Sick of district’s ‘lip service,’ Shawnee Mission parents, students urge action on racism
A group of Shawnee Mission East High School students sat in the packed school board meeting on Monday, wearing black masks and duct tape over their mouths.
Scrawled on the tape were the words, “Censored” and “Am I next?”
The quiet protest happened amid students and parents pleading for the district to take action after a Black, female Shawnee Mission East student was sent to the hospital when she was beat up by a white, male student shouting the N-word. The altercation — which last week resulted in the white 15-year-old being charged with a felony — shook the Johnson County community, but did not come as a surprise to many who say racism regularly goes unchecked at the predominantly white school.
Roughly 80 parents, students and community members showed up to Monday evening’s meeting, the first the school board has held since students began protesting.
“The students who have spoken, it is clear, they do not feel like they have allies,” Grace Yasmine, parent and member of the Johnson County NAACP, told the school board. “Fear will ultimately affect the child’s academic outcomes. This is unjust and unfair.”
Yasmine criticized the district’s response amid ongoing protests, where Shawnee Mission East students have said there is a pattern of officials not taking appropriate action against rampant racism, hate speech and discrimination. The community has urged the district to examine its policies, saying there are systemic failures leaving students of color feeling unsafe.
Shawnee Mission East, with nearly 1,700 students, is about 83% white. More than 8% of students are Hispanic, nearly 5% are multiracial and fewer than 2% are Black, according to state data.
“School should be a safe place, period. Simply having resources to cultivate cultural acceptance is not enough. To expect a group of people who don’t believe they have a problem to seek out resources to overcome the problem that they don’t see as a problem is asinine,” Yasmine said, referencing school messages sent to families following the protests. “And that is what you’ve been asking to do, by providing a litany of resources with no requirements to utilize the resources.
“This is not a method to cultivate change, but put in place to mark ‘done’ on a to-do list, while students suffer every day because the people charged with keeping them safe aren’t interested in doing the hard work to create change.”
Many feel the racist attack at East earlier this month was only a boiling point. A video shared with The Star from Nov. 15 shows a 15-year-old Black, female student confronting classmates about using racist language. She walks away while saying, “Don’t say nothing unless you’re gonna come say it to my face.”
Then a white, male student told her to, “Shut the **** up.” The female student turns around and starts walking in his direction. He charges toward her, shouting the N-word. He then pushes her, and she throws a punch. They both start swinging until the fight is broken up.
The Black student told The Star that she was sent to the hospital with a broken nose. She said she received a five-day suspension, which many have criticized, feeling that she was defending herself. It is unclear what punishment the white student received, but some say he was also suspended.
The white teen was charged with felony aggravated battery in Johnson County District Court as a juvenile. Court records show he also was charged with felony aggravated battery and aggravated assault, as well as misdemeanor battery, in a separate case from June. An emergency review hearing was called in that case last week, where he was ordered to be held in custody.
Students, at both Shawnee Mission East and South high schools, have walked out of class, protesting the school’s handling of the incident. And about 100 gathered outside of district headquarters last week to demand the district do more to eradicate racism.
Superintendent Michelle Hubbard on Monday acknowledged the incident, saying it involved “racist language that was completely unacceptable and something we do not tolerate in Shawnee Mission. ... Racism has no place in our schools.”
Hubbard said the district cannot comment on disciplinary action due to student privacy issues, but said officials are following district policy and continuing to work on diversity, equity and inclusion.
“We will continue to listen to our students and to our community. We know we still have work to do,” she said.
Shawnee Mission East parent Etienne Clatanoff told The Star she feels the district’s response has so far been “lip service.”
“The statements are not actionable or measurable,” she said. “We need leadership with more than empathy. We need leadership with solutions that have measurable outcomes.”
On Monday,Yasmine urged the district to implement and enforce a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech, as well as mandatory cultural acceptance curriculum and training.
Dawn Rattan, a mom and Johnson County Community College Trustee, told the school board they have an “enormous task” in front of them.
“In leaders in one of the largest school districts in Kansas, we are all watching. We are all waiting,” Rattan said. “You can use this as an opportunity to become a leader and setting the standard of safety and inclusion for all of our students. Trust me, the incident we saw is just the tip of the iceberg. You need to dig deeper and find the other issues.
“ ... When students walk through your doors, you must teach students to be more inclusive and accepting while communicating you have no tolerance for racism.”
April Boyd-Noronha, Shawnee Mission’s only Black school board member, said on Monday, “Yes, racism is unacceptable. A sense of belonging should be at the very core of accessibility to any classroom. ... I believe that SMSD is fully aware, that even before these recent events, there is more work to be done.”
Board member Jessica Hembree recognized the “overwhelming response” from the community in light of the racist attack.
“We had more than 100 students who have spoken out, feeling they do not feel safe in their school. Alumni who have shared their own stories about pervasive racist language in their school. Parents who have called it ‘unsurprising’ which is the last thing you want to hear when an event like that happens. So I really applaud those folks who have used their voices to shine a light and challenge the district to do better.”
Hembree said while diversity and inclusion is a central mission in the district, “I don’t think anyone gets to stand here and say we have it exactly right, right now.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2023 at 12:24 PM.
