On Sunday, an event was held in Pennlyn Park that saw current students and graduates from the Wissahickon School District share their experiences with racism within the district’s schools. The shared incidents ranged from incidents with their peers to structural issues such as what classes and educational trajectory Black students were encouraged to follow.

Below is a video of the event. Note that it freezes throughout and the sound isn’t consistent. If you want to watch, jump to 29 minutes into the video to begin.

After the event, a petition with a list of demands was published that calls for the immediate end of discrimination and racism within the Wissahickon School District schools. Current and former students are being asked to read and sign it, which approximately 600 have done thus far. The list of demands begins with the below paragraph:

We, the current and former students of the Wissahickon School District, make the following immediately actionable appeals upon the Wissahickon School Board to permanently and holistically eliminate the discrimination and racism students of color face by fellow students, teachers, and administration. Until our appeals are met, we will continue to loudly voice our experiences to the public community.

The 10 demands are:

• cultural proficiency training for all staff
• cultural proficiency education and programs for all students
• no tolerance policies to hold both staff and students accountable for racist and discriminatory utterances and actions
• the hiring of a racially and culturally diverse staff
• implementation of culturally responsive pedagogy and curricula for every subject with specific mandated African-American course study at the high-school level
• investigation of the racial disparities in school discipline throughout the K-12 level
• re-evaluation of the screening process for all specialized education services—such as the Gifted Support Program—with a view towards inclusion of Black students
• investigation of the lack of Black students enrolled in AP-level courses
• cultural leader in each building to administer professional developments, faculty meetings, and discussions
• hiring of a Director of Equity and Instruction as well as the formation of a Committee of Equity and Antiracism

Each one of these 10 demands is expanded on within the petition. You can view the full petition here.