Washington Township Public School District to implement Equity Coalition, NAACP chapter to enhance inclusive, accepting environment
In light of events that took place at Washington Township High School during the week of Oct. 19, which sparked conversations throughout the district and community about culture and equity within schools, students addressed the Board of Education at last week’s meeting on steps being taken to better establish an inclusive, accepting environment.
On Wednesday, Oct. 18, Washington Township Police Department responded to a disturbance at the high school, instigated by racial comments made between students on social media. While students involved in the incident were disciplined, a collection of students participated in a peaceful protest the following day, where students opted out of attending class and sat within the core of the building, calling for equity and equality within the school. That day, as well as that evening, a forum was held for students and members of the community to express their perspectives on how to move forward with a more united student body.
As a result, Superintendent Joseph Bollendorf said two Equity Coalitions have come to fruition, one for the student body and another for the community. The first meetings were held on Thursday, Nov. 2.
“Whatever direction we do choose to go in, it should be something we collaborate on and decide together,” Bollendorf said. “I don’t think it should be any one person’s decision to say, ‘this is the right path;’ if we’re really going to collaborate and do things right, we’re going to do it collectively.”
Senior Nasir Randolph and junior Kayla Webster, president of Washington Township High School’s African American Culture Club, were in attendance at the Oct. 30 Board of Education meeting. The students approached the board with their decision to institute a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter, with the help of Gloucester County NAACP President Loretta Winters, as well as suggested additional changes to curriculum and structure to better the school’s inclusiveness for all minorities.
“We want to do something in the school to leave a lasting impact, to educate people on how it feels to be a minority in a school that is predominately white — and a minority as someone who doesn’t necessarily fit in because of our looks — so they can better receive us, and so we can be a school that is truly netted together,” Randolph said.
According to Randolph, at this time the students are waiting on the acceptance of the national NAACP branch to establish the school’s own chapter. Once accepted, and approved by the board of education, Randolph said he will serve as president, while Webster will hold the position of vice president. Fellow students Naszir Johnson and Autumn Ellis will also act as secretary and operations manager, while they also have standing committee members in place.
“As African Americans in this school district, we want to be a voice of the students who are not heard,” Randolph said.
Randolph and Webster also suggested the addition of a diversity officer, which would oversee and ensure programs implemented would be able to be continued. According to Bollendorf, a pre-existing employee of the district would most likely hold the position.
Webster addressed changes to the curriculum, such as the inclusion of a racial literacy course, mirroring a Princeton High School program. Bollendorf was in agreement with the adaptation, and said he has already been in contact with John Mills, a Rowan University professor who heads the school’s diversity program to develop elective courses for students in Washington Township. However, he said, writing a curriculum would take place over the summer, so students would not see the implementation until the 2018–19 school year, at the earliest.
“Anything we do, we have to do with great foresight and make sure we invent things, not for the sake of saying, ‘we did this and that,’ I want the things we do to have a chance at making a difference,” Bollendorf said. “That difference is going to take time, but we have to make the effort.”
