On Feb. 1, Jamesville-DeWitt Central School District Superintendent Peter Smith sent the following letter via SchoolMessenger to J-D families and staff.
Dear J-D families and staff,
On this first day of February, which begins our nation’s celebration of Black History Month, I am reflecting upon last evening’s occurrence when one or more individuals took it upon themselves to use a school-related function as an opportunity to spew hate-filled language. This took place in an online meeting that included our students and their family members as well as our staff.
Today, I am angry, saddened, disappointed and disgusted that someone would attempt to intimidate and instill fear in our community. This is not what we want in our school district. We do not accept these actions.
In response, today the administrative staff held a lengthy meeting to review, reflect, and evaluate our school’s response, to reach out and support one another, and to discuss how to move forward from here. Mr. Eldridge began the day at the middle school with an announcement for the entire school attempting to explain the incident and letting the students and staff know that their school is a safe learning environment. Many teachers at the middle school also took time to discuss the incident with students and to make sure they know that there are counselors and other caring adults available for support and/or to answer their questions. Mr. Gasparini met with various student groups at the high school to listen to their concerns and to offer help to anyone who is struggling.
All of this was done with the purpose of wrapping around our students, faculty, staff, and community and emphasizing that our dedication to our mission of embracing diversity and celebrating our differences is strengthened and certainly not de-railed by one person’s thoughtless actions. We are moving forward, full steam ahead, in furthering our goals of creating and maintaining a welcoming and affirming learning environment where all students and staff feel safe, included, and valued and experience a sense of belonging and success. We ask you for your support in assisting our community in achieving this goal.
Racism will not be condoned in J-D, and this stops now. If your student or family would like to talk to someone about these issues, please know that your building principal, school counselors, school psychologists, and social workers are here to support you at any time.
Sincerely,
Peter Smith
Superintendent