SEWICKLEY ACADEMY STUDENTS PROTEST on Friday, March 4, outside the school. (PHOTO COURTESY WTAE-TV)
Teachers, administrators shown the door, while students demand better for students of color
Sewickley Academy won’t be winning any NAACP “Image Awards” anytime soon.
In the past week, the acclaimed private school with a yearly tuition of $32,000 for those in grades 9-12 has found itself, literally, on the “6 o’clock news,” and not for favorable reasons.
The assistant head of school, Ken Goleski, resigned without a trace on Monday, March 7, after reports surfaced that he requested police come to the school grounds five days prior to address parents who had congregated to Sewickley Academy in support of their students. The students wanted to take a petition to school leadership on Thursday, March 3, and asked for “backup” in the form of their parents, most of whom obliged. The students wanted to address with school leadership concerns about how some students of color felt unheard or were unfairly treated at Sewickley Academy.
Moments later, however, police cruisers whizzed onto the scene, from three agencies—Edgeworth, Sewickley and Leetsdale. With Sewickley Academy actually located within Edgeworth borough, Edgeworth police was the lead agency on the campus.
No one was arrested or cited, but the mere mention of “police called to Sewickley Academy” was enough to have Pittsburgh television crews making a beeline for the school.
Goleski, according to multiple media reports, also shocked students when he allegedly fired a teacher on the spot for being with the students outside the school. That teacher, Gail Wolfe, is no longer returning to the school, along with three other teachers, according to a school press release dated for March 7. Sewickley Academy said that “a small group of faculty and staff have not maintained the degree of respect and professionalism that the academy expects of their positions. Most recently, some of these faculty shared personnel decisions and changes with their students.”
In addition to Wolfe, Michael-Ann Cerniglia, the chair of the senior school’s history and social sciences department, Barrett Gough, a senior school history and social sciences teacher, and Jill Korber Small, a senior school English teacher were also dismissed, effective immediately, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Data from U.S. News and World Report’s education lists show that Sewickley Academy has an enrollment of roughly 600 in grades K-12, with seven percent identifying as Black. It’s unclear how many Black students attend the high school portion, or as Sewickley Academy calls it, “Senior School.”
A diverse set of students held a rally outside the school on Friday, March 4, which turned out to be a scheduled off-day for all students. They again demanded for their voices to be heard by school leadership, along with a national search for a new director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice. Lavern Burton, who is Black, was fired last summer by Sewickley Academy, along with its longtime head of school, Kolia O’Connor and three other administrators. The firings came after an anonymous letter was sent to school parents and leaders questioning “political and ideological persuasion in the institution’s curriculum.”
Sewickley Academy’s stance is that the firings last summer had nothing to do with the anonymous letter that was sent, a letter that many believed was racist and discriminatory in nature.
Meanwhile, FAME, or the Fund for the Advancement of Minorities in Education, based in Pittsburgh, announced last month it was suspending its partnership with Sewickley Academy for the 2022-23 school year. FAME helps Black students enter into Sewickley Academy’s high school through scholarships and mentorship throughout the students’ duration at Sewickley Academy. There are currently six FAME students at Sewickley Academy, and their assistance from FAME will not change.
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