09-04-2025
'Discrimination': Southern York school board cancels Ky the Chemist's residency program
When teachers at Shrewsbury Elementary were seeking a creative way for their students to learn chemistry, bringing in Jakyra Simpson, also known as 'Ky the Chemist," seemed like a great idea to school officials.
Simpson, a York native who holds workshops teaching students about chemistry through sneaker culture, was on track to start a residency through a statewide program called Arts in Education, or AIE, which pairs educators with artists who use their creativity to teach core curriculum.
At Shrewsbury Elementary, part of the Southern York County School District, the educators had chosen Simpson because of what they were looking to teach. And for several months, the Cultural Alliance and the Shrewsbury PTO had worked together to get the ball rolling for her program to start in early May.
But her residency was denied.
During a school board meeting Feb. 20, 2025, while presenting the education committee report for district-approved guest speakers, board member Jennifer Henkel shared a list of nine speakers who were considered for in-school learning experiences. Eight of the nine speakers were approved; Simpson's program was "exempt."
Previously: York's 'Ky the Chemist' uses sneakers, hip hop to inspire students to pursue science
The news came as a shock to Simpson, parents, teachers and members of the Cultural Alliance who worked for months in preparing for the residency. "Everything was signed off with the PTO and faculty, the plans were in place - there was no expectation that this disruption would happen," said Kelley Gibson, president of the Cultural Alliance of York County.
On Feb. 28, a virtual meeting was held with Cultural Alliance Arts in Education Director Justin Ayala, Assistant Superintendent Len Reppert, SYCSD member Jennifer Henkel, and Cait Gilbert and Emilee Pallay of the PTO.
During the call, Henkel expressed that she was the only board member in the five-member panel to vote no on the residency to move forward, and that the residency did not meet school district policy 109.1, according to a letter Gibson wrote to the school board.
During the March SYCSD board meeting, Henkel, responded to public comments made regarding the residency program, stating Simpson's program addressed STEAM with "an emphasis on her perception of cultural bias and prejudice in how science is taught."
'I am looking for speakers who will make all kids excited about chemistry and art here, rather than getting caught up in peripheral social issues,' Henkel added.
When the York Daily Record reached out to Henkle for further clarification as to why Simpson's program was canceled, she responded, "I have nothing to say to you."
AIE is a statewide program run by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and managed by the Cultural Alliance in Adams, Franklin, Fulton and York counties. The program places trained artists into education and community settings to provide custom-designed learning experiences in schools, senior centers, nonprofits and more.
In schools, the process for choosing the artists is based on the need of the teachers and what they want their students to learn, whether it's something their students want to expand on further or if it's a subject their students are struggling to learn and need to be taught in a way that differs from the everyday classroom method.
"It helps those who don't learn in traditional means," Gibson said. "It's those students that typically find themselves struggling in traditional learning - they really excel when you bring an artist in residence in and approach a subject in a brand-new way."
Artists are often brought into schools, and depending on the subject matter, they'll work in the classroom anywhere from several days to months or even an entire year. It takes months of preparation, including professional development with artists, meetings with educators, parents and fundraising before the artists are brought in.
And while the educators are considered "artists," their goal is not to teach art. "They're there to teach core curriculum through their artistic means," Gibson added.
And it looks a little different each time, as each residency is filled specifically for an audience. In one instance, a photographer was invited to teach at Alloway Creek Elementary School in Littlestown, when third-graders struggled with understanding the concept of emigration.
Through the AIE program, the students learned about the concept of emigrating, through a photographer's lesson, which demonstrated how to take a beautiful photo, before having students take a photo of one item that represents their family, that they would take with them, if they had to leave everything behind and emigrate.
For Simpson, her mission for teaching science has always been about the students.
"The rejection was a result more of me, and a form of discrimination," Simpson said. Her approach to the residency was to curate the lesson based on the interests of her students.
To do so, Simpson would have surveyed the students on their interests in terms of music, games and pop culture. And while touring the classrooms at the school, Simpson said she could see the excitement on the students' faces when they heard about the program.
And while her time with the Southern York County School District has come to an end before even starting, Simpson plans to continue teaching science to students in York County and beyond.
"The reality is I still want to work with these students. I'm very grateful to the Cultural Alliance, and I'm also grateful for a lot of the (SYCSD) families," who Simpson said have expressed their support for her work following the residency cancellation.
Last March, Simpson spoke at a TEDx hosted at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and it's opened doors for her career ever since.
Recently, Simpson was invited to teach students in Atlanta about sustainability and its connection to sneakers, by Black Sustainability, a global network working to (re)build sustainable communities and economies. Later this year, she's taking her work to Phoenix, through a partnership with the Arizona Science Center, Crispus Attucks Lancaster and the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg.
"When it comes to York, I'm still here to serve the community," she said. When it comes to Shrewsbury, Simpson said she is still interested in serving the community, but rather through an informal learning environment such as a library or community center. "My mission doesn't stop."
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Southern York County school board abruptly cancels Ky the Chemist
