Methacton Approves Hiring Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Director

LOWER PROVIDENCE, PA — Ashley Wilkerson never thought she had to worry about her kids facing discrimination in elementary school.

After all, kids at that age level are so young, they couldn’t possibly be hateful, right?

Wrong.

“You’re Jewish, aren’t you? I’m glad I’m not Jewish.”

“Get in the gas chamber, little Jew.”

“You killed my god!”

These were some of the things her children told her they experienced from other students at their elementary school in the Methacton School District.

Wilkerson, a parent of two children in the district, was one of many community members who urged the Methacton School Board to approve the creation of a new position in the district, a director of equity and inclusion.

She told her story at the school board meeting in late July. By the time the meeting was over, the board had unanimously approved creating the DEI position.

“That’s a lot to unpack, isn’t it,” Wilkerson asked the board after relaying her kids’ experience with bigotry. “We need a fully staffed DEI office.”

There was no denying – the board got the message, loud and clear.

Started With A Facebook Video

It all started last summer when the Darby family in Eagleville created a Facebook live video sharing their experiences with racism within the Methacton School District. The video ended up going viral.

In response to the overwhelming positive community feedback, the Darby family started a nonprofit called The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force. Today, Aug. 10, marks a year to the day that the organization was founded.

“I’m very happy about it. It’s much needed,” Chade Darby told Patch about her feelings on the school board’s recent vote to create the DEI position at the district.

Darby, 22, a 2017 Methacton High School graduate, recalls having some “insensitive things” said to her while attending school. Her brother, Ty, a fellow Methacton student, got called the “N” word, she said. The family went to the district, but was not satisfied with the response.

“Everything was sort of brushed under the rug,” Darby said.

So she, her brother and her mother, Janine Darby, started the taskforce, which ultimately got registered as a nonprofit. There goal, Darby said, was to “basically help Methacton become a better place for all students.”

Unstaffed Office

Darby said the school district technically created the DEI office last summer, but it has never been fully staffed. The board’s July vote means the district can start seeking out someone to fill the director’s role.

Darby said despite some saying this is all only about race – she was the only Black student in her AP honors class – it’s about more, making sure, for instance, that students with special needs who are differently abled get the resources and support they need in school.

The message on the group’s website perhaps says it best:

“The mission is to create positive change through the establishment of practices that respect diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Methacton School District and the surrounding community,” it reads.

On July 29, two days after the school board voted to create the DEI position in the district, the task force posted on Facebook a message of overwhelming joy.

“We are so proud of our local School Board for taking steps to help make our local schools and community more inclusive for ALL,” the post reads. “STAY TUNED … Great things are happening in our community.”

'Feeling Like An Alien'

Meanwhile, during last month's school board meeting, community members continued to speak about the need for the DEI position. One speaker talked about how when she attended Methacton schools, a teacher referred to her as “Pocahontas” because of her braided hair and Native American background.

“These are just a few of countless tiny instances of me feeling like an alien for most of my student life,” the woman said. “I never quite felt like I belonged. I felt embarrassed about being different.”

Having a DEI leader would help children to be “accepting, kind and unprejudiced human beings,” she said.

Another speaker, a parent of the Islam faith, recounted how other students once asked her child if he had a bomb, making stereotypical assumptions of him because of his faith.

To Darby, her brother, and her mother, who serves as the diversity taskforce group’s president, these shared stories prove that there was indeed a need to address issues of equity, inclusion and diversity in Methacton, whose name is Native American for “The Hill.”