'I don't feel welcome here': Central York dithers on diversity book ban

Central York school board members promised to reassess a ban on teaching materials that specifically targeted creators of color — while still defending their actions and failing to take any immediate action.

"This community needs to understand that we embrace diversity — we appreciate how diverse this district is," said Veronica Gemma, the board vice president, toward the end of an hour-and-a-half-long virtual meeting Monday. "We want to vet this list, and we will vet this list."

Gemma also said that the list of banned materials, created following the board's failed effort to promote diversity in curriculum, could not be vetted by the board last year.

"If we had questionable books on it, we had to vote it down altogether," she said.

But did they?

Fellow board member Mike Wagner called Gemma's assertion into question in his own comments: "There were members on the board who did not trust the teachers to do their jobs — and, second, we did not trust the administration to do their jobs when it came to this list."

Messages left with Gemma and a district spokesperson asking whether the district was requiring all current and future teaching materials to be subject to board approval were not immediately returned.

Like what you're reading? Consider subscribing to The York Dispatch.

Nonetheless, the ban remained in place this week amid mounting protests as students and their families learned of the four-page list of articles, books, coloring books and films that teachers were not allowed to use in the classroom. The ban included, for example, an Oscar-nominated documentary about Black writer James Baldwin.

Parents and students fired off comment after comment during a virtual Central York board meeting, criticizing the school board and its ban.

Edha Gupta, a senior who organized a series of morning protests last week outside Central York High School, confronted the board directly: "What about the students' feelings? Why were we excluded in this process and then ignored in the aftermath?"

"It is evident to me that diversity and the voices of color in this district do not matter," she added. "I don't feel welcome here — not anymore."

The district, which has a new superintendent in Peter Aiken, had already vowed to review the ban after The York Dispatch broke the story. But there's no clear timetable for when that would happen or what the review would entail.

Board President Jane Johnson said that the resources list — which was banned in a unanimous vote last November — hasn't "taken the front seat" due to pressing issues of COVID-19 masking policies and the transition to a new superintendent. 

"The board will take the comments into consideration. We do have a curriculum committee that will be reviewing these resources," Johnson said. "We know the curriculum committee is up and ready to get started ... and we will continue the conversation after hearing tonight's comments." 

The four-page banned diversity list, sent to high school teachers by Central York High School Principal Ryan Caufman on Aug. 11, names articles, videos and books from some of today's most acclaimed creators of color.

In addition to the Baldwin documentary, "I Am Not Your Negro," the list also includes a statement on racism from the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators and a children's coloring book that features African Adrinkra symbols found in fabrics, logos and pottery.

The ban was the product of a unanimous school board decision last November that itself followed a series of discussions in August and September 2020 about whether to approve social studies curriculum inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.

More:'Afraid to teach': School's book ban targeted Black, Latino authors

More:'A slap in the face': Central York students protest ban on diversity resources

"It was a separate list of resources created by our diversity education committee," district spokeswoman Julie Randall Romig said in a written statement. "The committee members were sharing resources with one another that could be helpful in educating themselves and in supporting our diverse student population at different times."

Before Monday night's board meeting, about 60 to 70 protesters of all ages held signs and books from the list on a grassy field opposite the district's administration building.

The protest was organized by Central York parent Kelley Gibson — who said she plans to send daily emails to the school board members until something is done.

"It's just an overreach of power," Gibson said. "This is not Central York School District. This is not the educators my kids work with every day. This is not the caring faculty that they get to go with. This is a decision by a board who has lost touch."

— Reach Tina Locurto at tlocurto@yorkdispatch.com or on Twitter at @tina_locurto.