‘Slave chains’ lesson leads Washington school district to address racial blind spots

A teacher used “slave chains” as a prop during a history lesson on slavery. A Black student said she and her classmates had to build a replica of a slave ship in middle school. More Black students said they have been called the n-word in hallways. Parents complained that their children were bullied during Black History Month.

For some parents, teachers and students, news of the slave chains and other stories shared during focus groups have sparked a renewed urgency in the fight against systemic racism in the Washougal School District.

“I was appalled, I should say, when I found out that there were slave chains that were presented during history class,” one parent said at a focus group. “And that the intention of the school was to show, this is how people were treated. And I would say that that comes from a white privilege perspective. Coming from a Black perspective, you could not show me a more heinous object.”

School leaders say the students’ experiences have opened their eyes to racial blind spots and instances of unconscious bias in the district.

“The board takes allegations of racism seriously, and this behavior is unacceptable,“ Cory Chase, chair of the Washougal school board, told McClatchy News.

Some parents, however, have not been satisfied with the district’s response. At a school board meeting on March 23, three parents and one of the school district’s three Black teachers pushed for more transparency about how racial incidents are investigated.

“To the best of my knowledge, nothing was done to investigate any of these claims,” Michelle Staples, a Washougal High parent, told board members. “Certainly those that gave feedback and reported racism were not informed of any investigation.”

School district officials said privacy laws dictate how much information they can release regarding the complaints.

“In the next week or two, we will meet with the parents of the students who participated in the focus group, and share that the district did complete an investigation of the specific incidents that were described in the transcript,” said Aaron Hansen, an assistant superintendent and civil rights coordinator for Washougal schools.

Superintendent Mary Templeton said the district is making strides “to eliminate institutional racism and each and every form of oppression that perpetuates inequities in our system,” but said there is much work to be done.

‘Road we are on is a bumpy one’

Washougal is a small town on the Washington side of the Columbia River, across from Portland, with a rich history as a stopping point for famous explorers, including Lewis and Clark.

The town is served by the Washougal School District, which has more than 3,200 students. Of those, 80% are white, 11% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian and 6% identify as two or more races, according to the district’s annual report for 2019-2020. The district has 204 teachers and three are Black, Hansen said.

The school district’s website has a “Equity and Anti-Racism” page, which says “we do not tolerate discrimination, hate, or racism within our schools“ and that “the road we are on is a bumpy one, and we’ve only just started down the path.”

A poster on the page says, “Our Black students want to know that BLACK LIVES MATTER to us, AND THEY DO!

The school district became aware of the slave chains incident in October, Hansen said.

The district had received a SafeSchools alert complaint, alleging that in the 2019 school year a history teacher had passed around chains and handed them to the only Black student in class, asking them to put them on.

“[Officials] tracked down that student … had a conversation with them about it and they said that that’s not something that happened the way it was characterized,” said Lester Brown, communications director for the school district.

Hansen said while the claim that the student was asked to wear the chains was unsubstantiated, he did confirm that chains had been used as a teaching tool in class.

“The school worked with the teacher to understand the impact of the chains being present,” Hansen said. “The school asked the teacher to remove them from the classroom in the fall, and the teacher will not use the chains again.”

Hansen said the parent who brought up the chains during the focus group was also told of the investigation’s results.

A ‘white privilege perspective’

Following the investigation, the district held the first of three focus groups in November, with students of color, parents and at least one teacher to find out more about their experiences in the district, Hansen said.

Besides slave chains, other examples of racist remarks and unconscious bias were discussed, according to a transcript of the meeting obtained by McClatchy News.

One student saying they had to build a replica slave ship in middle school.

“I was the only person there that wasn’t white. I feel like that’s a big reason why [the teacher] allowed that to happen,” the student said. “They were trying to be kind about it and not turn it into a bad thing, but they weren’t realizing that not everyone there thinks the same way.”

Some Black students said they have heard or been called the n-word. “I was getting called the n-word every day in the hallway, almost every passing period,” one student said. “And that has been the whole time I’ve been at Washougal, it has not changed.”

A parent said that a dance coach asked her daughter “how many baby mamas does her dad have?”

“I don’t imagine that she asked any white kids that,” the parent said.

Another parent said Black History month is a very stressful time for Black students.

“You’re just giving the white kids the fodder to bully the Black kids. And that’s what happens every year,” the parent said. “It’s a spike in racism in the schools.”

Not all comments were negative; a Black teacher was praised by students, with one saying, “Because she is Black and she doesn’t have white privilege and so I feel like she empathizes with me a lot more than other teachers do.”

Brown said that any instance that involved a specific allegation was investigated and none were substantiated. The results of those investigations may have not been relayed to the complainants due to privacy rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Brown said.

Hansen, however, said the “specific examples that were provided during the focus group that were investigated at the time of the incidents were shared with the specific families involved.”

‘Wish for transparency’

The slave chains incident was brought up by a student at a board meeting in February, questioning the seeming lack of accountability for the teacher involved. After the district informed that student the incident was unsubstantiated, the student publicly apologized for advancing “rumors” at the March 23 board meeting.

Charlotte Lartey, a Black teacher at Washougal High School and founder of the Black Student Union, voiced her concerns to the board at the same March meeting.

“I do not wish to further hearsay, but I do wish for transparency, accountability and resolution from the district in regards to the many reports of harassment by district employees that students reported,” Lartey said during the public comment period.

Lartey and some parents said as far as they knew, nothing had been done to investigate or reconcile the problems brought to light by the students during focus groups.

Jammel Gamboa Rose, a Black woman whose child is a student at the high school, expressed disappointment about not hearing from the district after her child and others reported their experiences.

‘A responsibility to disrupt systems’

“To find this out so much later as a parent is really upsetting,” she said. “I’d like to know at what point will there be something done to look into the allegations that were made, which in talking to my [child], were very serious.”

Staples, another parent, said the district should show more support for the students who spoke about their experiences.

“I demand accountability for staff members who perpetuate racism,” she said.

Chase, the school board chair, said the district is committed to transparency.

“All reports of racist behavior are fully investigated. The board has been briefed on the specific reports, the outcomes for students and staff, and we are confident that school administration has taken appropriate steps to correct the specific allegations of racist behavior,” Chase told McClatchy.

“Where the reports included non-specific allegations, we have provided teachers with training on how to better respond and ensure student safety, which will result in a more positive climate for all learners,” he said.

The district’s current process for handling allegations of racial or other types of discrimination “involves meeting with the student, meeting with the staff person, interviewing witnesses if there were any ... and then working towards having a restorative practice or restorative conference with the staff person and the student if both parties are able to participate in that process,” Brown said.

Lartey, one of the few Black educators in the district, told the school board during the March 23 meeting that this practice is not an adequate solution.

“I was asked to attend one of these meetings because the student’s parent was not available,” Lartey said. “In this meeting I bore witness to [the] same harassing behavior that the student originally reported and I really do not appreciate being put in a situation where I am the only supporting adult in a meeting with a fellow employee who has been reported for harassing a student and continues to harass the student in this meeting.

“Is that truly the standard practice the district uses to resolve reports of racism?” Lartey asked.

The district is participating in a multi-part cultural competency training program with the Washington Education Association called “Culturally Responsive Classroom Management,” Brown said. The program began in August as part of the district’s effort to improve diversity, equity and inclusion.

The district also created an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory team this school year, to develop a District Equity Plan to “engage everyone involved in the Washougal School District to be aware, learn, think and determine how equity impacts choices in instruction, programming, staffing, funding, and policy.”

The advisory team, which is scheduled to meet again on April 15, is made up of about 30 members of the community, including educators, parents and students.

Superintendent Templeton said as the district moves forward, effecting change will require everyone involved to have “courageous conversations” and “sometimes be uncomfortable.”

“The Washougal School District believes that we have a responsibility to disrupt systems which have historically perpetuated inequitable outcomes and opportunities for some of our students,” Templeton said. “We, like the rest of the school districts in the nation, are ‘grappling’ with this complex work and are committed to ensuring that our schools are places where each child is truly seen and valued.”