the plan in response to trends in the pandemic. Last week, South Middleton announced that it will return secondary students to in-person instruction four days a week starting next Monday, April 12.

Initiative backstory

Work on what became the JEDI initiative began in August with in-house meetings between Strine and such senior members of his cabinet as Kim Spisak, former director of student services, and Melanie Shaver-Durham, director of curriculum, instruction, assessment and federal programs.

“We were looking to improve upon the programs that we already had established in the district,” Strine said. “Looking at our individual talents and resources, we felt we needed some help from the outside.”

On Sept. 8, school board members hired Amber M. Sessoms to serve as a consultant in a process that became known as JEDI.

One goal of the initiative is to provide every student in the district a safe learning environment that is free from discrimination, fear and harassment, Strine said. He added one step toward that goal is greater self-awareness of any potential bias.

“There are different aspects of diversity within our community,” Strine said. “We just want our students to be inclusive of what they may experience in the world.”

The first phase of the initiative was a period of research and design. That started in late October with the first steering committee meeting. A short time later, the district posted on its website the first set of meeting minutes. On Dec. 14, school board president Liz Knouse received the first email from a parent concerned about the initiative process.

At the March 30 meeting, parents said that numerous queries sent to district officials came back with the message “Thank you for the email,” but no answers to their questions. The resulting tension has been brewing behind-the-scenes for months.

It has always been the intention of the administration to open the process to parental and community input once the groundwork of the research and design phase is further along, Strine said. He compared the JEDI initiative to the advanced work that was done in the lead-up to the roll-out of the school reopening plan.

But parents had their own ideas on the timing of their input. They pressed the district for the March 30 meeting with Strine and Alex Smith, who took over as director of student services upon Spisak’s retirement.

Students speak out

It’s not just the adults who are grappling with a perceived disconnect.

Aidan Johnston-Walsh, a Boiling Springs High School senior, saw the protests and demonstrations in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police last May in Minneapolis. That motivated Johnston-Walsh to want to start the Racial Justice Club at Boiling Springs in December. Several club members attended the March 30 meeting.

“Every week, we talk about how can get more students in this club,” Johnston-Walsh told the parents. “We are running into one-sided discussions every week.”

As club president, Johnston-Walsh said he has tried to promote discussion around a media article or a YouTube video that he found online. “I say my peace and everyone just agrees,” he said. “I’m trying to draw that other side in. We’re trying to reach out. We’ve put the club out on the [school] announcements. We’re making T-shirts. They [other students] think that we are directed and it is not a discussion. We are trying to get a discussiongoing so that everyone can feel welcome.”

Sophomore Jake Sokolofsky also spoke out during the March 30 meeting. He asked the parents, if they have concerns about JEDI, to encourage their children to join the club and participate in the discussion.

“Nothing is being forced upon the students,” Sokolofsky said. “Nothing is being indoctrinated to us. We can talk about the opinions that you espouse and the opinions that we espouse. I’m probably the most conservative person in this club and yet I am still talking to people who often I don’t agree with. The problem that we are running into is the lack of the other opinion. I often find myself advocating against my own opinion for the benefit of creating a conversation.”

One of the parents at the March 30 meeting said the reason for the lack of student participation in the club may be rooted into the acceptance by their peers.

“When people find out that my children have different viewpoints — right-leaning as opposed to left-leaning — their friends become cold, mean, and make fun of them,” the parent said. “My children are afraid to speak up, ‘This is who I am’ because they were being shut down. I’m glad that you kids [the club members] want to hear the other viewpoint.”