N word at Whitman

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the e-mail from the principal.

Dear Parents,

I am writing to express concern about two recent serious incidents that occurred at school. Our staff is committed to ensuring that the climate at Whitman High School is a positive one where all students feel valued and respected. Unfortunately, in the past week, there have been two incidents in which students have used the racially offensive “N” word towards another student. These acts are unacceptable in our school community. The offending students were disciplined according to the Montgomery County Public Schools Code of Conduct, and we also involved our school’s resource police officer. The students also participated in restorative conversations.

After the first incident, I made the following school-wide announcement to the staff and students repeating what had been shared in classes the second day of school:

Be respectful of adults and of each other. Embrace, accept, respect, and celebrate the diversity we enjoy at Whitman. Everyone has a right to feel safe and comfortable in school. Be courteous. Be kind to others. Derogatory name-calling of any type is unacceptable with strong school consequences for any racist expressions, gender-charged words, and sexual identity references.

Administrators then started visiting all English classes to repeat these expectations, a task that will be completed next week. Unfortunately, a second incident occurred today, so I am seeking your assistance. Please talk to your students giving them counsel and reinforcing our expectations to stop making such hurtful statements. Please emphasize that everyone who walks into this school deserves to feel welcome and safe. I will be working with staff and student leaders to determine what additional steps we can take to enhance the inclusiveness of our school community.

I again want to emphasize the seriousness of this situation. As your principal, I am disappointed to have to share this, and I want you to know that I feel a deep responsibility to maintain an accepting school environment that is intolerant of hate speech.


Sincerely,

Alan Goodwin

OK, how exactly is this sending parents and students to sensitivity training? He is asking you to speak to your child to reinforce a message of tolerance and respect. If you think this is absurd, then you are probably a racist.

[Anonymous]

I'd like to know the race of the students who used the N word. And, maybe some context.

I obviously don't use the N word, but work in Gaithersburg and hear that word daily.

Also, 'sexual identity references'?? What does that mean? You can't talk about sexual identity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the e-mail from the principal.

Dear Parents,

I am writing to express concern about two recent serious incidents that occurred at school. Our staff is committed to ensuring that the climate at Whitman High School is a positive one where all students feel valued and respected. Unfortunately, in the past week, there have been two incidents in which students have used the racially offensive “N” word towards another student. These acts are unacceptable in our school community. The offending students were disciplined according to the Montgomery County Public Schools Code of Conduct, and we also involved our school’s resource police officer. The students also participated in restorative conversations.

After the first incident, I made the following school-wide announcement to the staff and students repeating what had been shared in classes the second day of school:

Be respectful of adults and of each other. Embrace, accept, respect, and celebrate the diversity we enjoy at Whitman. Everyone has a right to feel safe and comfortable in school. Be courteous. Be kind to others. Derogatory name-calling of any type is unacceptable with strong school consequences for any racist expressions, gender-charged words, and sexual identity references.

Administrators then started visiting all English classes to repeat these expectations, a task that will be completed next week. Unfortunately, a second incident occurred today, so I am seeking your assistance. Please talk to your students giving them counsel and reinforcing our expectations to stop making such hurtful statements. Please emphasize that everyone who walks into this school deserves to feel welcome and safe. I will be working with staff and student leaders to determine what additional steps we can take to enhance the inclusiveness of our school community.

I again want to emphasize the seriousness of this situation. As your principal, I am disappointed to have to share this, and I want you to know that I feel a deep responsibility to maintain an accepting school environment that is intolerant of hate speech.


Sincerely,

Alan Goodwin

OK, how exactly is this sending parents and students to sensitivity training? He is asking you to speak to your child to reinforce a message of tolerance and respect. If you think this is absurd, then you are probably a racist.

+1. OP is spreading blatant misinformation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some little whelps called someone a name but instead of punishing just the name callers seems the whole school and parents have been sent to sensitivity training. Two updates from the principle declaring how the student are being constantly told how bad this is in less than 12 hours.

I think they know its bad. Thats why the two obnoxious ones used it. This overkill is absurd... especially the bit about demanding the kids dont use "gender-charged" words.

What the heck are gender charged words???

Good grief...

I don't understand. One kid, non-black I assume, in a 2000+ person school called someone a derogatory term and now the school stops still.
Agree, good grief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd like to know the race of the students who used the N word. And, maybe some context.

I obviously don't use the N word, but work in Gaithersburg and hear that word daily.

Also, 'sexual identity references'?? What does that mean? You can't talk about sexual identity?

my locker was in the Cooper section and I heard that word multiple times a day, but not from white kids. oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some little whelps called someone a name but instead of punishing just the name callers seems the whole school and parents have been sent to sensitivity training. Two updates from the principle declaring how the student are being constantly told how bad this is in less than 12 hours.

I think they know its bad. Thats why the two obnoxious ones used it. This overkill is absurd... especially the bit about demanding the kids dont use "gender-charged" words.

What the heck are gender charged words???

Good grief...

I don't understand. One kid, non-black I assume, in a 2000+ person school called someone a derogatory term and now the school stops still.
Agree, good grief.

Where did you pick up the "stop still" part? Was your kid one of the ones disciplined?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a different perspective. I think the principal was showing that he was taking the matter seriously and that such behavior would not be tolerated. Using offensive and demeaning language like this was a problem when my kid was at Pyle last year and I thought the principal there (Nardi) handled it terribly. Kids were running around heiling Hitler and calling people dirty Jews and using the N word and the F word willy nilly and no one did anything about it. It was depressing.

I agree PP. Pyle must have the worst school culture in Maryland. I wish the community super would step in and do something about the place. The whole "it's nice to be nice" messages the principal sends all the time drive me crazy. There's so much corniness and cluelessness, and in the end let's be real--the a--holes run the show at Pyle. No teeth behind anything, just trite sayings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the e-mail from the principal.

Dear Parents,

I am writing to express concern about two recent serious incidents that occurred at school. Our staff is committed to ensuring that the climate at Whitman High School is a positive one where all students feel valued and respected. Unfortunately, in the past week, there have been two incidents in which students have used the racially offensive “N” word towards another student. These acts are unacceptable in our school community. The offending students were disciplined according to the Montgomery County Public Schools Code of Conduct, and we also involved our school’s resource police officer. The students also participated in restorative conversations.

After the first incident, I made the following school-wide announcement to the staff and students repeating what had been shared in classes the second day of school:

Be respectful of adults and of each other. Embrace, accept, respect, and celebrate the diversity we enjoy at Whitman. Everyone has a right to feel safe and comfortable in school. Be courteous. Be kind to others. Derogatory name-calling of any type is unacceptable with strong school consequences for any racist expressions, gender-charged words, and sexual identity references.

Administrators then started visiting all English classes to repeat these expectations, a task that will be completed next week. Unfortunately, a second incident occurred today, so I am seeking your assistance. Please talk to your students giving them counsel and reinforcing our expectations to stop making such hurtful statements. Please emphasize that everyone who walks into this school deserves to feel welcome and safe. I will be working with staff and student leaders to determine what additional steps we can take to enhance the inclusiveness of our school community.

I again want to emphasize the seriousness of this situation. As your principal, I am disappointed to have to share this, and I want you to know that I feel a deep responsibility to maintain an accepting school environment that is intolerant of hate speech.


Sincerely,

Alan Goodwin

Well done Dr. Goodwin! Dr. Benz would have swept it under the rug like she did last year till the Post wrote about numerous incidents like this at Churchill.

[Anonymous]

Funny how this happens at the least diverse school in the county.

[Anonymous]

It seems to me to be pretty clear from the letter what "gender-charged words are". Maybe OP needs some practice using context clues?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some little whelps called someone a name but instead of punishing just the name callers seems the whole school and parents have been sent to sensitivity training. Two updates from the principle declaring how the student are being constantly told how bad this is in less than 12 hours.

I think they know its bad. Thats why the two obnoxious ones used it. This overkill is absurd... especially the bit about demanding the kids dont use "gender-charged" words.

What the heck are gender charged words???

Good grief...

I don't understand. One kid, non-black I assume, in a 2000+ person school called someone a derogatory term and now the school stops still.
Agree, good grief.

By "the school stops still," I guess you meant

1. The principal made an announcement
2. Administrators started visiting English classes
3. The principal sent an e-mail to parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some little whelps called someone a name but instead of punishing just the name callers seems the whole school and parents have been sent to sensitivity training. Two updates from the principle declaring how the student are being constantly told how bad this is in less than 12 hours.

I think they know its bad. Thats why the two obnoxious ones used it. This overkill is absurd... especially the bit about demanding the kids dont use "gender-charged" words.

What the heck are gender charged words???

Good grief...

I don't understand. One kid, non-black I assume, in a 2000+ person school called someone a derogatory term and now the school stops still.
Agree, good grief.

By "the school stops still," I guess you meant

1. The principal made an announcement
2. Administrators started visiting English classes
3. The principal sent an e-mail to parents

Well is this a county wide policy? Is the N word completely banned now in MCPS? Or is this on a case by case basis?

It's not just AS kids who use the N word. It's also commonly used by Latino kids at our school. Wonder if it was a Latino kid at Whitman who used it. And we're the kids at Whitman using it to refer to their friends or was it actually being used as an insult.

Anyone who works with kids knows that the N word is NOT always used as a derogatory term by teens/young adults.

[Anonymous]

This is the kind of thing that gives me pause about sending my kids to a school like Whitman. Yes, the academics are good by public school standards, but then you have a huge lack of diversity to contend with. If the school's make-up was more like BCC the N word wouldn't be getting thrown around like that because there would be a fear of peer-to-peer repercussions. Which is much more impactful than adults slapping them on the wrist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Funny how this happens at the least diverse school in the county.

It probably makes it easier to respond promptly and firmly. Good luck to MoCo principals trying to monitor the use of such language at schools in Silver Spring or Gaithersburg. It would take all of their time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny how this happens at the least diverse school in the county.

It probably makes it easier to respond promptly and firmly. Good luck to MoCo principals trying to monitor the use of such language at schools in Silver Spring or Gaithersburg. It would take all of their time.

Could you please explain what you think goes on in schools in Silver Spring or Gaithersburg, versus Whitman or Pyle?