Bullying and self defense
Jamillah Richmond is the founder of the Parents of Color Council, a separate group advising the district. Her nine-year-old daughter attends a BVSD school.
She said her daughter has been sent to the office for responding to bullying at her elementary school. In one instance, she said, her daughter was cornered by four white students. She pushed one of them away. In another instance, a boy kept touching her hair so she slapped his hand. In both situations, her daughter faced repercussions.
“Culturally, if you touch our hair, we’re slapping your hand, which is exactly what my daughter does. But she gets punished,” Richmond said.
Other parents of Black and Latino students told Boulder Reporting Lab about similar situations in which their kids were punished after defending themselves.
“We need to stop penalizing children of color for defending themselves when they’re being confronted with different varying degrees of violence,” Richmond said.
For this reason, she prefers not to use the phrase “disproportionate discipline.”
“Discipline implies a kid did something wrong to begin with,” she said. “You are not wrong for defending yourself.”
The district’s discipline matrix, which it created in 2020 to offer punishment guidance to schools, includes no mention of self-defense. Richmond thinks it should, to encourage educators to consider context around instances of violence.
“If it’s not on paper, and we don’t have a clear and definitive definition of what these things are and what consequences could or could not be applied to them, then we’re leaving too much room open for interpretation and trusting people who have blind spots and biases,” she said. “And I think that leaves open space for discrimination.”
Anderson, BVSD’s superintendent, agrees bullying is a concern. The district has made it easier to report bullying on its website. But he said it’s tricky to balance physical force with school safety.
“If you’re blocking punches so you don’t get hurt, that’s self-defense. If you engage in a physical altercation with someone else, we don’t view that as self-defense,” he said.
Parents can appeal disciplinary measures to the district’s Board of Education. But Jorge Chavez, chair of the District Accountability Committee, an oversight panel required under state law, said some parents face challenges in speaking out.
“I’m pretty fortunate. I’m an immigrant, but I’m bilingual. I know how the system works here,” Chavez said. “For a lot of parents who either don’t feel comfortable with the English language, who aren’t familiar with the educational system, who don’t have the resources and the time to get involved, it’s harder for them to have their voices elevated to where their concerns are being heard.”
‘We all have unconscious biases’
The district is open about discussing how structural inequities contribute to disparities in discipline. But some want it to do more to acknowledge racial bias among staff.
“The root cause is racism. We have to call it what it is so that we can address it. I’m not saying that teachers are bad people or anything. We all have unconscious biases,” said Fernandez Frank, of CAPL, the acronym for the Spanish name for the parent group, Consejo Asesor de Padres Latinos.
That’s why, first and foremost, parents want the district to hire more Black and Latino teachers and staff. Kids do better in school when their teachers look like them. BVSD’s teachers were 86% white last school year, about the same as the state average. Their students were 67% white.
In February, the district hosted a “Teachers of Color Hiring Event.” Boulder pays teachers more than any other district in the state. But Anderson said the region’s high cost of housing and low turnover rate makes hiring difficult. “It becomes incredibly challenging to try to diversify your workforce very quickly, because you just don’t have the vacancies.”
Parent groups have also been asking for data on teachers’ disciplinary referrals. And they want the district to include in staff evaluations any racial disproportionality in their punishment of students. They also want a public process for filing and tracking discrimination complaints.
“They keep kids accountable for their actions. And I think that it’s only fair that adults are held to a similar standard,” Fernandez Frank said.
Anderson opposes such measures.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think that creates a culture of fear. You need to have people open to get better,” Anderson said. “My goal here isn’t to place blame on folks. It’s to fix the systemic issues.”
The district already kicked off monthly meetings in each school to devise solutions. This may include cultural competency training. “That’s why you have these conversations locally,” he said. “Locally, it may be that there are teachers who do need additional training or grade levels who want the additional training.”
This difference will likely remain a sticking point.
“I don’t want to wait until they fix their unconscious bias. I want them not to be in contact with kids,” Fernandez Frank said. “Those kids are going to continue to suffer until this teacher learns. And I don’t think that’s fair for students.”