Good Afternoon, Reading Community,
For the second day in a row, I am saddened and disheartened to share with you that we have had two more incidents of hateful speech at Reading Memorial High School, this time targeting our students of color. Below is a letter from RMHS Principal Kate Boynton to the RMHS Community describing the latest incidents.
In my 31 years as an educator in the Reading Public Schools, I have never been more upset, angry and distraught as I am right now. These events are troubling and they cannot or will not define us as a community. Over the last two weeks, we have had five incidents of hateful speech that have denigrated our Jewish Community, our LGBTQ Community, and students of color. Our police, Town Officials, and School Administrators continue to investigate each situation aggressively, but continue to be frustrated by a lack of progress in finding out who did it and why they did it. Our teachers and administrators continue to work diligently to educate our students across all levels through our school core value programs, classes, and other educational opportunities about respect for each other’s differences and valuing those differences. Ms. Boynton’s letter below describes some of the upcoming events at RMHS. Change is happening, but it is slow and we all want these incidents to stop now.
How we respond to these events define us as a community, not the events themselves. Whether or not we are the targeted group, these events impact each and every one of us. All of us, including parents, administrators, staff, students, and the greater Reading Community, need to come together and recognize that these acts of hate speech are real and need to be addressed by all of us working together. To that end, we invite you to attend the Candlelight Vigil that will be held this Saturday, November 4th, from 6:00-7:00 p.m. at the Memorial Wall entrance of Reading Memorial High School.
Sincerely,
John F. Doherty, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
November 1, 2018
Dear RMHS Families and Staff,
I am writing to the RMHS Community this morning to inform you of more incidents of hate speech that have occurred at Reading Memorial High School. Yesterday, a teacher reported to administration that a student found graffiti written on a bathroom wall. This graffiti said, “Fuck the Niggers Bitch”. This morning a staff member found similar graffiti also written in a stairwell, which read “Fuck Niggers”. Following the graffiti from Monday, police and administration did a thorough sweep of all the bathrooms so we know the time stamp on the bathroom graffiti to be sometime between Monday night and Tuesday night. The graffiti in the stairwell, given its similar nature is likely from the same time frame. I immediately communicated with the superintendent and Reading Police and we implemented our incident response protocol. We are treating this, and the other incidents of hate speech, which have occurred at RMHS this year, with the utmost importance and urgency.
These acts are not who we are or what we stand for as a school and they are not who we are as the greater Reading community. And yet, they continue to occur with alarming frequency and with this new incident, broadening scope and increasing threats of violence. In a society that has turned increasingly divisive and polarized, it is crucial that we emphasize kindness, empathy, and respect for difference and continually speak out with a unified voice against hate. I am angry and upset by the rash of hateful and threatening graffiti here at RMHS. We have a moral obligation to expose these hateful acts, as difficult and upsetting as it is, in order to eliminate them. Ignoring or trying to cover up the incidents is not an option.
On Saturday, November 3rd from 6-7pm, I invite the Reading community to join us outside the front entrance of RMHS for an evening candlelight vigil “in support of human rights, in celebration of diversity and in opposition to hate, racism and bigotry” – all are welcome to attend. I will send out a flyer about the event, and will also post it on the RMHS website. As a school community, we will hold the first school wide “town meeting” style courageous conversation next Wednesday during Flex block. I invite all interested staff and students to attend. Parents and guardians, please encourage your child to attend. The goals of the conversation will be sharing our stories, breaking down barriers and creating a stronger school community based on mutual respect.
As mentioned in my last letter, we are looking to sponsor whole school book-reads around topics of race, class, religion, culture, and diversity to help extend and ground our conversations in literature and current research. Our English department has volunteered to take the lead and we hope to partner with local bookstores. We will be offering professional development to all staff to equip them with better skills to have courageous conversations with their students on a more regular basis, and we are committed to an internal audit of our curriculum to find areas where we are missing opportunities to engage students in meaningful conversation and learning about these important topics. I believe partnering with the parent community is essential to help stem this tide of hateful acts and I would like to offer several evening events for parents and guardians around issues of race, class religion, and diversity. I will share more about these events as they are planned. Finally, I am proposing the formation of an equity and diversity committee here at RMHS.
We seek to find those responsible for these acts and we must continue to educate our entire community if we hope to prevent these acts from reoccurring. To this end, I urge any student or staff member with information about who might have committed this or any of these heinous acts to come forward and speak to administration. To the individual(s) responsible, I implore to do the right thing and take responsibility for your actions and come forward. The time is now to be Upstanders and speak out against hate.
We will continue to work closely with the Reading Police Department, the Superintendent and the Town of Reading to address this and any future issues. If you have any questions, concerns or information about this incident, please do not hesitate to contact me. Additionally, see the information below to text an anonymous tip to the Reading Police Department.
You can provide an anonymous tip to the Reading Police Department by texting the keyword READINGPD and a message to 847411 (tip411)
Sincerely,
Kathleen M. Boynton
Principal, RMHS
The Journey-The Next Chapter 