PPB 4 BLM

05/23/2021

‼️Update‼️It has been 1️⃣ month since PPB4BLM sent a letter to the PPBHS administration with a list of recommendations for ways in which the school can further efforts concerning diversity and inclusion. Since then the letter has received 293 signatures of support! However, we have yet to receive a response or a plan of action from the administration.

We are calling on you for help ‼️ We encourage you to use the premade email template linked in our bio to share your thoughts with Dr. Smith and Dr. Grosshandler. It takes less than a minute!

We also ask you to fill out the progress survey linked in our bio. We want to hear your thoughts on any changes you feel have been enacted and the work that still needs to be done from here.

05/01/2021

Attention graduating seniors ‼️🎓The 80’s Alumni Diversity Scholarship has been generously started by PPBHS 80s alumni. Eligible students who are graduating members of PPBHS Class of 2021, are planning to attend a 2 or 4 year college, and identify as a member of the LGBTQ or BIPOC community can apply though Naviance. The deadline to apply is May 15th.

04/30/2021

It has been 9 days since our initiative released an open letter to the school administration, and 7 days since we shared this letter with the public. We have since been gathering signatures of support via our online petition. We are pleased to announce that with your support, we have so far received 263 signatures.

On Tuesday, April 27th, members of our initiative, as well as fellow community members, spoke up and shared personal statements regarding the need for the school administration and Board of Education to adequately address racism in our schools. PPB4BLM received a response from the President of the BOE, Michael Ramos, acknowledging our letter but not detailing any concrete plans for action. As of today, we have yet to receive any communication from the school administration in response to our letter. 

We are proud of the work we have accomplished, however there is still a long road ahead. We ask that you continue to share and support our petition, as well as write to Dr. Smith ([email protected]) and Principal Grosshandler ([email protected]) calling for change. We especially call upon parents to raise their voices and speak for your children.

We thank you for all your support so far. We applaud those who have had the courage to speak up against racism in the Point Pleasant Beach community. We must continue this conversation and continue to pressure the school into enacting real change.

04/26/2021

PPB4BLM is an initiative started this past summer by PPBHS Alumni advocating to reform the current curricula and conversation surrounding racism in our school district. In response to recent events surrounding racism in Point Pleasant Beach High School, as well as our efforts that were started over the summer, PPB4BLM sent an open letter to the administration on Wednesday, April 21st, calling for actionable steps that we believe the school should take toward addressing racism within our halls.

The following suggestions have built upon our previous conversations with the administration, as well as feedback that our initiative received from parents, school faculty, alumni, and current students. It is our hope that these suggestions will contribute to the conversation surrounding diversity and inclusion in our schools, and we can work together to implement them.

We invite you to sign your name to this letter in support via the link below and on our page, as well as to share it widely. We also encourage community members to reach out with feedback. If anyone would like to speak with us individually, we can be reached via Instagram () or our email address ([email protected]).

Support Our Open Letter Addressing Race in Point Pleasant Beach