We recently learned that the Superintendent and Athletic Director of the Coatesville Area School District exchanged viciously racist text messages. Individuals occupying these roles are not just educators and administrators; they are community leaders whose work shapes the life chances of thousands of children every year. When they feel free to engage in racist email communication with each other how likely is it that they bring genuine respect for diversity to their interactions with African American or other minority students, staff, parents and community?
Coatesville’s African American families have followed a long line of people pursuing the American dream by moving to the suburbs, only to encounter racism that thwarts the dream and marginalizes the dreamers. And in this case, the children of those dreamers constitute 35 percent of the Coatesville School District’s enrollment. Action must be taken to revive their dreams and rebuild the faith that these children have in their community and school leaders.
Elected officials must play a tangible and visible role in helping Coatesville move against and beyond the racist correspondence between the Superintendent and his Athletic Director that have made African American citizens feel unwelcome in their community and their children feel unwelcome in their schools. Elected officials can step forward to help the efforts to heal the deep wounds in the schools and the larger community by supporting or leading the way to take action that demonstrates a clear and certain repudiation of what has occurred in Coatesville.
Here are some starting points:
- The school board must fire the Superintendent and Athletic Director to demonstrate its collective refusal to countenance racist practices. The passive act of accepting
resignations fails to send a message of disapproval and disgust. - Coatesville’s legislators must champion a change in the policy of the PA School
Employees Retirement System (PSERS) to make it illegal to collect a state pension when any school employee is fired for actions of this sort that do so much harm to children. Bigotry deserves economic as well as social consequences. - The State Board of Education should withdraw the professional certificates of the
individuals in question and if necessary, pursue any and all changes to law or regulation needed to make the termination of their careers in education in Pennsylvania permanent. - The school board and administrative leadership in collaboration with religious leaders and elected officials must mount a system-wide reconciliation process which challenges district employees, students, parents and community partners to address their racial fears and prejudices.
- The school board must recruit candidates for Superintendent and Athletic Director who have a track record of leadership in cultural diversity and racial inclusion as well as the requisite educational and managerial skills.
Failing to respond swiftly and aggressively to racist communications sends a damaging message to students of color. Passivity, inaction and excuses like “We had no clue” in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, undermine racial justice just as effectively as racist rallies in Philadelphia, Mississippi.