Sewickley Academy leader says students pushing for change won’t communicate with the school

SEWICKLEY, Pa. — The tensions between Sewickley Academy administration and students have come to a head. Students are speaking out to the media demanding change, while the head of school said she wants to respond but was left out of Wednesday’s news conference.

“If you care about hearing our voices, you won’t want to come in front of the news and change the narrative. You will work and fix the issues at home first,” said Anthony Wilds, a senior at Sewickley Academy.

A group of Sewickley Academy students is speaking out for change within the private school. They are frustrated by the rising tensions over diversity and inclusion at the school that they said began last summer.

“If students of color don’t feel safe in a predominantly white institution and we are asked to leave, does that mean these schools are only built for white students? Are we meant to go to institutions that are safe for us?” said Senior Omar Malik.

The students gathered a petition with over 100 signatures to give to the administration, asking for future hiring to include more diversity, plus conduct investigations into teachers who were let go last week when tensions escalated to the point of police being called to the school followed by student protests.

“Over the last 10 days we’ve had a series of events that unfolded that weren’t connected to our mission and so we had to make a tough decision on if we could continue the year or make a hard decision in a new direction,” said Head of School Dr. Ashley Birtwell.

Birtwell told Channel 11 that the school is working with a diversity, equity and inclusion firm in order to make changes at the school but is open to further discussion with students, staff and parents.

“My hope would be and has been with the senior leadership team at the school could sit down and talk about what they want to see at the school. I’ve seen their petition and think there are elements we could incorporate,” Birtwell said.

Birtwell said she did receive the students’ request for a meeting and gave them options to talk on Wednesday or Thursday.

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