Tri-Cities parent outraged after daughter is called a ‘slave’ at school

Pasco school leaders have promised an investigation after a high school senior called a Black classmate a slave.

The school district is hiring a third-party to examine the district’s policies and talk with students, staff and parents about concerns with bias and discrimination.

This comes after a student told Lasharria Weathers’ daughter, “When do slaves get to say, ‘No,’” after she refused to move in class.

But Weathers is upset that the district is offering a lot of plans, but little in the way of action after a May 7 exchange and a follow-up conversation May 14 with Pasco High administrators. Both meetings left the mother of three frustrated and angry.

“I feel like at this point, they have an outline, but how long is that outline going to take,” Weathers told the Herald. “Now it’s a fact that this happened and still nothing has happened.”

She is considering hiring a lawyer for her 18-year-old daughter.

The news also drew the attention of Black Lives Matters Coalition: Tri-Cities, who said they reached out to the Pasco School District. Daishaundra Loving-Hearne told the Herald the district’s response was prompt.

“We’re hoping for some internal change to take place,” she said. “It was a disgusting thing that happened and the exact kind of action that we’ve been fighting against for the last year.”

Concerns continue

Her daughter, a senior, is still upset and embarrassed. First over the incident itself, and second after her concerns were seemingly disregarded by school administrators, said Weathers, who is especially unsettled that her daughter remains in the same class with the boy.

While district officials confirmed to the Herald they area hiring the investigator, leaders couldn’t talk about the exchange between the students or the conversation Weathers had with Dean of Students Rodney DeHaan and Assistant Principal Greg Domingos.

Federal privacy law prevents the school from disclosing information about students, including discipline issues.

“We are taking this report very seriously and are working diligently to understand exactly what occurred, why it occurred and how those involved were impacted,” said Shane Edinger, the district’s Director of Public Affairs. in a written statement

“Our priority is to support the student and family and to ensure our school environment is inclusive and sensitive to the experiences of all of our students and families,” he said.

Racist remark

The initial exchange was May 7 when the two students were in class working on an assignment. Weathers’ daughter said she asked a classmate for help on an assignment, and he told her to come over to where he was.

When she refused, he replied, “Since when do slaves say no,” according to Weathers’ Facebook post.

A classmate heard the conversation and reported it to administrators. While school officials talked with both teens, the boy wasn’t punished, just had to apologize, said Weathers.

However, she later heard he returned to class and told the student who reported it that he didn’t face any consequences.

Weathers’ daughter told her about the incident but school officials never contacted her. At the time she was out of town, but she returned a week later and set up a meeting with the DeHaan and Domingos.

She was hoping to hear the boy was disciplined in some form.

However, they told her that state law prevents them from imposing any serious punishment. While they could punish a student for making a racist remark to a teacher, the same option isn’t available for exchanges between students, they said.

Later, Weathers was told by Assistant Superintendent Sarah Thornton that wasn’t true.

“You’re telling me it’s not OK to fight in school, but it’s OK to be a racist?” she said. “All you’re doing is opening a door for this to continue to happen. That is not fair to her, and it’s not fair to any other minority in that school.”

In her conversation with DeHaan and Domingos, she likened calling her daughter a slave to using the n-word. She said DeHaan didn’t agree.

“That really hurt my feelings. I feel disrespected,” she said. “I said, How can you tell me it’s not the same thing? You’re not Black and you never will be. So you can’t tell me how to feel about what was said to my child.”

She also left the meeting feeling they were trying to blame her daughter for creating the situation.

Weathers was so upset, she sat in her car, pulled out her phone and typed up the Facebook post. The response was nearly immediate. Dozens of people reached out, and several sent messages to the school district.

School response

Within hours, Superintendent Michelle Whitney contacted Weathers and arranged a meeting with Assistant Superintendent Sarah Thornton.

Afterward, the district laid out their steps to address her concerns. They promised a continued investigation into the May 7 exchange and to have a principal from a different school review her initial meeting with DeHaan and Domingos.

They also promised a third-party investigator to look at the district’s culture around race and how to prevent bias and discrimination.

The Pasco School District has about 18,700 students. About 1% are Black and 73% are Latino, according to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

“I think a fair punishment is that the kid should be suspended,” Weathers said. “They need to have a sit-down meeting with the kid and the parents. They need to educate students about African-American history.

While both students will graduate in a few weeks, Weathers still has students in the school district and would like to see some change.

“You shouldn’t have a place where you can do this one time and all you need to do is say, “You’re sorry.” If (one student) can do it one time, 100 more kids can do it one time.”

This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 11:12 AM.