Education Race

Addressing Race in Yorktown Schools

By Ashley Alexander

Spectrum staff

When Amy Belfer looks back on what she learned while a student at Lakeland High School in Yorktown N.Y., she thinks about how much got left out.

“We learned the basics about slavery, a tiny bit of Reconstruction,” the 2015 Lakeland graduate said. “And that’s all the black history we learned. I didn’t really learn about privilege and oppression and mass incarceration … I went to college. And that really opened my eyes.”

Belfer, a 2019 Elon University graduate, who’s slated to start a graduate program in social work this fall at the University of Michigan, is a founding member of Lakeland for Justice. It’s a racially mixed group of Lakeland High alumni who have been rallying and petitioning for what they call more anti-racist teaching and other programming at their alma mater, but also throughout the entire Lakeland Central School District. 

According to the most recent U.S. Census data, 86.3 percent of Yorktown residents were white, 13.6 percent were Hispanic, 5.7 percent were Asian, 1.4 percent were multiracial, .4 percent were Native American or Alaskan Native. The average household income in Yorktown was $96,413 a year.

2018 Lakeland graduate, Lourdes Vivanco, reflects on her experience as a Latina in Lakeland High School.

“Lakeland never really taught me to experience my culture, my ethnicity, my background,” Vivanco said. “I think they really encouraged you to assimilate, basically.”

In early July, Lakeland for Justice met with School District Superintendent Brendan Lyons to detail what they want: More teachers and staff of color. A curriculum that accurately reflects history and its diversity and diversity in the teaching other subjects. A new district mission statement that addresses race, racism and related issues.

The justice group members told Lyons they were disappointed that the district had not made an adequate public statement about the Black Lives Matter movement as it was increasing activity during summer of 2020.

In response to what they group viewed as the district’s silence, Vivanco, a Harvard University junior, created a Change.org petition, “Lakeland Central School District Demand Letter,” that had 1,287 signatures as of late July 2020.

In addition to more teachers of color and a more diverse curriculum, the group demands include revising the district’s Dignity for All Students Act. Though it promises a safe and supportive school climate, the policy doesn’t go far enough, alumni said.

“We didn’t feel that it properly addressed the racist experiences that students felt,” Vivanco said. “And students at Lakeland aren’t empowered under that umbrella policy to really speak out against these issues.”

They are demanding that diversity coordinators or an equity task force be put in charge of DASA, so that students can feel more comfortable talking about bias.

Greg Millings is a Lakeland High guidance counselor and one of a handful of faculty and staff of color in a district. He also wants change in policy and the overall culture in the district, including changes that address student conduct and district responses to that conduct.

“We need to get out of these idealistic thoughts of what we can be and actually start being those things,” said Millings, who is excited about what the alumni group has proposed. He also met with Lakeland for Justice.

Belfer also worked with the alumni group to organize a “Peaceful March Down Main Street” as a way for the community to listen to the young people of color. She posted information about the march on the Lakeland Alumni Facebook group, on Instagram, and also reached out to several news sources. Belfer contacted a group of Lakeland Alumni on Instagram, to get people of color to speak on their experiences in the rally portion of the march, where they called people to action.

“It was a really powerful experience. It really showed that the community is here in solidarity with people of color and that people are willing to actively fight all of the injustice in our community,” said Belfer. “And to show that we are not gonna be afraid of all the people that are racist and homophobic, and problematic in our community.”

When asked about their meeting with Lyons, the school superintendent, several alumni said they felt he was very receptive towards their concerns.

“I’m asking that all of our administrators report directly to me in terms of any incidents of any bias or hate, prejudice, et cetera,” he said. “So, that I have a handle on the entire district.”

Belfer said: “I was honestly pleasantly surprised during that meeting … he made it sound like he is really going to commit himself to this.”