Colonial SD outlines anti‑bias training, tracking of serious student offenses and classroom follow‑up

Colonial SD administrators at the Sept. 18 board meeting described steps the district is taking to identify and reduce bias and serious student misconduct. Administrators said the district conducted professional learning with the Anti‑Defamation League (ADL) over the summer and more recent sessions with the NAACP and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) aimed at supporting students of color and reducing incident bias.

The administration said the full administrative team — not just principals and central office staff — attended a day‑and‑a‑half ADL session. Recent follow‑up included training facilitated by the NAACP that connected district staff with PHRC resources, the transcript stated.

Administrators described a multi‑tiered approach to prevention and intervention. For younger students, district staff introduced a developmentally appropriate vocabulary using a "green light, yellow light, red light" framework at elementary schools to teach respectful language and behavior. At the middle and high schools, administrators said they are not only holding class meetings but also visiting English and history classes in smaller groups of about 20–25 students to reinforce prevention and response strategies.

The district said it tracks disciplinary data and references state categories "level 3" and "level 4" offenses at middle and high schools; those levels were presented in the meeting as more serious offenses. Administrators emphasized the intent to identify incident‑bias patterns, support affected students, and reduce repeat incidents. The district noted the work extends to counselors, principals and classroom teachers and that parent outreach has been part of back‑to‑school communication.

Board comments expressed appreciation for the district's proactive and transparent approach. The meeting transcript records a board member thanking district staff for the work and another noting that the approach is intended to be systemwide across about 5,700 students and nearly 800 employees.

The district framed the work as ongoing: administrators said they will continue to track data, implement classroom‑level reinforcement and coordinate with outside partners as situations arise.

Provenance: The discussion and descriptions of ADL, NAACP and PHRC trainings, the red/yellow/green classroom framework, and the plan to visit English and history classes are recorded between 00:19:34 and 00:23:41 of the meeting transcript (see meeting transcript lines in agenda packet).