How East Stroudsburg schools plan to diversify curriculum, staff and more
With a student body far more racially diverse than its employees, the East Stroudsburg Area School District is undertaking a long-term effort not only to make sure its curriculum reflects all students, but to make sure all operations, including communication and hiring, are carried out with diversity in mind.
It’s not quick work, but it’s deliberate: “We don’t want to be reactionary. We want to be proactive,” said school board member Damary Bonilla-Rodriguez. That means “the work is happening on an ongoing slower pace” but that allows diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) to be purposefully baked in across the district.
ESASD seeking communication feedback; survey available in English and Spanish
Staff reports
The results will provide insight into what is working and what is not, and help improve communication.
The community survey, which is for people who are not employees or parents of students, can be found here: bit.ly/37qAApc.
Bus driver shortage no match for ESASD food program
A bus driver shortage forced East Stroudsburg Area School District to get creative to continue its weekly food drop off to students. Author: Carmella Mataloni Updated: 5:29 PM EST February 4, 2021
EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. Twice a week, as the pandemic continues, food is delivered to students in need who go to the East Stroudsburg Area School District.
This week s snowstorm created a drop-off schedule mess and left the district with a bus driver shortage. We have a shortage of drivers, personnel that isn t coming in or aren t able to get in. We aren t going to let our families down, and we are going to go out and deliver some meals, said East Stroudsburg Area Superintendent William Riker.
Throughout her years in the Central York School District, Princess Gabriel never sat in a classroom where a person of color stood at the chalkboard and lectured.
It didn’t seem that strange, for the most part, she remembers. All her neighbors were white, all her friends were white the lead characters in her favorite television shows were white.
As a student, she recalls reading only a handful of books that featured nonwhite perspectives titles such as To Kill a Mockingbird or Huckleberry Finn come to mind. But even when those novels featured people of color, she realized, the books were often written by white authors who failed to portray the Black characters with depth and thoughtfulness.
K-12 school closures, delays
East Stroudsburg Area School District is already on fully remote learning, but will give students the day off Thursday. The East Stroudsburg Area School District will be CLOSED on Thursday, December 17, 2020 due to Winter Storm Gail, the district posted on Facebook. Therefore, there will be no school meal services, remote instruction or transportation services for any students tomorrow. The missed school day will be made up at the end of the school year.
Stroudsburg superintendent Cosmas Curry announced SASD s closure on Wednesday night, but noted that students would still be logging in for an asynchronous day of learning. Please follow the procedures laid out by your principals, Curry wrote. I appreciate your resilience through this atypical school year.