Cashmere School District Releases Results of Racial Discrimination Investigation

And outlines policies and procedures being adopted to prevent future incidents

The Cashmere School District last week addressed allegations of racial discrimination and assault made by a former student. That story got a lot of attention after I published an article about it in Crosscut.

After that broke it was picked up by most local media outlets in North Central Washington (except for NCWlife) and since then many folks have been waiting for the results of the investigation, and the district’s plan going forward.

In a letter to the Cashmere community signed by Superintendent Glenn Johnson, Director of Special Education Michelle Christensen, CHS Principal Craig MacKenzie, CHS Asst. Principal Scott Brown, Asst. Principal, Cashmere Middle School Principal Sara Graves, CMS Asst. Principal Jon Shelby, Vale Elementary School Principal Sean McKenna, and Vale Elementary School Asst. Principal Rhett Morgan the district addressed both.

Dear Cashmere Community,

We are writing to share the outcomes and action steps resulting from a complaint of discriminatory harassment brought to high school administration on May 5th. As is our practice, we take all allegations seriously, and immediately enlisted an independent, 3rd party investigator to investigate the accusations. Based on the preliminary report and our own investigation, the high school administration disciplined four students per the progressive disciplinary policy for discriminatory harassment, including the use of racial slurs.

We have refrained from commenting until now out of respect for the privacy of those involved and to honor the integrity of the investigative process.

Last Friday, we received the final report from the 3rd party, independent investigator while also concluding our own thorough investigation. The findings are summarized below:

• Inappropriate, racially charged language was used on a group snapchat thread and carried into the school.

• Four students were disciplined using the high school progressive discipline policy for “discriminatory harassment” including use of racial slurs.

• The allegation that a staff member failed to respond or address the behavior was not substantiated.

Discriminatory harassment and the use of hurtful, insensitive language of any kind is wrong, unacceptable and has no place in Cashmere School District. We are committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment where all students feel safe, and a sense of belonging and well-being. Regrettably, the actions of a few students fell far short of these expectations and remind us that we have work to do around respectful communication.

To that end, we have committed to making this unfortunate incident a learning opportunity where we can all elevate our awareness, grow and be better. The district has planned a host of action steps to immediately address this issue and to prevent it from happening again, including implementation of professional development and student programs related to student well-being, safety and respectful communication in our schools and our community.

We take our responsibility for educating your children seriously and remain committed to our fundamental goal of promoting learning environments where all students feel safe, welcome, and loved.

We thank you for the many ways our community supports our schools.

Regards,

Glenn Johnson, Superintendent, CSD

Michelle Christensen, Director of Special Education

Craig MacKenzie, Principal, CHS Scott Brown, Asst. Principal, CHS

Sara Graves, Principal, CMS Jon Shelby, Asst. Principal, CMS

Sean McKenna, Principal, Vale Elementary School

Rhett Morgan, Asst. Principal, Vale Elementary School”

Also included was a plan of action going forward:

“It’s important that we share with the Cashmere Community actions taken and planned in response to this concern. We look forward to growing together through the steps outlined below:

Actions Taken

• Several students have been disciplined in accordance with the District’s student discipline policy.

• CHS Building administrators have met with staff to discuss the conduct and to consider how we can reinforce our year-long initiative on The Bulldog Way, particularly regarding respectful communication.

• CHS Staff members have committed to video messaging the student body and facilitating advisory discussions around respectful communication.

• CHS Building administrators have met with peer mentors and athletic coaches who will be working with students this summer and reemphasized the modeling of respectful communication and the calling out of hurtful language to foster an improved school culture.

Next Steps

• The District will provide bystander intervention training for faculty and students at the beginning of next school year.

• The District’s annual October production of “Unmaking of a Bully” (a student-produced public service announcement video) will focus on the positive and negative power of language in schools and bystander intervention training.

• District August Institute training will provide professional development focused on well-being, belonging, and recognizing the value of our diverse student population.

• CHS administrators will review management procedures in all classrooms with particular emphasis on open learning spaces and common areas and make recommendations before the start of next school year.

• Appropriate CHS faculty members will meet with newly elected student leaders to ask their assistance in promoting respectful communication.

• In August, CHS student leaders and staff will meet to discuss and create a school improvement plan around wellbeing, belonging, and safety (Pillar 2 of the district’s strategic plan).

• CHS administrators commit to meet regularly with student leadership during the school year to elevate student voice and proactively address concerns.

• The CHS office staff will be trained in customer service sensitivity when greeting students, parents, and community members.

In addition to the above, the District will continue to implement annual professional development and student programs related to the safety, well-being and belonging for all. This list is far from exhaustive. It represents our immediate response based on feedback from the complainant and consultation with staff and outside consultants. We will continue to elevate voices of stakeholders in support of this work.”

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My Two Cents

One thing that was notable for its absence was the alleged assault. Felix Dotson, the student who came forward, described being put into a headlock by a fellow student while that boy was using the N-word.

“He whispered in my ear: ‘Listen here, this is my word and I can say it whenever I want, OK?’” Dotson said.

At this point that individual, like Dotson, has graduated. So it’s not clear how the district would or could apply any disciplinary measures to the boy.

Something else occurred to me while reading this line:

“The allegation that a staff member failed to respond or address the behavior was not substantiated.”

In Dotson’s journal that he started keeping so he could better remember the details of each individual instance of racism or discrimination, he recalled not one but four separate instances where CHS employees were either racist to him directly or did nothing while others were racist to or around him.

According to Dotson one of the women in the office asked him, “Which one are you?” after he walked in.

“I remember the other office ladies making a weird look,” he wrote.

The district response directly addresses the front office staff in the last point under “Next Steps” in which they write that, “CHS office staff will be trained in customer service sensitivity.”

Another teacher accused him of stealing tools in the woodshop – an accusation that Dotson felt had racial overtones.

“He calls me over and says ‘Did you steal my Milwaukee impact drivers?’ Dotson wrote. “I responded with ‘No’ and walked off pissed off. But I showed no emotion to it because I was that black guy who ‘doesn't care about racism and who's always happy and willing to help.’”

Between those two incidents and the two outlined in my previous coverage of this issue, it’s good that the district is going to provide professional development for staff members. It should be on record that Dotson did not note simply one instance where a CHS staff member allegedly crossed the line.

As I have acknowledged before, the issue of the N-word being tossed around cavalierly by high schoolers, middle schoolers, and even younger children is a problem. There are many factors to blame for that. But the bottom line is it’s unacceptable in any workplace. Therefore the next generation of productive, working adults should become accustomed to that fact while they are still matriculating.

To me, this seems like a completely utilitarian position.

Time will tell if these policies will result in progress in Cashmere Schools. But I will certainly keep an eye on things and write about any newsworthy or notable developments in the story.

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