Harrisburg, PA – Gov. Wolf released the following statement following racist incidents that occurred on Thursday at York County School of Technology.
“What has occurred at York County School of Technology and other schools across Pennsylvania is overt racism, and my administration will do everything it can to end and prevent it from happening in the future.
“I am contacting Mayor Bracey and Superintendent Rona Kaufmann, and I have directed the Pennsylvania Department of Education to immediately dispatch resources to York Count School of Technology and any school experiencing these type of vitriolic actions. The Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission are working directly with York County School of Technology to develop a plan to address racist and hateful behavior in the school that can be implemented immediately to ensure that all students feel safe in their school. PDE is also deploying a crisis management team to the school to assist with implementing necessary interventions designed to diffuse potentially disruptive situations.
“Furthermore, the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network will dispatch a school psychologist to the York Tech School who has had extensive experience in trauma and crisis management. Additionally, the Office of Safe Schools will be notifying the Student Assistance Program Advisory Team in York County to be on standby. Student Assistance Teams which are also supported by county children and youth agencies, are trained to work with individuals and small groups who are engaging in negative behaviors.
“On Monday, PDE will be convening a meeting of stakeholders from within the agency as well as PHRC, Mid-Atlantic Equity Center, Law Enforcement, the Communities & Schools Office and PaTTAN to prepare guidance for the field designed to assist with the implementation of prevention, intervention and post-event strategies for use by the field. The guidance will also include strategies for utilization of Quick Response Teams.
“No child should feel unsafe in his or her school, and I will continue to provide any resources necessary to stop this type of behavior from happening.”
