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MISHAWAKA, Ind. — Rabid left-wing Penn Harris Madison School Board Member, Clare Roach, was visibly shaken on Monday night after learning the Superintendent has no plans to fill a vacant Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer position within the school district.
“I’d just like to be reassured that we still value and celebrate diversity in Penn Harris Madison Schools.” Roach said to Superintendent Jerry Thacker following his explanation of the phasing out of the short-lived DEI position.
The DEI position was created in the fall of 2020 — in the wake of the BLM movement following the George Floyd riots across the country that summer. A group of radical left-wing activists quickly capitalized on the movement within the school district, declaring PHM was systemically racist. The school board quickly pushed a ridiculous “anti-racism” resolution which has been criticized by the community ever since.
PHASING OUT DEI
Last month, PHM’s DEI Officer, Derrick White, was moved out of the DEI position and into another administrative role heading up the school district’s alternative school program known as Pennway. The reason for the move is because the previous head of Pennway was recently made the Interim Director of Human Resources following a vacancy in that department.
According to sources, White was the obvious choice to work with the difficult student population at Pennway because of his previous work dealing with challenging children while he was employed as the Assistant Principal at Riley High School in the South Bend Community School Corporation. According to Superintendent Thacker, the majority of White’s role did not involve DEI initiatives anyway as he was constantly pulled to perform other duties.
Weeks after White’s administrative role change, drafts for the 2024-2025 student handbooks at the Penn Harris Madison School Corporation were released showing the school district removed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from the academics portion of the guidelines. The corporation presented the handbook drafts at its school board meeting in April. Everything highlighted in the pages seen below is considered an addition to the handbook, while everything crossed out in red is being removed. DEI has been crossed out in all three PHM handbooks (Elementary, Middle and High schools).
The DEI section of the handbook was always out-of-place and nonsensical. While everything else listed in the “Academics” section describes academic processes, rules and procedures, DEI does not.
Another racial initiative, known as the Superintendent Advisory Council, has also ceased to exist. The SAC was created shortly after the district’s anti-racism resolution in 2020 to push a radical racial agenda onto the PHM School Corporation.
DEI POSITION IS NOT BEING ELIMINATED
While it does appear the DEI Officer position and the radical initiatives that come with it are being phased out, the DEI position has not been eliminated. In order for the position to be eliminated from the books, it would have to be proposed, voted on and approved by the school board. Until that happens, the position could always be filled later.
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