Upland Unified School District
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Published – March 3, 2023
According to KTLA a sixth-grade student was accused of giving a black student a pair of drawings with messages stating,“Your my favorite monkey,” and “To my favorite cotton picker.” (See images below):
“Your statement, the superintendent’s statement, didn’t come out until this was presented to the media. It wasn’t until I had to get upset and because she continued to be harassed, that I had to pull her from school and the other child still gets to go to school every day.”
According to KTLA, “Parents weren’t notified about the racist incident, which occurred on Feb. 2, until two weeks after it happened.” District officials revealed that two students were involved in the incident, and that “…progressive discipline was enacted and there is a continuing investigation into the incident to determine further district response.”
CBS News reports that “parent Rome Douglas said his child received a card of a Black person hanging from a tree.” His daughter “was one of the several biracial and Black students at Pepper Tree Elementary to be taunted with these notes. Additionally, his son said he hears other students echoing monkey noises at him.”
CBS News also reports that, “Parents of at least three of the sixth graders that received the racist cards have pulled them out of school for more than a week.”
In a letter to Pepper Tree families regarding the incident, Principal Becki Modereger wrote:
“Although students may not understand the deep meaning of their words and actions, it is vital to emphasize that hate speech, discriminatory behavior and racial slurs have no place at Pepper Tree Elementary.”
Upland Unified School District has 10,228 enrolled across 15 schools.
