Pat Campanaro, a concerned citizen and a spokesperson for Arrowhead Indivisible, a local group with over 200 members, addressed school board I.S.D. 166 at the board’s October 26 meeting held in Grand Portage.
Campanaro came with a group of about a dozen sign-wielding people who were there to let the school board and administration know that the recent racial bullying incident that occurred at the school which led to a family pulling its two children out of the district needed to be further addressed.
“On Sunday, October 1, 2017, 150 Cook County residents gathered in Harbor Park, Grand Marais to support an end to racist and discriminatory actions against students who attend the ISD 166 schools. During this gathering, former and current students, as well as parents and grandparents, recounted the horrible atrocities that were committed against them or their family members while students at ISD 166. One speaker also detailed his actions as a bully and the lack of disciplinary action he experienced.
“We believe that unchecked bullying is a significant problem at ISD 166. It negatively impacts the victim, the perpetrator, the witnesses, the learning environment, and the community.
“We recognize that the majority of the student body is not subjected to bullying or discriminatory and racist actions. Any student who is bullied, however, deserves the immediate protection of the administration and this school board.
“We want ISD 166 to create a learning environment, where every child is emotionally and physically safe; where respect, kindness, and dignity is enforced every day; and where the broader community is proactively engaged by the school’s administration through frequent and transparent communication.
“Since the community became aware of the racist and sexist acts recently committed against a student at ISD 166, school administration has taken some internal actions. The majority of these actions address student bias and behavior. They do not address the failure of the administration to effectively deal with student behavior.
“As taxpayers who fund ISD 166, we want more accountability, communication, and transparency from both the administration and school board. We demand:
1) The immediate creation of a committee to augment the current internal committee at ISD 166, one that includes people that reflect the diversity of the student population, to include people of color and the LGBTQ community as well as recognized experts from outside our community who have the knowledge and expertise to offer advice and solutions that can guide new policies and procedures.
2) Proactive action by the school board that includes: a) a subcommittee to review the current policy and make recommendations for change including regular reporting on all incidents, b) and the creation of a community oversight panel to review administrative decisions.
3) an immediate investigation into all possible past and present violations of law including: a) the Minnesota High School Athletic policy regarding discrimination, b) and state and federal laws that expressly forbids racial discrimination.
4) A review of all actions taken by the administration in the past three years that involved bullying and discrimination claims to ensure that policies were followed and to suggest policies and practices that will never let claims by a single student persist for years.
5) A recruiting strategy that requires teacher and support staff hiring pools to include a diverse candidate pool before any hiring can occur.
6) An explanation of the data privacy laws and ways that information can be shared with the community. Attached are two incidents where a superintendent and principal proactively engaged the community after racist activities in their schools. If this can be done elsewhere, why not in our community? Would not community pressure help to end incidents?
“For too long racist and discriminatory actions have been dealt with in private. It is time to lift the veil of secrecy and begin the long and difficult process of real change,” said Campanaro.
Because the school board’s format doesn’t allow for the board to answer people who speak during the open comment period, no one replied to Campanaro’s statements, but they didn’t fall on deaf ears.
I.S.D. 166 superintendent Dr. William Crandall notified Campanano through an email that there was going to be an open meeting for the community and school board to discuss what has been taking place at the school to rectify racial bullying and other issues at school. The school set up a meeting for November 1, Wednesday afternoon in the Jane Mianowski Conference Center at the school.
The meeting
More than 50 people crammed in the Jane Mianowski Conference Center to both listen and to address the administration and school board on Wednesday.
School superintendent Dr. Crandall said the district is looking at improving policies and procedures that involve bullying, racial bullying, and discrimination of any kind.
Students will soon be given a survey about their attitudes towards bullying, and when the results have been tabulated they will be shared with the public, said Dr. Crandall.
“We want to share a resource we have been working with to involve the community and schools working together to combat issues in our community and schools,” he added.
“It is a program brought to us through education Minnesota called FIRE and The Community Storytelling Series. We think both programs will be a good fit for our school and community to start a dialogue regarding harassment, bullying, and racism.”
He also talked about bringing in a theater company and he said the staff would be receiving more training on how to recognize and deal with bullying in all of its forms.
“We want to move forward to work with the community,” said Dr. Crandall, adding, he hoped this was a turning point, and he and the board felt “the sense of urgency” from the community about the most recent reported incident of racial bullying.
That last statement sent a flurry of comments and questions from the audience. Most people wanted to know why the district hadn’t shared with the public that there had been an ongoing racial bullying problem for the past two years with the two African American girls who had been subjected to this type of abuse.
Others spoke up about being bullied in school, and one lady who at one time worked in the school district said, “Native kids have been getting kicked in the teeth for decades,” at I.S.D. 166.
There were a lot of statements from people who said they would have volunteered to help if they knew there was a problem, but the school district’s hands are tied by privacy laws that concern bad behavior or criminal acts committed by minors, they were told.
“Moments like this can end up being moments like this..or they can end up being watershed moments,” said one gentleman, advocating for everyone to work together proactively and not reactively.
“What can we do to help the administration and teachers?” said Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux.
Another person commented, “We all want something that works.” He asked the school board and administration to focus on what has worked and change what has not worked in their policies.
“If this (ongoing dialogue) helps one child not to be bullied this will have been worth it,” said Denny Fitzpatrick. “I want to acknowledge the good and wonderful things that teachers have done.”
By the end of the meeting anger and angst were turning into affirmative action. Small steps to be sure. But steps forward. More meetings will follow. A lot of ideas were hatched and will be looked at, too late for one family, but in time to save other kids from becoming bullies or being bullied. At least that is the hope.
As one teacher said when kids come to him hurt and in pain, “My heart aches and my heart breaks.” There was a lot of that happening in the meeting. And hopefully, there was a realization that there were no enemies in the room, just a bunch of folks who want kids to be safe as they go about their school day.
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