All White Indiana school board violates FOUR court orders, harasses Black mother then files criminal trespass against mother for complaining

(www.BlackParents.org) - JAMES “Jim” SNAPP, who is being called the “Bull Connor” of Indiana schools and his embattled all White school system that prides itself on keeping its’ staff “lily white,” is making national news for its controversial decision to ignore multiple court orders which allowed a parent of a special needs child to participate in the child’s education, attend school functions and be kept abreast of the child’s progress. The child and mother survived domestic violence and informed the school of their protected status but the school failed to protect their privacy.

Brown Elementary, run by principal Casey Patterson Smitherson, is under fire for harassing the mother, using racially intimidation methods, failing to protect the mother and child’s privacy, violating the child’s disability rights and providing information about the child and mother’s whereabouts to the abusive father.

The issues began at the school on the fourth day into the school year when a teacher gave the child a book with pornography showing a naked man being fondled by his young step-son. The mother complained and was ignored. The mother went to the school board to complain but stated that she was a domestic violence victim and therefore could not give her name or address. Mr. Snapp downplayed her complaint saying the book had won a Newberry Award in 1986, but the book NEVER won any award.

In retaliation for her complaints, Mr. Snapp went behind the mother’s back and had her name and child’s information inserted into the school board’s minutes and distributed them widely. The mother again complained and asked that the document be redacted to remove her name and child’s information under the Violence Against Women Act. Mr. Snapp refused.

Read More

Black student in Los Angeles strip searched by White school person, threatened with arrest

(www.BlackParents.org) - What started as a normal school day at a San Bernardino Middle School, has turned into a national debate about child rights and education law.

On Tuesday, April 7, 2015, two young girls say they were harassed and made to strip down after they were falsely accused of a crime. School officials says that the matter is currently under investigation.  It is not the crime or infraction that they were accused that is the subject of this article, but what took place in the course of events that day.

Both students were escorted to the office of Serrano Middle School by the Vice-Principal, Shenita Stevenson and the school security guard. Each girl was taken into a room accompanied by Stevenson and another security guard, who they described as a tall white male.  The girls were searched and told to take off clothing.

Read More

Parents of gifted Black student bullied at all white Indiana school, face No Trespass order in retaliation for filing racial complaint against the school

(www.BlackParents.org) - The parents of a Concord Intermediate School sixth-grader pulled their daughter from the school Tuesday, March 17, after she found threatening notes on her locker two weeks in a row. When NyZeria Neely stopped by her locker between classes Monday, March 16, she was horrified by what she found inside.

“(N-word)s don’t belong!!!” was scrawled across a blue post-it note that had been slipped inside her locker.

It reminded her of the one she found just one week earlier on the outside of her locker that read: “Watch your back.” Concord Intermediate School sixth-grader NyZeria Neely, 11, talked Tuesday, March 17, 2015 at LaCasa in Elkhart about the threatening notes she found left on and in her locker. "I felt aggravated and irritated. I didn'€™t feel comfortable being at school right then and there."

NyZeria, who is the only black student in her high-ability class at the school, said that exacerbates the situation because not everyone understands what she is going through.

Just under 10 percent of Concord Community School’s student population is black, according to the Indiana Department of Education. Only 2 percent of school personnel is black.

So NyZeria, who felt alone and targeted as a black student, took a deep breath and thought about crumpling up the note, but instead she took a picture of the note and then showed it to her teacher.

She said she felt awkward as she explained the notes to her teacher, and then to Principal Chad Stamm. 

“He told me not to worry because it’s just words,” NyZeria said. “But it’s more than words. I felt that it was offensive, very offensive.”

Superintendent Wayne Stubbs said he felt the same way about such notes.

“Concord schools finds these situations to be very offensive and unacceptable in our schools,“ he said in an email. “Our building administrators take them seriously, as student safety is always our number one priority.”

 

READ FULL STORY: http://www.elkharttruth.com/hometown/elkhart/2015/02/01/Elkhart-African-American-leaders-say-racism-isn-t-so-blatant-these-days-but-the-fight-to-help-doesn-t-end.html

Read More