A School Employee Uses Profanity Directed Toward A Student; Why Is She Not Fired?

     This story unfortunately is not different or new anymore. More and more often it is happening, or perhaps it's just that with the new technologies we are able to hear about the incidents in other parts of the world. Either way, it's happening way more than it should, and way more people are not being punished. Do the powers that be not realize the danger, the irreparable harm that is being done to these children? Or is it perhaps that those who should be punishing the offenders in reality agree with them? That's why the police don't get charged, and that's why high school teachers and coaches don't get fired....

Texas High School Coach Called Black Student Player’s Hair ‘Nappy and Nasty’: Report

 BY: BREANNA EDWARDS

   JULY 14 2015 8:23 AM

Brenda Jacobson

     Softball coach Brenda Jacobson reportedly also told a black student player, “The sun is more attracted to you because you are black.”

A Texas family is questioning the lack of serious punishment after a high school softball coach reportedly made several racial remarks about a black student player, Raw Story reports.

According to the report, over the weekend, dozens of people rallied in support of the Richland High School’s mascot name, “the Rebels,” which is a nod to the Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War.

The protest was staged days after local newspaper the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that high school softball coach Brenda Jacobson was reprimanded by the school’s principal, Carla Rix, for possibly making “inappropriate comments to students based on race or skin color.” Rix ordered Jacobson to “adhere to professional communication” and not to “make references to any person regarding race or skin color,” the news site notes.

However, the coach was not suspended but was instead put on administrative leave for less than a day.

According to the Star-Telegram, the letter detailed that Jacobson was accused of saying that a black player’s hair was “nappy and nasty,” saying that a black player wouldn’t perform a drill “because there is water on the ground and black people don’t like water,” and quipping, “See, everyone is white on the inside,” after a player cut her leg while sliding to a base.

According to WFAA 8, Kenzie Wilson, who is black, and her father, Kenneth, were among the first to raise concerns about Jacobson before the fallout. Some of the alleged racially charged comments were directed toward Kenzie.

“I felt like it was enough and I shouldn’t be treated like that anymore,” the high school junior told WFAA 8.

“There is no way you say what you did to my daughter with witnesses, and you keep your job,” her father added, voicing his concern as to why Jacobson was not suspended or even fired. The Wilsons have since reportedly moved out of the district.

Jacobson, for her part, denies making the comments.

It's Always the Children Who Suffer the Most...

        It seems that the people/organizations that should cherish children the most are the ones who are the most insensitive and unfeeling. A school full of educators, people who have sworn to care for children and protect them, especially educators in a school system sponsored by a church, should be aware of the effects their actions have on a child; they should be more caring of how what they say and do can effect children than on enforcing antiquated, unintelligent, and downright silly policies that have nothing to do with a child's ability to get an education.

So what is happening with poor Jalyn now? What will happen to him in the future, knowing that he was put out of school because of his haircut, and by extension, his race? It seems like we've gone three steps forward and two steps back in the fight to do away with racism.

Mom Takes Action After Catholic School Dismisses Kindergarten Son for Haircut

BY: NIGEL ROBERTS

Posted: July 2 2015 7:49 AM

  

Mariana Broussard says Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Belmont, Calif., is discriminatory and culturally unaware.Jalyn Broussard went to kindergarten one day, proudly sporting a new hairstyle. But his modern fade quickly raised eyebrows among administrators at his Belmont, Calif., Catholic school. Officials called the 5-year-old’s mother to pick him up because his haircut violated the school’s standards. She was outraged. 

The school and Jalyn’s family reached a stalemate. According to the San Jose Mercury News, the family filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights last week, accusing Immaculate Heart of Mary School of discriminating against their African-American child.

Mariana Broussard, Jalyn’s mother, said in the complaint that the principal, Teri Grosey, told her that Jalyn’s haircut was distracting and violates the school’s hairstyle policy, according to the Mercury News.

Broussard said Jalyn felt embarrassed and unfairly singled out. “He knew exactly what it was about—because of how his hair as an African-American looked,” she added, according to the newspaper.

In her discussions with school officials, Broussard said she showed the principal a photo of talk show host and former NFL star Michael Strahan, who has the same haircut. She also noted the difference between a “modern fade” and the “faux hawk” cut that the school bans. Furthermore, Broussard said, she pointed out students of other ethnicities at the school wearing the same hairstyle as Jalyn’s.

Grosey did not respond to phone calls from the Mercury News. And the Archdiocese of San Francisco declined to comment because it had not read the complaint. However, a spokesman told the newspaper, “School policy on hairstyles is very explicit and clear. Parents acknowledge and accept that policy.”

Broussard seeks about $16,000 for tuition reimbursement for Jalyn and his brother, who was a second-grader at the school. She also wants the staff and administrators to have cultural and sensitivity training. Her sons now attend public school, where she says there’s more cultural awareness, the Mercury News reports.

Read more at the San Jose Mercury News.