In the midst of the painful and difficult conversations about racism and hate speech in one of our neighboring communities over the past week, we have been angered and disheartened to learn that this ugly behavior also has impacted Â鶹ӰÒô High School.
Prompted by the proactive response of one of our students late in the day Wednesday, our staff discovered three separate examples of racist hate speech scribbled on bathroom walls in the high school.
Two of these messages referenced the Ku Klux Klan and included the use of the abhorrent word that has been the focus of the video controversy in the South Colonie Central School District. The third message also included a similar racial slur.
Actions such as these have no place anywhere in our school community and will not be tolerated.
Our staff acted quickly Wednesday evening to remove these messages. They also canvassed the entire building and found no additional examples of this offensive and hurtful language, and will continue to do so proactively.
We are investigating these examples of hate speech in partnership with the Â鶹ӰÒô Police Department. We will follow all applicable disciplinary procedures in our Student Code of Conduct should we identify a person or people responsible for these messages, as well as any criminal statutes that may apply.
The dignity and safety of every person in our school community is something we hold in high value throughout the City School District of Â鶹ӰÒô. We will never tolerate words or actions that make anyone feel unsafe, uncomfortable or minimized in any way.
It is disappointing enough to see this play out as part of a broader political context in our country, but it is a different matter all together when it hits this closely to home for our young people.
It is at once heartbreaking and infuriating that we continue to be confronted by this ignorance, intolerance and hatred. Whether it is in a neighboring community, another part of the country or world, or right in our own hallways, it is evidence that the racist attitudes and perceptions that underpinned our nation’s foundation and development remain festering in the consciousness of too many people.
As educators, we recognize our ongoing responsibility to proactively address these realities with our students and employees.
We partner with New York University to provide ongoing, culturally responsive professional development for teachers and staff throughout the organization, and we have engaged staff in training through UnboundEd for many years.
We have Building Equity Leadership Teams at all of our schools, and staff-supported student leadership teams that also engage in these critical conversations.
We have frequently partnered on initiatives such as No Place for Hate, and with organizations such as the National Coalition Building Institute, to help support our students as well.
At Â鶹ӰÒô High in particular, our “Falcon 101” assemblies at the start of the school year include a review of these aspects of our Student Code of Conduct. This year, our high school team also kicked off the school year with an assembly featuring the No Hate High School Tour.
That program featured top BMX stars performing high-energy shows while speaking to our students about their own experiences with bullying, overcoming obstacles, being an ally, inclusion, kindness, surrounding yourself with positive influences, problem-solving, mental health awareness and other important subjects.
With a day off for our students Friday to accommodate professional development for our teachers and staff in the morning and family conferences in the afternoon, our high school administrative team is planning to talk with teachers and staff about these examples of racism that we have encountered this week.
Many of our teachers also have engaged students in conversations this week to allow our students to express and share their thoughts related to the Colonie circumstances. When our students return to school Monday, we will plan to provide them with an opportunity to talk about these new circumstances that have touched our high school.
I am reminded in times like these of the famous and hopeful words of the 19th-century abolitionist minister Theodore Parker, given new and vigorous life by Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1960s: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
I also am drawn toward the more modern interpretation that Barack Obama and others have applied; that that arc does not bend on its own, but only because we pull it in the direction of justice.
That will remain at the forefront of our work in the City School District of Â鶹ӰÒô – to protect, uphold and uplift the rights and dignity of every student, and to prepare each of them for leadership in a future that we hope will move us further and further away from the examples of hatred and intolerance we are forced to confront today.
Sincerely,
Joseph Hochreiter
Superintendent