(York) — Central York School District’s board voted unanimously Monday to lift its ban on diversity resources that prompted recent student protests.
“We are agreeing to immediately release the list until this review process can be coordinated with our incoming superintendent,” board President Jane Johnson said. “We’re also posting the full list on our district website along with a link to policies that permit parents to raise concerns with specific resources within their child’s classrooms.”
The board voted in November to stop the resources from being used. Before this school year, high school Principal Ryan Caufman reminded staff not to use the resources.
That’s when students took action, staging daily protests before school earlier this month.
Board member Kyle King pointed to the pandemic, retirement of district leadership and other factors that delayed the decision about the resource list.
“However, I’m not going to make excuses for this board’s inaction,” King said. “I and my colleagues did not approach this as the priority it deserved to be. I believe today is a step to healing this district, and an opportunity to grow even stronger as a community.”
Olivia Simmons, a 2021 Central York graduate, criticized the initial decision during Monday’s school board meeting.
“Saying that you are lifting the ban is cute and all, and I know somebody already said it, but this seems to be a pattern, and something like this is going to happen again,” Simmons said. “Taking away resources is ridiculous. People of color should not be put at the bottom.”
Board members said some of the resources were available at the library. And some members say some of the materials on the list are too political, and that diversity is being used as activism.
The list includes a documentary based on the writings of James Baldwin and anti-racist resources from the National Education Association.
The district began discussing an anti-racism curriculum following the death of George Floyd and protests against systemic racism last summer. That August, the district’s Diversity Committee and teachers created a list of books, articles and movies as a resource for teaching anti-racism and Black history, said Edha Gupta, a senior at Central York High School and an executive officer of the Panther Anti-Racist Student Union.
The list was not meant to be part of the curriculum. But the school board voted in November to ban the resources from being taught in the classroom.
That decision came a few months after students, parents and faculty members protested to express dissatisfaction with two board members who spoke out against an anti-racist curriculum.
Gabriela Martínez is part of the “Report for America” program — a national service effort that places journalists in newsrooms across the country to report on under-covered topics and communities.
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