Parents and board clash after Shrewsbury artist-in-residence is denied; parent describes racial slur against student

Shrewsbury parents pressed the Southern York County School District Board of Education on March 20 after the district removed an artist-in-residence from a planned program at Shrewsbury Elementary and a parent described a recent racial-slur incident at school.

Sharon Leach of Shrewsbury Borough told the board the artist-in-residence program has partnered with the Shrewsbury PTO and the York County Cultural Alliance for 17 years and that the Cultural Alliance and PTO had been willing to alter the curriculum. Leach said the Cultural Alliance received only a partial explanation and a single-board-member response when it asked why the artist, who describes herself as a chemist and who also speaks about her experience as a member of underrepresented groups in STEAM, was not approved.

Board President Jennifer Henkel, who serves as the board’s education chair, said the district follows a vetting process that requires signatures from the staff member proposing a speaker, the principal, the director of curriculum, the assistant superintendent and…