Letters to the editor: 05/31/01

School fails to protect child

To the Editor:

I send my child to school to get an education, not to fear for his life. But that's exactly what happened when my son's life was threatened by a classmate at Fairview Elementary School. School should be one of the safest places for our children, and I would think that after the recent deadly shootings in Colorado and California that any threat would be taken seriously and investigated to the fullest extent of the law.

Unfortunately, I feel the school system has not taken the necessary steps to ensure the safety of my child. Fairview claims to have a zero-tolerance policy. If this is true, how can someone threaten the life of another and continue to walk through the school without a full and complete investigation taking place?

This year in particular it seems the "N" word has been used quite often. If there is a zero-tolerance policy, it most definitely should include racial discrimination. What is the school system policy to deter this?

A child is only going to take being called the "N" word for so long before becoming fed up. The child then strikes the harasser and ends up suspended from school. Should the victim be the one punished because he felt it necessary to take matters into his own hands because the school system would not?

African-American children at Fairview Elementary School feel helpless. They go to school officials and nothing is done to help them, to say "I believe in you and I'm here to help you." And we, as parents, feel helpless, too. We try everything to help our children, but if we get no assistance from the school system, what more can we do?

The threat to a life, African-American children and their close white friends being called racially-inferior names, and the rumors of drugs and guns in the school has left me wondering if the school system has the students' best interests at heart.

Just as in Colorado and California, everyone here thinks this could never happen - Sylva is too close knit for anyone to deliberately harm someone else. Well, there are good and bad people in every town throughout America, no matter how close knit they may be.

In 2001, it's sad to know the color of your skin still makes a difference, that things are still being looked at in black and white.

I do appreciate and thank every parent, both black and white, who has called me and expressed concern and offered their help. That means more to me than you will ever know.

When the school doors swing open in August, I want to know that the school has taken steps to keep my child safe and to boost his self-esteem, not to be made to feel he is less because of the color of his skin.

Sincerely,

Ras Tucker Selassie

Sylva

Letters to the editor: 05/31/01

School fails to protect child

To the Editor:

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