Good Evening, Reading Public School Community,
This past week was an exceedingly difficult week in our country, emotionally, politically, and civically. Amid the ongoing impact of the pandemic, there was a major historic event that took place last Wednesday afternoon at the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. where six people died, including a Unites States Capitol Police Officer who gave his life protecting our legislators. This event created a significant number of emotions ranging from anger to anxiety to sorrow.
I have withheld public comment on the recent events regarding the attack on the Capitol and our response as a school district, because, frankly, I have struggled on what to say. I have written and rewritten my words several times over the last few days. Each time I feel that I have the right words, something else happens which creates pause in my remarks. I have listened openly to parents, teachers, administrators, community members, and members of the Reading Police Department about what transpired, both in our country and in our community. These conversations have been emotional at times and there has clearly been many points of views expressed. After listening to all these stakeholders and reflecting on what I should sayas the leader of this school district, I have concluded that we all need to pause and take a breath before it is too late.
Our community, like many communities are at a tipping point. The combination of the fatigue of the pandemic, the recent incidents in Washington D.C., and the social unrest that has hit our nation over the last several months has pitted groups of people against each other who in the past have worked very well together. This has had an impact on our students, our staff, and our police. This week, an anonymous website called Fix Reading Schools was put online. This website denounced the role of the schools in teaching social justice issues and unfairly criticizes the work that our teachers and Principals have done in this area. In addition, some of our schools and our central office have received unidentified phone calls regarding our handling of these topics. As a result, some of our staff do not feel safe. In addition, our police do not feel supported by the schools in the discussions about social justice and equity. Ultimately all our students are being impacted, particularly the families of police officers and students of color. The children of police officers cannot feel alienated from our schools. Our students of color must feel like their voices are being heard. Divisive and harassing behaviors are not acceptable in our community and in our classrooms and do not allow us to have the difficult conversations and hear all perspectives which is critical in times like this.
As a community, we have a long way to go on this topic, but our school district and our law enforcement are trying every day to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. To that end, I want to say unequivocally that I support the difficult work that our principals and staff are doing with equity and social justice AND I support the work that our police are doing in our community. I purposely say that in the same sentence because over my tenure as Superintendent, we have had an amazing relationship with the Reading Police Department. Our police officers risk their lives every day in the line of duty and many live in our community and have children attending our schools. We have worked collaboratively on a variety of school safety, equity, and social justice issues. We have a relationship with our School Resource Officers that do not exist in other school districts and other communities are envious.
Public schools need to be safe places for all students to have discussion and dialog about issues of public concern such as equity and social justice. However, those discussions need to be respectful and not attack or give one sided political views. Last Thursday, many of our classes had those discussions after our students watched the events unfold on Wednesday afternoon in Washington D.C. Many students came into school with a lot of questions and concerns about their safety, their country, and the impact on society. What made these discussions a little more challenging was that we were virtual last week and that lack of in person connectedness made the discussions a little more challenging. Unfortunately, what made these discussions more challenging for our teachers last week is that we were all remote and had to have these conversations virtually.
In anticipation of those student questions our building principals sent optional resources to staff and families to help support those conversations. These resources were shared to the principals by the school district. Traditionally, this is something that we have done in the past when tragic events have occurred that we know will have an impact on our students. The purpose of these resources was to give parents and teachers options on how to focus the conversations from supporting our students to feel safe, to looking at the event through a civics perspective and a social justice perspective. Our teachers did not share these resources with students. The resources that were shared with parents were not meant to promote a particular political view nor to denigrate the work that our police department or other departments do to keep our schools and community safe. However, one link that was shared, which contained the Woke Kindergarten Video, should not have been shared due to some of the violent nature of some of the photos and the perceived role that police play. I take full responsibility for this and I need to do a better job of vetting resources prior to them being shared with staff. I truly apologize to those individuals who were impacted by the content of what was sent out.
Since this incident occurred last week, Chief Clark and I have had several productive conversations on what the next steps should be to support both the work of police and the work of our educators. As we have in the past, we will be working collaboratively to continue to build the trust between law enforcement and our schools. The Reading Police Department has been and will continue to be partners with us in our quest to create a safe and supportive environment for all and we appreciate that partnership.
As I mentioned earlier in my statement, we need to pause and take a deep breath. As a community, we are beginning to plunge headlong into the unknown, out of fear, fatigue, uncertainty, and a need to do something. This pause may not be well received by all – but it needs to be. The conversations that we are having with our students, our staff, our families, and each other are uncomfortable and challenging, especially during these times of crisis. The only way that we can address the critical issues facing our society is to have these conversations. We have a long way to go as a school district and as a community in how we can have these conversations with our students and our families. In this hard work, we are committed to representing all our students. With this, we will work to provide our parents with appropriate resources that represent our entire population and that offers entry points for discussion. I want to thank the families, our Principals and teachers for providing that safe space to allow our students and staff to have those conversations.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Thank you.
John Doherty
Superintendent of Schools
The Journey-The Next Chapter 