So on Thursday Sadie had yet another thing said to her at school. Some kids in her class made a club and then said "no white people allowed" and then someone called her "color-struck". So that is what I have been dealing with. I am really trying to get things cleaned today so I am not going to blog much but I thought that my "followers" (woohoo I am so happy about that and feel free to comment) would like to read my letter to the school board. So here it is. Let me know what you think if you want!
To whom it may Concern:
We are writing this letter requesting that our children be rezoned. We are currently zoned for Booker T. Washington Elementary School. We moved to Suffolk during the 2006-2007 school year. Since the very beginning we have had serious issues with the lack of appropriate disciplinary actions enforced by the administration.
One of the biggest things that we pride ourselves on is the innocence we allow our children to have. We do not feel that they need to know about the “evil” in this world. Until this year we felt as if telling them about 9/11, Columbine, Virginia Tech, the Oklahoma Bombing and other events of that nature would destroy what we have worked so hard for. With other children knowing about these things we felt that we needed to tell them so that they got the correct information about what happened. In doing this, some of that innocence went away. They still believe in the Easter bunny, Santa, and the Tooth Fairy. We know that you only get one childhood and we do not want our children to miss out on anything. We do not want them to grow up too fast like a lot of children we see today.
We attend church regularly and strive to teach our children to live a Christ like life the way that God wants them to. They participate in quite a few church activities which include the praise dance team and plays.
Our oldest daughter, Sadie, is in the 3rd grade. She has a rare fluoride allergy that causes her to have seizures if she has too much fluoride in her system. Toothpaste and water are the most common things that have fluoride in them but there are so many other foods that she cannot have. We have always made sure that Sadie does not feel different or bad because of her allergy. She chooses to eat school lunch even though there are days that she is not eating the same things as the other students. There are students in her class that have been known to give her things that she is not allowed to have. Sadie is still at that age where she doesn’t fully understand what could happen if she eats chicken when she is not supposed to. She only knows that she loves chicken and if she can “sneak” it, she will. There are other days when some children will taunt her with the food that she cannot have until the point that she cries about it. Sadie is also a very petite child. She is under 50lbs, under 4 ½ feet tall and she will be 10 in June. She is constantly teased about that.
In January 2009 Sadie told us that another child called her a “stupid white chick”. We explained to her that she was not stupid, that sometimes other children tease because they feel bad about themselves. We told her that sometimes kids tease because they are teased. These children were still continuing to use these same types of comments towards her.
In March we set Sadie up with a counseling session with our Pastor. She seemed to be so upset and troubled by something that she wasn’t sharing with us. During that session we learned so much about what was going on at school. These types of comments were still being said to her but they were also much worse than what we thought. She has been called a “stupid white chick”, a “dumb white girl” and a “fu**ing bi**h”. She informed us about a student that threatened the teacher one day. Sadie went to tell her about what this other child said and this child stopped her. This child then proceeded to “squish” Sadie’s head. Another student stepped in and stopped her and she was able to tell the teacher about what happened. We are not entirely sure about what happened after that but we do know that this all ended with Sadie in the hall with this child and this child’s parents. She had to explain to them about what happened. We were never informed about this by the school and our permission was never given for Sadie to talk to these other parents. This is highly disturbing to us. In general we thought that when there was an incident between students that the other children that were involved were not named to the parents. It was simply put as “another child”.
Sadie was also recently told that the reason why her head itched was because “all white people have fleas”. Sadie has stopped telling anyone at the school about things that are being said and done to her. We told her that she still needs to tell and she said back to us “What is the point, they will not do anything”.
Our other daughter, Lilly, is in 2nd grade. She has only had one thing said to her. She came home crying when a child in her class said “Lilly and Katie are so white that they should go live in Whiteville”. The same child then looked at Katie, who was a new student and said “Katie why did you even come here, you should go back to Whiteville’.
At the time that this happened there was a substitute teacher in the class. She only had this child “move his clip for talking”. Nothing was said about how his comments were racist and unacceptable. When we informed her regular teacher about what had happened the next day she was visibly upset. Lilly came home that afternoon and told us that she had given a talk about diversity and differences in all people. We were pleased with that but it is something that should have been handled that day when it happened.
There are many other incidents that have occurred in this school since our children have been attending. When we have spoken to the principal about things that have happened in the past, she has not been receptive to our concerns. Mrs. Montgomery has called me (Rebecca) a “liar” to my face as well as did nothing when we told her that one of our daughters teachers told her to “shut up” last year. We were told “she is the best teacher that we have”. During that conversation it was said that the schools was “hers” and that any issues we have must be addressed with her and no one else. She also said the assistant principal could not handle our concerns. We were told that “the school was not responsible to make sure that our daughter was not eating things that she was not allowed to have” and in the same conversation we were told that “while our children were in the school that she was their parent”. With this situation we feel that it is on a completely different level than what else has happened and we would like this dealt with by someone who is going to be receptive to our concerns.
We believe that our children would benefit by attending a more racially diverse school. Booker T. Washington is not diverse. Under these circumstances we have an issue with the diversity at this school. We are a Native American family and know all too well what happens when you are singled out. Our children are being racially attacked and there is nothing being done about it. Everything that has been brought up in this letter has at the very least been brought to the attention of a teacher that, in doing their job, should be able to handle it in a proper manner. We need to do something about this before the next school year. We are not thinking that all of the teasing and bullying is going to stop just because we move schools. We know that this happens every day at every school, but we believe that if our children were going to a more diverse school that they will not be racially attacked the way that they have been. We believe that it will be beneficial to our children to leave Booker T. Washington.
We were under the impression that Suffolk Public Schools has a zero tolerance bullying policy. Upon rereading the student handbook for the 2008-2009 school year, we found the information about this policy. As you are well aware it states: “Bullying is repeated negative behaviors intended to frighten or cause harm that include, but are not limited to, verbal or written threats or physical harm. Students, either individually or as part of a group, shall not harass or bully others. The following conduction is illustrative of bullying: physical intimidation, taunting, name calling, and insults; comments regarding race, gender, religion, physical abilities or characteristics of associates of the targeted person; and falsifying statements about other persons”.
We feel as if what these students are doing to our children is completely going against this policy. We are not saying that our children are perfect; we know that they are not. They are children. We have watched in horror as our once loving and kind daughter started to develop a hate in her heart. Her self-esteem is just about nonexistent when at the beginning of the year it was so high. We have notice that she has developed a horrible body image where before she loved herself and her petite stature. She now believes that she is just “stupid and white” even though we are constantly telling her that is untrue. We can build our children up and it becomes futile when these students continue to tear them down. We will not allow our children to become racists. That is not the way that we are raising our children but is the fear that we have, if they continue to attend this school.
We have a son who we would like to attend the 4 year old program in the fall and as much as we feel he needs to go, we will not subject him to the racial attacks that our daughters are receiving.
After doing our research on the internet and talking to other parents who have children that attend this school, we would like for them to attend Kilby Shores Elementary School. This school seems to be more diverse. This school also has a 4 year old program, which we would like our son to be able to participate in. Transportation to and from school is not an issue. We live down a mile long private dirt road and we are not allowed to have bus pick up now and we have been driving them to and from school since we moved here. We understand that we would need to continue to do this if they are allowed to transfer schools.
We thank you in advance for your prompt attention with this matter. We look forward to hearing from you very soon. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact either one of us at anytime. We are anxious to have this dealt with.
