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Parents and residents urge Jenkintown SD to adopt immediate, enforceable DEIB measures
Summary
Members of Jenkintown Action for Equity urged the school board to adopt four concrete DEIB steps — training, clear enforcement policies, curricular integration and targeted recruitment — after parents described racially charged incidents and inconsistent responses; the board pledged further meetings but took no formal vote tonight.
Members of Jenkintown Action for Equity pressed the Jenkintown School District board on Monday to move beyond statements and adopt immediate, enforceable measures to address bias and improve staff diversity.
Molly Cruden, speaking for the group, said the petition her group circulated outlines four steps the district must take: annual, comprehensive training for all teachers and staff on discrimination and implicit bias; clear and enforceable policies for handling incidents; integration of DEIB principles into curriculum and instruction; and targeted recruitment and retention to increase staff diversity. "Intent without action is useless," Cruden said.
The requests followed several detailed public accounts of racial incidents. Caroline Brinkley, who lives at 141 Cedar Street, said the district’s teaching staff does not reflect its student population and described a student who asked whether "black people can be teachers" after seeing a Black substitute. "Negligence is a choice too," Brinkley said, urging the board to act.
Other commenters offered similar testimonials. Erica Rogers, a clinical psychologist, and several parents described day-to-day harms they said stem from insufficiently trained staff and limited representation among teachers. Rachel Ellison told the board that receiving a lengthy PDF in response to a report of a child being told they would be "killed because he's black" was an inadequate response, and urged quicker, tangible action.
The superintendent and board members acknowledged the concerns. The superintendent noted past work — including library-audit and partnerships with the University of Pennsylvania on curriculum audits, PACE climate surveys and data reviews — and said the district is still working to recruit diverse candidates and retain them. "We're not where we want to be yet," the superintendent said, adding the administration has reached out to multiple colleges and universities.
Board members and the superintendent said they would continue the discussion and scheduled follow-up meetings with parents and the DEI committee. The board did not adopt new policies or vote on specific actions at the meeting; the next steps cited were additional meetings, further data collection and consideration of outside audits or consultant recommendations.
The board moved to executive session following public comment; no binding action on the petition was taken during the meeting.
