Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD) sent out a message to parents following a reported racist attack on a student at Santa Barbara Junior High.
On Tuesday, SBUSD released a notice via ParentSquare after the Santa Barbara Unified School District’s Board of Trustees meeting, stating an incident that occurred on a school campus was raised during public comment on non-agenda items.
“We heard from a Santa Barbara Junior High family in pain and a community in need of answers, and we stand with them in condemnation of any act of violence on our campuses, in this case hate violence related to a student’s race. At Santa Barbara Unified, we do not tolerate this behavior, and are committed to doing better,” the message read.
The parent of the victim said during public comment that her son was called the “n-word” by other students and they allegedly kneeled on his head and neck while saying, “George Floyd ”during class at Santa Barbara Junior High, reports The Independent.
The child’s mother also said there have been other incidents of racism against her child by other students. She contacted the administration, but only received a response from principal Arielle Curry. Several other community members spoke in support of the victim during the public comment section.
“I feel very unsupported at school right now, and I demand a change take place in schools immediately,” she said according to The Independent.
SBUSD’s response message included five points to address the incident. First, it stated they had connected with the victim’s family to ensure the student’s safety as well as mental health support. Second, a full investigation has been ordered to review the entire incident, “including not only the violence and hate language used by the students, but also into supervision and a review of policies and practices with all of our leaders, teachers, teaching assistants and remaining staff,” the message read.
Third, the alleged perpetrators received “appropriate actions” with restorative measures to help them understand the consequences of their actions. “We are also engaging in educational opportunities that will show the impact that their behavior had on their classmate and other students in the school,” stated SBUSD.
A continued focus will be put on hiring employees that have a background in serving diverse populations and continued work with community partners to establish inclusivity and restorative justice.
“We believe that representation matters, and will continue to build our staff with that as a primary goal. Finally, as we learn from this experience, we are reaffirming our commitment to transparency in building an anti-racist environment of which we can all be proud,” the message said.
That should be charged as an assault – and not only be a school matter. Did the SRO follow up in pressing charges? I feel very bad for the victim and his family.
I hope the student, or students are expelled.
Don’t care if they are the star of the sports team, or the parents have money….
No excuse…
Horrific. I wonder where these children are learning this hate and vitriol? It’s at home. I can only assume they could be the children of those “unFair Education” zealots who sued the school district and aggressively oppose any type of teaching about race in school. This type of education can prevent these kids from this type of behavior but the white fragility of those people is astounding.
I wouldn’t necessarily say kids learn this stuff at home nowadays. The internet is at childrens’ fingertips.
Horrible. Instead of expulsion, how about requiring them to spend time a bunch of time cleaning up school grounds? Basically community service. And take them out of extracurriculars for a while. My heart goes out to the young victim.
Barbarism begins at home.
As a kid at SBJH, I witnessed some unrelenting bullying and remember wondering why NOBODY stopped it. Kids teasing and chasing, then pummeling kids at lunch. Saying and doing awful things in the hall, etc. When my daughters went through Goleta Valley Jr. High, I often asked if they noticed bullying and not once did they saw/heard anything. I thought maybe that was just my generation. Now, seeing this and hearing what some of the student athletes at SBHS say and do, I hate to say it might be a geographical issue.
Values and modeling comes from inside the home. A child is not born with hate or prejudice. They learn it. I agree that it’s not always the parent’s fault, but the parents clearly failed in teaching what is right and wrong in this case if they are not racists. But my guess is Fox News is being played in these households and the kids picked up on it.
SBLINDA – picking up trash at school??? No extra curriculars “for a while????” That’s what they did if we were late to class too much or caught smoking at lunch, not if we engaged in hate-based violence. EXPELL THEM or the problem remains.
Send them to Healing Justice Santa Barbara and require them to volunteer their time, take courses, get educated.
GT – so? I never said there were no gangs there. I’m just mentioning what I’ve observed. Unchecked bullying at SBJH when I was a kid, seemingly none currently at GVJH according to my kids and their friends. Just an observation.
Picking up trash for awhile as a punishment for false imprisonment and racially motivated assault? That wouldn’t help anything.
5451 – I didn’t see anything about these knuckleheads being white. Racism runs the gamut of ALL races, creeds and colors. Don’t assume…
“I can only assume they could be the children of… ” — That’s some pretty astounding vilification that you, yourself, are doing there as well. I’d be careful, too, assuming that the alleged perpetrators are white.
@2:48 you we’re spot on there until you had to go all Fox News. For a group of people that don’t watch it, I’m amazed how much you know about their programing…
Expelling them isn’t going to help them become better people who are safer for our community. They need education.
Oooooo watch out! White people whose ancestors have perpetuated centuries of oppression and created systems that still do are getting triggered. And they’ve got keyboards and edhat accounts and need to let you know how offended they are of their people’s factual history. The horror!
ALEXBLUE there are local intervention school option for expelled kids. They can go there for education, that’s what they’re there for.
I fail to see how a teacher could ever be responsible for this. Keep the blame where it belongs. Teachers in junior high have 30 kids in a class, do you not remember how loud and chaotic classrooms were during group work time etc? Teachers do enough. Kindergarten classes are small so a teacher can keep tabs on all students for safety. By junior high, classes are larger because they can somewhat regulate themselves/aren’t (as much of) a safety risk. Now if someone reported it to the teacher and they did nothing, that’s one thing… But we don’t know anything about that.
8:27 – it happened “during class” – how is the teacher not responsible in at least some way?
Doesn’t expelling them mean the problem just moves to another school? As for my suggestions that they are punished for “a while,” I didn’t want to specify exactly how much time they should be cleaning the school or out of extracurriculars; I figured that should be done by whoever actually punishes them at school. As for charging them with assault through local LE, that’s okay, too. But, I think the school should also implement a punishment.
Why do parents need access to optional teacher support material? I’m glad Lozano is no longer employed. She’s one of those John Birch society types. Cries that she’s being bullied in facebook comments yet she’s an Ingraham fan.
There is no secret portal. It’s a password protected work login to the school’s system and it includes all kinds of stuff including where staff can request days off. This antivaxxer woman who’s the epitome of white fragility and has no basic concept of American History thought she was being a whistleblower and instead she’s just showing how uneducated she really is.
Also @1220, the majority of the items listed as resources are public article that anyone can look up. Not exactly a secret master plan to indoctrinate kids, but more so some helpful articles and resources for teachers to understand how to teach ALL kids, not just the white ones.
SBLETS – you’re so wrong it’s scary. Sad that people with misinformation are emboldened to spread their lies.
6:51 Obviously didn’t learn any critical thinking skills in whatever school was to blame, much less spelling and grammar.
SHAME – So, you’re blaming the internet? Why give the parents a free pass? If your kid is a bully, chances are you know, or should know, by junior high. There are many warning signs. If you choose to do nothing or are that out of touch with your own kids, that’s on you. That’s what I saw a lot of as a kid. The worst bullies were those raised by nannies or au pairs while their parents were off on vacation constantly or too busy and aloof to raise their own kids.
Notice skin color of assailants snd victim were not mentioned.
Know why. Because no caucasians were involved.
It was three Hispanic kids beating on a black kid.
Our media is so biased.
SBLETSGETALONG – Wow, just absolutely wow. 1) How do you know all this? 2) Why does it matter what race the bullies are? Does that make it not racism? How is this “biased?”
@1:01 GT, you said that claims the material was being concealed from parents was factually incorrect, then go on to say the materials are behind a password protected intranet. Now you question even why parents need access to it. So which one is it, is it being concealed from parents or are parents allowed to view it?
SGGOTALONG Why does the race of the attacker/bully matter if it was a racity attack? Are you defending the attackers? If you have more details about the story why don’t you share?
@2:18 You switched to anonymous. I didn’t say they were behind the Intranet – someone else did, I was quoting the article it came from – hence the quotes. They aren’t teaching materials – they aren’t mandatory for teachers – they are learning tools for teachers to deal with all sort of students and optional. Other things represented by the PE teacher trying to make a name for herself. You can look at the screenshot of the material Lozano had and get the titles – and freely look up the material if you’d like. What exactly is your issue or problem? State the issue.
Take a stroll through the jail, where all the inmates are in cages separated by race. And Latinx separated Norteños from Sureños. And tell me this doesn’t exist at all ages.
Just looked up the aricle about Lozano on the Facebook site of the SB Independent. She is havin a complete melt down in the comments.
LUCKY777 – Racism affects all ages, yes. So, what’s your point? Don’t bother trying to stop it at the junior high ages?
Uh…. I do have kids in school. So you don’t have factual knowledge that the attackers were Mexican but are saying it because you don’t believe media? Is that correct? From what I read from the district the investigation was ongoing and they would reveal more. So you believe the media should have announced ghe punishment even though the investigation hasn’t finished? Not reading you.
Just Communities refuses to rehear their curriculum.
They refuse to allow teachers and parents to observe their sessions.
That’s not transparency in a public school.
That is hidden, on purpose.
The kids who have attended stated they are told they are different because of their ethnicity.
Seriously folks. If you don’t have kids in school you do not know.
If you don’t talk to your kids and other kids and ask questions you do not know.
Don’t speak or judge on issues you do not know about.
Well, I had thought the proud boys haven’t infected Santa Barbara. Apparently they are here.
@SBlets, What has the media said that’s biased other and report the facts of what was said in the meeting and what the School District reported? Do you have sources?
This isn’t true and it’s the reason why Fair Education’s lawsuit full of misinformation didn’t go anywhere. A judge and the facts disagree with you, stop spreading false statements.
SBLETS – so you blame the curriculum for bullying? If they were “Hispanic” as you claim, why would the “curriculum” (presumably CRT you’re bemoaning) drive Latinx kids to bully and attack the victim? Would it make more sense in your logic that white kids are more likely to bully due to the “curriculum” being “divisive?” None of that makes sense.
Just Communities is terrible. The lawsuit wasn’t going anywhere and was a waste…but Just Communities is also a waste.
SB Fair Education is an extremist group. Wasting hundreds of thousands of the districts money fighting a bologna lawsuit.
Fair Educationdropped its final claim against the Santa Barbara Unified School District and Just Communities Central Coast that had alleged the Just Communities’ implicit bias programs are discriminatory against whites, males, and Christians — bringing the two-year long case to a close.
the article did not mention the race of the criminals.
Here’s the thing. This is a terrible incident. It’s understandable that terrible incidents tend to have folks view them in light of whatever they already think are the big problems and needed solutions.
If you think our schools are awol in basic teaching and supervision of our kids, you’ll see clear evidence for that.
If you think our schools are underfunded and don’t have enough, you’ll this as evidence for that.
If you think anti-racist training is worsening divisions, you’ll see evidence for that.
If you think anti-racist training is needed to save the world, you’ll see evidence for that.
If you think we let kids get away with murder and schools lack old-fashioned discipline, you’ll see evidence for that.
If you think old-fashioned discipline is fascist and schools need to give more love, support, and emotional connection, you’ll see evidence for that.
… I think you get the drift of what I’m saying. We need to let this incident (and other serious and important ones) have the careful study and response it deserves. This is about a kids. Real, specific kids who need to heal, grow, and hopefully learn from this nasty affair.
SBLETSGETALONG – so….. which is it? Did you “know the victim personally” or do your kids just “go to school?” What is the basis for your “fact” that the bullies were “Hispanic?” You don’t get to make wild claims like this without being held accountable.
Fair Education can be compared with white supremacist groups. White Christians only need apply.
If your an adult hate crimes got to jail. If your a Juvenal hate crime go to Juvenal hall. Expell them they get days off of school and run around town.
Also for those of you that always want to blame parents. Wait till your kids have their own thoughts. We have 3 children all have their own beliefs non of which
I have are taught them. The internet has a vast amount of influence on everyone young and old. Unfortunately people believe a lot that they read even if it’s not true and a big problem is believing fact checkers. Ask yourself just who does the checking,
LOVE MY BUBBLE – in addition to the fear of retaliation, there is also the humiliation and embarrassment associated with telling parents or teachers that you’re being bullied. The screwed up part is people who weren’t bullied as kids don’t understand it as adults. I know it took someone close to me before I really realized how bad it is. Bullying screws up your life. It sticks with you forever and can hinder your future due to issues with confidence and more.
Bullying needs to be treated like violent crime. It can NOT be tolerated and should be one of the foremost concerns of teachers and staff, especially in the middle school/junior high years.
District curriculum, teachers & parents need to be held accountable.
Current curriculum does not teach all kids are equal.
Curriculum divides children by race and teaches them they are different.
It’s a fact look at the years of bullying and lawsuits in SBUSD Re the curriculum.
Children run in social groups and tend to pick on kids that are different than their group to shoe dominance, like in prison
Remove the school board , remove the divisive teachings that are present in English, social studies, chemistry, language classes, etc…
GT – sorry, didn’t mean to snap 🙂 I’m sure there is bullying everywhere, but like you said, I also hear far more stories of bullying from SBJH and SBHS than Goleta schools. I know when I went to SBJH, it was primarily the “rich kids” that did most of the severe bullying. I saw and heard them torment kids for any manner of issues – income, weight, race, perceived sexual orientation, etc. It seemed the parents (or au pairs or nannies) had no clue what their kids were doing at school. We’d see them fawning over their “perfect kids” at weekend sporting events, meanwhile those same kids were destroying the confidence and esteem of others at school.
SBGETSALONG – so teaching about racism and our country’s history is the cause of bullying? Uh….. no.
That this happened and the district’s statement that came only after the parent’s public comment says alot about how bad a job out district is doing
The YouTube that went viral about the secret portal for teachers in our school district shows how they are messing with kids minds even starting in Kindergarten
They are not transparent with parents!
Most teachers don’t want to teach alot of the garbage administration is pushing. It’s very divisive and having the opposite effect and contributes to ethnic tension and racism.
This Superintendent has no clue and is perpetuating alot of problems
She has been reviewed 3 times In closed session for complaints .
She is not a fit for SB with her top down policies who moved back to Los Angeles after she was hired
We need a hands on Superintendent that lives in SB.
LORAX – “It’s very divisive and having the opposite effect and contributes to ethnic tension and racism.” What is? Teaching about history and the truth? So should we just not teach about our violently racist history?
The righties want to re-write history or erase portions of it. Never seen so many righties wanting safe spaces from books that might have uncomfortable history in them. Can’t believe we are going through book burnings again.
I see we are starting to get the “parents who only graduated high school but feel they know how to educate a district” crowd in Santa Barbara.
I don’t need to ask who does the checking. Most grown adults can find the source material – and not resort on a facade of youtube videos and memes to substantiate fact.
Sac – The history of mankind is violent and hateful. We definitely should be teaching about that…
Lorax is talking about Christy Lozano – the anti vax teacher who loves Laura Ingraham that got fired for not vaccinating. Looks like she’s a evangelist trying to start her own home school. That is nobody I would want around my kids. With her basic misrepresentations about the teacher’s website and her weird interaction with Ingraham – she doesn’t seem well. Seems like she is a hyped up PE teacher.
“For one, Lozano’s claims are factually incorrect. She says the materials are “being concealed from parents”; in fact, they’re on a page with tons of other teacher resources, including state standards, on the password-protected employee intranet where teachers also sign up for health benefits and report broken classroom equipment. Hardly a Covert Brainwashing Sanctum.
Lozano claims teachers are expected to teach this “curriculum” in their classrooms; the district says nope, it’s just a resource, totally voluntary. She claims teachers are trained with it every month; the district says … huh?? That’s not a thing.”
SACJON, like I said, it is unreasonable to expect a middle school teacher to have eyes on every single one of their 30 students at every moment. I think it’s a knee-jerk reaction to blame the teacher. We don’t have those kind of details.
The “secret portal” is not a thing.
DUKE – yes, and that’s part of what they’re teaching. Glad you don’t agree that it’s causing racism and bullying!
11:28 – I’m not saying “blame the teacher,” I’m just saying the teacher should bear at least some responsibility as it happened in the classroom. From the Independent:
“the most recent incident occurred in the classroom, with students taunting her son with racist name-calling. Then, she said the students began wrestling, which escalated to the other students pinning her son down, kneeling on his neck, and saying, “George Floyd.””
Do you still think the teacher bears no responsibility at all?
GT, how do parents get access to the password protected intranet?
I attended SBJH from 1969 – 1972, and at that time it was 7th, 8th and 9th grade. During that time as I remember, very little racism, the occasional fights on campus or at Ortega Park after school. During that time there was discipline by the teachers and by the principle. (The P.E. teachers sometimes got a little physically rough with us as well with the shop teachers when we disrespected them), and by that many of us learned “respect”, and we did not go home crying to our parents about it. So the question is: Where was the teacher in the classroom when this happened? In my opinion (yes opinion) the school system, and the parents have really become soft with the kids for the past few decades.
Sacjon, please don’t bring controversial terms in where they are not needed!
Implicit bias training has become a core training in many fields over quite a few years. It’s a part of training in corporate, non-profit, educational institution and more, like sexual harassment training is. It has become common, as sexual harassment training has.
Critical Race Theory, as is usually pointed out in reports and discussions about it (in valid forums), is a college or graduate level theory used to evaluate social systems. It is not taught in K-12 public education!
How many kids? Sheridan Rosenberg’s daughter who asked a group of hispanic kids to stand for the national anthem and became upset when they didn’t and mocked her? That’s why we are here. White privelege.
Everybody should check out Sheridan Rosenberg’s declaration for Fair Education. Nonsensical and rambling. Accusatory and lined with racial finger pointing.
https://www.faireducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Declaration-of-Sheridan-Rosenberg.pdf
@3:55 that is proving exceedingly difficult when one side attacks anything contrary to their position as racist or coming from an idiot, freeDUMB loving fascist and refuses to hold their preferred political leaders to them same high standard they demand of others.
4:01am – when did I bring in controversial terms? I only responded to those complaining that it was causing bullying.
SBLETS – “Again to be clear, the attackers were Hispanic.” WHERE. IS. YOUR. PROOF?
You keep dropping all these claims as “facts,” but fail to provide any substance. How do you know? Where is this in the report?
Fair Education was found by a far right sycophant and a woman whose family was brainwashed by Jim Jones (a surviving cult member) who believes she was healed by extremist Christianity. Not anyone I want as a member of the community or remotely having any influence about our schools.