LA Unified Adopts New Framework to Address Racial Slurs and Hate Speech in Schools

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education unanimously passed a new framework on Tuesday (November 10) for addressing incidents of racial slurs and hate speech in schools. The resolution calls for increased student counselling related to the N-word and staff training for responding to and reporting incidents of hate speech. (Photo: a Los Angeles classroom, file photo.)

Framework focuses on counselling and restorative justice; progress report due in March

The framework is centred on the district's “restorative justice” model, which focuses on students understanding why their words were wrong and making amends for the harm caused, rather than punishments such as suspension. The Board of Education is set to meet in March to report and discuss progress on the framework.

Years of complaints from Black educators — and retaliation for reporting

The resolution follows years of complaints from Black educators. Jalisa Evans, chief executive of the Black Educator Advocates Network, said the incidents are part of a larger pattern of long-standing racial harassment and racism in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The network said teachers who reported harassment to school administrators were met with “a calculated pattern of retribution,” including poor performance evaluations, involuntary transfers, demotions and professional isolation. Some teachers formed a Hate Speech Task Force to report incidents formally, but said state and district officials made empty promises that had yet to produce any accountability.

Students are targeted too — and many do not report it

Students are victims as well. Shelly Castillo, a history teacher at San Fernando Middle School, told the Los Angeles Times that Black students have been called “the N-word, a monkey, and other degrading names.” Many do not report it, she said, because “they have not been believed, and they've been targeted or isolated.”

Final version weaker than first proposed; focus shifts from educators to students

The version that ultimately passed was weaker than the initial proposal, however. The Los Angeles Times reported that the resolution was targeted mainly towards hate speech of all kinds rather than specifically racial slurs like the N-word, and that it focused on the harms the language does to students rather than the educators who first raised the alarm. Even so, many coalitions and advocates for Black teachers supported the resolution, seeing it as a first step after years of campaigning. (Sources: The Emancipator; Los Angeles Times.)