Students, parents, and community members spoke out during a board of education meeting Monday night, describing incidents of discrimination, racism, and bullying within in the Amity Regional School District #5. The district is made up of the towns of Bethany, Orange, and Woodbridge.
"There's a lot of racism within our school and within the towns in general," said Sage Phelia, a student at Amity High School. "There's a lot of just quiet racism with students just saying jokes or just being misinformed with things going on in the world," he said.
Parents also spoke about what their own children have experienced. Some said they have even taken their children out of school.
Boniface Nganga of Woodbridge said his daughter just transferred to the school district a few months ago and has already had problems.
"Racial comments, derogatory comments that have been addressed towards her," he said. "She didn't even want to go to school at one point," said Nganga.
The students and parents are now calling on the board of ed to take action by doing things like creating a district diversity committee and making the curriculum more diverse.
The superintendent Dr. Jennifer Byars wore red in solidarity with the students and parents speaking out. She said some work has already been done, including an effort for minority recruitment and professional development for staff, however she agreed there is more to be done.
"We don't disagree with the suggestions for change that were presented this evening and are fully committed to taking the steps
to create the positive, tolerant, and supportive environment that is sought," she said.
Byars said no one had come to her with concerns before Monday night's meeting, but she called it a "pivotal" moment.
"It provided me a chance to listen to the concerns of our students and the ideas for concrete substantive improvement.," she said.