WYOMING, Del. --- Leaders in the Caesar Rodney School District on Friday said the district would look to address concerns about representation of black students that were raised by students and alumni following the death of George Floyd.
In a pair of letters to the CRSD community, district leaders said it would reexamine operations in its schools and consider the requests made in a student petition.
"Our students have joined together and made it clear to the Caesar Rodney School District that they too have endured feelings of inequality," one letter said.
"In response, we need each of our black students to know that we hear you and yes, Black Lives Matter."
Superintendent Kevin Fitzgerald, Caesar Rodney High School Sherry Kijowski, and school board president Jessica Marelli said the district planned to take a number of steps to address concerns over racial inequalities and biases:
- Reviewing and re-evaluating humanities curriculum to incorporate varying perspectives with diversity and inclusion in mind
- Renew commitment to promote hiring of more employees of color, explore new methods of recruiting, and encourage students of color to enter the teaching profession
- Renew commitment to diversity training for leaders, educators, and support staff
- Commit to meeting regularly with a black student leadership group
Multiple requests to Fitzgerald and Kijowski for comment on this story went unreturned.
Some students who spoke with WBOC said changes are greatly needed.
"There's just been so many incidents," said Ravin Smith, a senior at Caesar Rodney High School.
Smith said she and fellow classmates who are black have felt administrators and staff at CRHS have frequently mishandled situations in which insensitive or racist language has been used by students or faculty against students of color. A possible protest is being planned for next week.
"You can at least try to be there for your students or advocate for them...but everybody seems like they just want to pretend like it never happened," she said.
Smith said incidents like one in 2017 when a picture of the school's mascot holding a sign with a racial slur were not adequately addressed by the school's administration.
Sanaa Watts, a senior at CRHS, said a protest would help push for stronger actions taken by school leaders.
"We have emailed them, sent them letters...so I feel like this protest will let us be heard and if not we're going to keep coming back and keep protesting until we're heard," she said.
Some students also become incensed over the issue of in part due to social media posts from Kijowski in the days following the death of Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer kneeled on is neck during an arrest. The officer involved in that incident has since been charged with second-degree murder.
In particular, some students like Anjolie Emerson, a junior at CR, were upset with a social media post from Kijowski that said "All Means All."
"She has a lot of black students and we all looked at the post and said 'Dang, you really don't care at all about us,' because it's not an all situation," Emerson said. "Not everyone has been opressed or discriminated against."
Kijowski acknowledged and apologized the now-deleted post in a separate letter on Friday to the Caesar Rodney High School community.
"You did not feel it was a great day to be a Rider and you were not proud of your school. More importantly, I failed to write what I believe and what you need to know: #blacklivesmatter. For that and so much more, I am profoundly sorry," she wrote.
Matt Anderson, a CRHS alumnus who created an online petition asking for major changes to address racial inequalities at the school said he believes the steps outlined by the district on Friday are a good first step.
But Anderson also said the school district must back its words up with meaningful action.
"As our community we will definitely be watching to see that those changes are made and we want to make sure those processes are dynamic and as inclusive as possible," he said.