An equity audit of the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District is on hold for now, pending an investigation into who might best perform it, board member Kelly Wachtman reported at the board’s meeting on Monday. Also, Superintendent Lisa Palmer reported that the school board has begun equity training with Heather Bennett, Director of Equity Services for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. Palmer anticipates that the board will produce an equity statement and an equity policy by the end of the school year.
Festival of Lights
Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, began last night. To me, the menorah always looks forlorn on the first night, with just the one candle (plus the shamash) burning. But I like knowing we’ll add another every night. It seems like recompense for the minute or two of sunlight we are still losing daily. It’s been a dark year by pretty much any measure. As we move into winter, I hope all of you have lights to kindle. Glimmers of promise for the new year.
Linton Stables Raises Spirits and Funds
Linton Stables, President of the Swarthmore Senior Citizens Association, was awarded the 2020 Swarthmore Lions Club Citizen of the Year Award. He got involved in community work when he was living in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood in the 1990s, but his is involvement in Swarthmore came about more accidentally. This is a story of how his community contributions evolved, and his affinity for fundraising, which he calls “telling a story that shows you what the opportunities are for you to be generous.”
A November 23 order by Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine imposes new limits on the number of people who can gather indoors, due to what the order called a “serious increase” of COVID-19 cases in Delaware County. The order is in effect through January 2. Among the new restrictions is a limit on the number of diners who can share a table (four) as well on people attending indoor “gatherings,” which include parties, funerals, and sporting events (ten). Religious services and school instruction are not affected. Strath Haven High School Athletic Director Pat Clancy sent an email to the school community announcing that winter sports are now “postponed until further notice.”
Shopping for Good: The Alternative Christmas Shop
The Alternative Christmas Shop, a project of the Swarthmore Presbyterian Church, offers the opportunity to purchase “gifts” that are actually (tax-deductible) donations in the gift recipient’s name, supporting any one of 23 local, national, or global charities, all of which have been vetted by the shop’s organizing committee.
Something to Listen to: ‘Carrier’
The carefully crafted “Carrier” tells the fictional story of a Black long-haul truck driver and single mom who finds herself transporting something very strange in her reefer (“refrigerated trailer” to you).
Built on a myth about how this country came to be, Thanksgiving might be the best occasion of all to remember the inequities that have shaped the world and our place in it. After giving thanks for what we have, perhaps we can ask ourselves what we might do to reshape it.
Bucking the Trend With Bricks and Mortar: Swarthmore Native Opens Art and Paper Store
Pens and other art supplies, along with notebooks, tote bags, mugs, and enamel pins, are the main merchandise in Caroline Stockman’s new store, Of Aspen, which opened in Swarthmore last month. Stockman is an artist herself, and Of Aspen specializes in products she uses and loves. “Through the years, I’ve found a lot of products that I live by,” she says.
Board Approves Winter Sports
School buildings will stay open, and winter sports practices will begin on November 30. At a nearly four-hour meeting on Monday night, members of the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District school board voted unanimously to maintain the hybrid model of instruction. Superintendent Lisa Palmer reported that the district has not seen linked transmission of COVID-19 in the schools, that contact tracing continues, and that the district can still adequately staff its buildings.
Swarthmore College Students Strike for Action on Black, Indigenous Concerns
A strike involving about a third of the Swarthmore College student body began on November 16. The students are protesting what they call the college’s complicity in violence against Black and Indigenous people. The students refuse to attend class, complete assignments, or work at campus jobs until their demands are met.
Teachers Find New Ways to Connect With Kids, Each Other
COVID-19 has upended strategies teachers rely on to connect with kids and teach their subjects. In the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District, teachers have had to switch gears several times, going all-virtual last spring, then preparing over the summer for in-person school, only to learn that school would stay virtual after all. Then, in October, most teachers went back to school buildings, teaching cohorts of students in a hybrid of in-person and virtual instruction.
Something to Watch: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’
I grew up watching reruns of the original “Star Trek” with my older brothers. Back then, I took refuge from the chaos of childhood in the brightly lit moral universe of the Federation. I started watching “Discovery” last year, after — in what seemed to me a wonderful bit of serendipity — both former Georgia congressional representative Stacey Abrams and my own brother recommended it. I need that brightly lit morality now.
Working to Overcome Challenges, Schools Stay Open (for Now)
Schools in the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District will stay open for in-person instruction — at least for now — and district teachers are working extremely hard. These were the two main take-aways from Monday’s school board meeting.
Calls for More Opening Amid COVID Uptick
COVID-19 cases are rising in Delaware County. That uncomfortable fact hung over every part of the October 26 Wallingford-Swarthmore School Board meeting. Five cases of COVID-19 were recorded in district schools and buses during the week of October 19. One case was in Strath Haven High School, one was in Strath Haven Middle School, and three were on school buses.
Uncertainty
The stakes of this election feel immense. Whatever the outcome, many people will doubtless be furious and despairing. And COVID-19 will continue to stalk us. And Black men and women will continue to be killed in disproportionate numbers by the pandemic and the police alike. Whatever deliverance we’re waiting for, we’re unlikely to find it in the election results. It will take a tremendous amount of work to unravel the patterns of animosity and fear surrounding us.
Swarthmore Journo Helps Pick Best News Writing
Ben Yagoda of Swarthmore was part of a New York University journalism school panel that selected the best works of journalism of the past decade. Other panelists included Frank Rich, Dan Rather, and David Remnick.
Trick or Treat?
As with so many traditions, it’s hard to know what Halloween will look like this year. Will kids stay home? Will they trick or treat but in smaller groups, and limit how far afield they range? Will those who do venture out find houses dark this year? Will costumed neighbors find new ways to distribute treats? The Swarthmorean recently put out a call for information. We are sharing responses from a handful of community members here.
Manifesting Beauty: Jeannine Osayande Seeks Joy and Change Through Dance and Stories
Jeannine Osayande was born in Swarthmore in 1960 to Betty Ann (née Coleman) and Donald Lee. Her mother taught at Nether Providence Elementary School, and her father was Swarthmore’s first Black policeman. In time, he would become the town’s chief of police. Little Jeannine and her two older sisters, Annette and Donna, lived with their parents in the Historically Black Neighborhood of Swarthmore, in the same house Osayande lives in now. Growing up, she was surrounded by family, and by neighbors who were family, too. Osayande likes to tell the story of how African dance found her on a street corner in Harvard Square. “The drums were playing, and a dancer suddenly pushed me into the circle,” she recalls. “And I knew what I wanted to do with my life.”
Hybrid Model a Work in Progress
“It’s a challenge, but they’re doing it.” This was Swarthmore-Rutledge School Principal Angela Tuck’s description of teachers addressing lessons to children at home and children in the classroom at the same time. As reports from other district principals at the October 12 school board meeting made clear, her words apply to many aspects of rolling out the hybrid instructional model in which some students are returning to in-person learning two days a week.
Swarthmore, the Police, and the Pursuit of Perfection
A few weeks ago, I went to a meeting where the borough council’s Public Safety Committee discussed police-community relations. Chief Stufflet, Mayor Marty Spiegel, and Swarthmore resident and sociologist Virginia Adams O’Connell came to the meeting to report on conversations they’ve been having about Swarthmore police policies, training, and attitudes. I like to think that Swarthmore is small enough and has enough resources and good will that it comes as close as any town could to being perfectible. Doubtless that’s a romantic notion. But I’m guessing I’m not the only one who feels this way.