The Park Hill School District made local headlines again for a race-related incident, this time at Park Hill High School.
On Tuesday, Feb. 8, principal Brad Kincheloe announced a staff member had been placed on leave for use of racist language. By Thursday, Feb. 10, dozens of Park Hill students were staging a peaceful protest in the school’s gym and that evening superintendent Dr. Jeanette Cowherd addressed the situation at the regular meeting of the board of education.
According to limited information given by the district, a student used a racist term in the presence of a staff member, who repeated that language back at the student while questioning the student about the comment.
Privacy laws prohibit the district from identifying the staff member or the student involved, but administrators say an investigation is under way.
“As a district this underscores the need for the work we are doing for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging,” Cowherd said. “We are currently having our community forums to listen to our stakeholders about what we need to stop, start, continue and consider in this area.”
Kincheloe and Cowherd issued similar statements, citing the investigative process and that it may take several weeks.
For the students who were hurt or angry about the most recent situation, Kincheloe said district officials will continue to work with those students and listen to their concerns.
LAWSUIT RULING
Also last week, a federal judge supported the Park Hill School District’s decision to expel and suspend the students involved in the controversial “start slavery again” petition briefly posted online by students at Park Hill South High School.
The families of the four freshmen students most closely involved in the incident sued the district last year, claiming violation of first amendment protections and that the boys – two of whom were biracial themselves – had posted the petition on Change.org as a joke.
The judge found that the district had the right to regulate speech that could cause a disruption to the school environment.
The incident caused massive disruption and gained nationwide and international media coverage, with some students afraid to come to school due to the petition.