Advocacy groups call on district to change practices they say are racist and discriminatory
Two Pennsylvania advocacy organizations are calling on the Highlands School District to change several practices many parents have called racist and discriminatory.
The impacts of those practices and the racially hostile learning environment officials say they created were laid out in a 14-page letter sent April 3 to Superintendent Monique Mawhinney and school board president Debra Lehew by the Pennsylvania-based Education Law Center and the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh. The letter also includes an action plan to create change.
“I’m looking at this really as an opportunity and a hope that parents’ concerns can be heard, that we can address some of the concerning data … and just try to make Highlands a better environment for all students,” Hetal Dhagat, an Education Law Center senior attorney, said.
Ms. Mawhinney in an email said that the district received the letter and is in the process of reviewing it.
Allegations against the Allegheny County district — which educates 2,218 students, almost 10% of whom are Black, nearly 3% are Hispanic and 12% are two or more races, while 21% of all students are in special education — first started in July when a group of community members reached out to the Urban League detailing a “lengthy history of issues” they have faced within the district, the letter reads. At the time, the residents said they met with the school board and superintendent to remedy the situation but “have not seen positive changes.”
In response, officials with the Urban League held discussions with alumni, parents and students across all grades, which “unearthed a disconcerting array of challenges, discriminatory conduct, and intergenerational harm that demand immediate attention,” the letter reads.
Those include a racially hostile learning environment in which students of color have faced racial harassment from both staff and other students, officials said. Examples include racially insensitive remarks by a school bus driver and physical intimidation against Black students, “contributing to an atmosphere of fear and insecurity,” according to the letter. In one instance, a faculty member allegedly told a non-Black student that she should not associate herself with her Black classmates, Urban League and ELC officials said. Black students have also repeatedly told administrators about physical intimidation they faced from white students based on race, but no action has been taken to protect Black students.
The letter also detailed racially discriminatory school discipline practices. Several parents and students, according to the letter, reported concerns that Highlands disproportionately suspends Black students for misbehavior in comparison to their nonBlack peers. And parents and students allege a discriminatory dress and grooming policy. According to the letter, Black students have been suspended for refusing to remove hair coverings that were being used to protect their hair or as part of a culturally significant hairstyle.
In addition to racial discrimination, the letter also lays out cases of discrimination against students with disabilities.
According to the ELC and Urban League, several residents shared that students with disabilities have not been provided with a free, appropriate public education and have been discriminated against based on their disability. One parent alleged that their child’s accommodations were never followed for an entire marking period. In another instance, the individualized education program, or IEP, team did not meet to discuss necessary evaluations or different supports even when the student was subject to repeated exclusionary discipline, officials said.
Other parents suggested that they were not invited to IEP meetings for their child, or the school refused to reschedule the meetings if parents were unable to attend. Many were concerned that Highlands is disciplining students based on manifestations of their disability.
In response to the allegations, the ELC and Urban League proposed an action plan based on community input and a review of resolutions between the U. S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and other school districts who have addressed similar issues. Through the plan, the officials seek to collaborate with the school district and community “to formulate and implement meaningful solutions,” the letter reads.
Solutions include Highlands employing a school climate director who would oversee and implement the action plan while creating opportunities for community and student input.
Through those measures, the district would also evaluate current processes for reporting and investigating racial discrimination, create guidance on responding to racial harassment, revise the current code of conduct to require staff to use restorative justice practices, issue a temporary moratorium on summary citations, collect and review discipline data, review policies around IEPs, develop new policies regarding students with disabilities and revise the current dress code to include a statement of nondiscrimination.
“As a parent, I was disheartened to see firsthand the trauma, shame, and defeat suffered by students in a school district that is charged with the duty to educate, protect, empower, and prepare our students for a bright future. … We are hopeful that, by working collaboratively with the Highlands School District, we can implement meaningful reforms that address systemic inequalities and promote equity for all students,” Carlos T. Carter, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, said in a statement.
Misty Woody — who has two students currently attending Highlands, a seventh grader and a high school junior, as well as one who graduated — said her children, who are biracial, have experienced discrimination during their time at Highlands including excessive discipline and racist comments.
Two of her children were expelled but were eventually permitted to return to school. Because of that, Ms. Woody, a former Highlands school director, has been involved in the district and with the ELC prior to the letter being sent.
Ms. Dhagat, with the Education Law Center, is hopeful “the district buys into” the plan. She noted that the ELC or Urban League has not received a response from district officials.
“We attempted to lay out some concrete steps that the district could take while making sure that stakeholders are involved, in particular students and parents in the community, to really give that feedback that I think is necessary here,” Ms. Dhagat said. “But we hope that they also bring their own ideas to the action plan. We’re open to all of that just so that there is some sort of collaboration and forward motion towards addressing the issue.”