Moorestown Schools' Town Hall To Focus On Race, Racism

MOORESTOWN, NJ — The Moorestown Public School District will host an online town hall that tackles racism next week. An engagement forum that explores race and racism in the Moorestown Public School District will take place on Oct. 27, the district announced on Monday.

The Zoom meeting will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., with login information to come. Information on how to register can be found here via the district’s Community Engagement Forum RSVP form.

This will be the first in a series of forums hosted by the district and the Moorestown Board of Education. It comes after the Moorestown Alumni for Racial Equity & Inclusion (MAREI) group submitted a 32-page "Call To Action" to the Board of Education over the summer.

The group said it hoped Moorestown would become a leader on equity and inclusion. Read more here: Alumni Group, Moorestown Schools Working On Cultural Changes

As a district, Moorestown is made up of 68.8 percent white people, according to Niche, an online entity that ranks school districts. Another 12.6 percent of the population is Asian, followed by Black and Hispanic people, both at 6.5 percent. Multiracial students account for 5.7 percent of the school's population.

The district earned a B- for diversity in Niche’s latest rankings. Read more here: Moorestown Schools Among Top 100 In NJ In New Rankings

MAREI was looking to build on a protest march that featured hundreds of people of all backgrounds in Moorestown on June 2. The march was held in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. Read more here: Peaceful Protest In Moorestown Honors George Floyd

A few months later, Moorestown Mayor Nicole Gillespie was appointed to Burlington County’s Minority and Equality Rights Task Force.

That group is charged with devising ways the county can combat systemic racism and support equality for all, no matter race, color, gender, nationality, religion or sexual orientation. Read more here: Moorestown Mayor Named To County Civil Rights Task Force