“I think it’s a bare-minimum response,” Lipschutz said, adding that while diversity consulting and staff hiring is great, she wants to see more: greater administrative transparency and accountability, a redesign of the K-12 curriculum, and age-appropriate sensitivity training.
“That way, when our students go out into the world, whether they go to college or industry or whatever, they’re like, nice people, civilized people,” she said.
Lower Moreland is a small school district, with about 2,400 students in all. Lipschutz’s daughter knows the students who sent the hate speech texts which included phrases like “every Asian kid i see tomorrow in the halls gets a spear” and “This is why minorities blow change my mind” and Lipschutz said she knows some of the students’ parents. Though she was surprised by the language, her kids weren’t, and she’s frustrated by that. She’s even more frustrated by the fact that the high school has responded to her emails
Frustrated. Disappointed. Embarrassed. Unsafe. Angry.
That’s how students, parents, and community members have described their feelings to Lower Moreland Township School District officials in public comment submissionsover the past month.
Their messages come in response to a string of events that have followed the resurfacing of students’ anti-Asian hate speech on social media a flashpoint event that led to widespread concern over racism in the classroom and outside of it. Now, the district says it’s working to address those concerns.
According to 2019 census data, Lower Moreland Township is 81.5% white, 13.6% Asian, and 3.2% Black, with a very small percentage of Latino residents. The local high school reports 21% enrollment of students of color.