APS black student singled out to play cotton picking game

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Each school has school based subs, they are paid a little more than a regular subs because they show up like it’s a full-time job (not day to day). They don’t always know where they’re going to be assigned each day, there are assigned based on need.

So the kids are sometimes getting a school-based sub, sometimes having study hall... but in either case not learning any French at all? I'd be so mad if my kid was in that class.

In the case of this particular substitute teacher, deep in the bowels of this thread she's reported to be a woman from one of the French-speaking countries in sub-Saharan Africa. So the class did have a chance of instruction before the kid and his parents decided to fire up the outrage machine. I'm not sure if the admin got antsy and reassigned her or she decided that life's too short and the pay's too small to deal with that level of nonsense.

My DS had this teacher, but isn’t in the same class where the incident occurred. There’s been very little instruction all year. The teacher was using google translate for most things. She even googled the capital of France in front of the kids. Being a French speaker does not equal being a French teacher. The whole year has been a waste.

Did you know that there are probably more French-speaking people outside of France than there are in France. This makes you sound incredibly ignorant.

WHO doesn’t know the capital of France, French speaking or not??? Way to miss my point.

No sweetheart, you're missing the point. You sound stupid.

DP, but are you serious? Paris has been one of the most famous and highly visited cities for forever. It's also frequently in the news (Macron state visit, strikes with trash in the street). I am frightened that any educator would not know the capital of France.

You guys are quibbling about something that doesn't matter. Yes people should know where the capital of France is (although I do think that is more important to western civilization than it is to other parts of the world), but the fact is she knew French and was able at a minimum to offer the kids exposure and now they don't have that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each school has school based subs, they are paid a little more than a regular subs because they show up like it’s a full-time job (not day to day). They don’t always know where they’re going to be assigned each day, there are assigned based on need.

So the kids are sometimes getting a school-based sub, sometimes having study hall... but in either case not learning any French at all? I'd be so mad if my kid was in that class.

In the case of this particular substitute teacher, deep in the bowels of this thread she's reported to be a woman from one of the French-speaking countries in sub-Saharan Africa. So the class did have a chance of instruction before the kid and his parents decided to fire up the outrage machine. I'm not sure if the admin got antsy and reassigned her or she decided that life's too short and the pay's too small to deal with that level of nonsense.

My DS had this teacher, but isn’t in the same class where the incident occurred. There’s been very little instruction all year. The teacher was using google translate for most things. She even googled the capital of France in front of the kids. Being a French speaker does not equal being a French teacher. The whole year has been a waste.

Did you know that there are probably more French-speaking people outside of France than there are in France. This makes you sound incredibly ignorant.

WHO doesn’t know the capital of France, French speaking or not??? Way to miss my point.

No sweetheart, you're missing the point. You sound stupid.

DP, but are you serious? Paris has been one of the most famous and highly visited cities for forever. It's also frequently in the news (Macron state visit, strikes with trash in the street). I am frightened that any educator would not know the capital of France.

Different poster. We live in one of the most multicultural areas in the US if not the world. There are a lot of educated people here that don’t know what I had previously considered to be common knowledge. So I’m not all that surprised that a native French speaker would not know the capital of France.

Also, most adults under 40 no longer watch World News Tonight, the local Eyewitness News, or subscribe to newspapers like the Washington Post. They get their news through free websites or social media. Or if they are keen, then maybe the UK Guardian, which is a great donation-based newspaper (online and in print).

Subs aren’t vetted like teachers who are uniquely qualified to teach specific subjects. I think the school was just lucky they found a native French speaker for the long term sub position. Sadly middle school language classes are not that strong to begin with.

To add to that argument, there are also a lot of native English speakers here in America (who are well educated) that don’t know the capitals of the UK, Australia, Canada, etc. I’m no longer surprised and don’t think it’s a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each school has school based subs, they are paid a little more than a regular subs because they show up like it’s a full-time job (not day to day). They don’t always know where they’re going to be assigned each day, there are assigned based on need.

So the kids are sometimes getting a school-based sub, sometimes having study hall... but in either case not learning any French at all? I'd be so mad if my kid was in that class.

In the case of this particular substitute teacher, deep in the bowels of this thread she's reported to be a woman from one of the French-speaking countries in sub-Saharan Africa. So the class did have a chance of instruction before the kid and his parents decided to fire up the outrage machine. I'm not sure if the admin got antsy and reassigned her or she decided that life's too short and the pay's too small to deal with that level of nonsense.

My DS had this teacher, but isn’t in the same class where the incident occurred. There’s been very little instruction all year. The teacher was using google translate for most things. She even googled the capital of France in front of the kids. Being a French speaker does not equal being a French teacher. The whole year has been a waste.

Did you know that there are probably more French-speaking people outside of France than there are in France. This makes you sound incredibly ignorant.

WHO doesn’t know the capital of France, French speaking or not??? Way to miss my point.

No sweetheart, you're missing the point. You sound stupid.

DP, but are you serious? Paris has been one of the most famous and highly visited cities for forever. It's also frequently in the news (Macron state visit, strikes with trash in the street). I am frightened that any educator would not know the capital of France.

You guys are quibbling about something that doesn't matter. Yes people should know where the capital of France is (although I do think that is more important to western civilization than it is to other parts of the world), but the fact is she knew French and was able at a minimum to offer the kids exposure and now they don't have that.

Okay but the point of the PP whose kid was in her class was that she said the teacher was using Google translate for most things and not really teaching. In that case, what's the point of having a native speaker? If all you need is exposure to an authentic sounding voice, Google translate already has that, or you're better off using any number of free resources on the internet. The kids have wasted an entire year not having a teacher who can actually teach French.

No wonder Americans are so behind in foreign language education! And this whole incident is not making it better at that school. It's just sad all around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each school has school based subs, they are paid a little more than a regular subs because they show up like it’s a full-time job (not day to day). They don’t always know where they’re going to be assigned each day, there are assigned based on need.

So the kids are sometimes getting a school-based sub, sometimes having study hall... but in either case not learning any French at all? I'd be so mad if my kid was in that class.

In the case of this particular substitute teacher, deep in the bowels of this thread she's reported to be a woman from one of the French-speaking countries in sub-Saharan Africa. So the class did have a chance of instruction before the kid and his parents decided to fire up the outrage machine. I'm not sure if the admin got antsy and reassigned her or she decided that life's too short and the pay's too small to deal with that level of nonsense.

My DS had this teacher, but isn’t in the same class where the incident occurred. There’s been very little instruction all year. The teacher was using google translate for most things. She even googled the capital of France in front of the kids. Being a French speaker does not equal being a French teacher. The whole year has been a waste.

Did you know that there are probably more French-speaking people outside of France than there are in France. This makes you sound incredibly ignorant.

WHO doesn’t know the capital of France, French speaking or not??? Way to miss my point.

No sweetheart, you're missing the point. You sound stupid.

DP, but are you serious? Paris has been one of the most famous and highly visited cities for forever. It's also frequently in the news (Macron state visit, strikes with trash in the street). I am frightened that any educator would not know the capital of France.

You guys are quibbling about something that doesn't matter. Yes people should know where the capital of France is (although I do think that is more important to western civilization than it is to other parts of the world), but the fact is she knew French and was able at a minimum to offer the kids exposure and now they don't have that.

Okay but the point of the PP whose kid was in her class was that she said the teacher was using Google translate for most things and not really teaching. In that case, what's the point of having a native speaker? If all you need is exposure to an authentic sounding voice, Google translate already has that, or you're better off using any number of free resources on the internet. The kids have wasted an entire year not having a teacher who can actually teach French.

No wonder Americans are so behind in foreign language education! And this whole incident is not making it better at that school. It's just sad all around.

My friend’s daughter is in the class in question and said she was a good teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each school has school based subs, they are paid a little more than a regular subs because they show up like it’s a full-time job (not day to day). They don’t always know where they’re going to be assigned each day, there are assigned based on need.

So the kids are sometimes getting a school-based sub, sometimes having study hall... but in either case not learning any French at all? I'd be so mad if my kid was in that class.

In the case of this particular substitute teacher, deep in the bowels of this thread she's reported to be a woman from one of the French-speaking countries in sub-Saharan Africa. So the class did have a chance of instruction before the kid and his parents decided to fire up the outrage machine. I'm not sure if the admin got antsy and reassigned her or she decided that life's too short and the pay's too small to deal with that level of nonsense.

My DS had this teacher, but isn’t in the same class where the incident occurred. There’s been very little instruction all year. The teacher was using google translate for most things. She even googled the capital of France in front of the kids. Being a French speaker does not equal being a French teacher. The whole year has been a waste.

Did you know that there are probably more French-speaking people outside of France than there are in France. This makes you sound incredibly ignorant.

WHO doesn’t know the capital of France, French speaking or not??? Way to miss my point.

No sweetheart, you're missing the point. You sound stupid.

DP, but are you serious? Paris has been one of the most famous and highly visited cities for forever. It's also frequently in the news (Macron state visit, strikes with trash in the street). I am frightened that any educator would not know the capital of France.

You guys are quibbling about something that doesn't matter. Yes people should know where the capital of France is (although I do think that is more important to western civilization than it is to other parts of the world), but the fact is she knew French and was able at a minimum to offer the kids exposure and now they don't have that.

Okay but the point of the PP whose kid was in her class was that she said the teacher was using Google translate for most things and not really teaching. In that case, what's the point of having a native speaker? If all you need is exposure to an authentic sounding voice, Google translate already has that, or you're better off using any number of free resources on the internet. The kids have wasted an entire year not having a teacher who can actually teach French.

No wonder Americans are so behind in foreign language education! And this whole incident is not making it better at that school. It's just sad all around.

My friend’s daughter is in the class in question and said she was a good teacher

Curious what the kids think about the "incident"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each school has school based subs, they are paid a little more than a regular subs because they show up like it’s a full-time job (not day to day). They don’t always know where they’re going to be assigned each day, there are assigned based on need.

So the kids are sometimes getting a school-based sub, sometimes having study hall... but in either case not learning any French at all? I'd be so mad if my kid was in that class.

In the case of this particular substitute teacher, deep in the bowels of this thread she's reported to be a woman from one of the French-speaking countries in sub-Saharan Africa. So the class did have a chance of instruction before the kid and his parents decided to fire up the outrage machine. I'm not sure if the admin got antsy and reassigned her or she decided that life's too short and the pay's too small to deal with that level of nonsense.

My DS had this teacher, but isn’t in the same class where the incident occurred. There’s been very little instruction all year. The teacher was using google translate for most things. She even googled the capital of France in front of the kids. Being a French speaker does not equal being a French teacher. The whole year has been a waste.

Did you know that there are probably more French-speaking people outside of France than there are in France. This makes you sound incredibly ignorant.

WHO doesn’t know the capital of France, French speaking or not??? Way to miss my point.

No sweetheart, you're missing the point. You sound stupid.

DP, but are you serious? Paris has been one of the most famous and highly visited cities for forever. It's also frequently in the news (Macron state visit, strikes with trash in the street). I am frightened that any educator would not know the capital of France.

You guys are quibbling about something that doesn't matter. Yes people should know where the capital of France is (although I do think that is more important to western civilization than it is to other parts of the world), but the fact is she knew French and was able at a minimum to offer the kids exposure and now they don't have that.

Okay but the point of the PP whose kid was in her class was that she said the teacher was using Google translate for most things and not really teaching. In that case, what's the point of having a native speaker? If all you need is exposure to an authentic sounding voice, Google translate already has that, or you're better off using any number of free resources on the internet. The kids have wasted an entire year not having a teacher who can actually teach French.

No wonder Americans are so behind in foreign language education! And this whole incident is not making it better at that school. It's just sad all around.

I'm skeptical she was using google translate for *most* things, especially in a French 2 class in APS. I just taught a Spanish 2 class and they were learning words like "turkey" and "What is your favorite dessert?" I'm not a native speaker but I could easily conduct the class in Spanish and answer all their questions. But even if she did use a lot of google translate, somebody who speaks a bit of French is going to be better than somebody who doesn't speak at all. Google translate doesn't know context. Like, if you speak a foreign language, ask it to translate "send it to me" and see what you get. It'll probably be a bad translation because it only works in one situation. So if she can say "send it to me" but not something more obscure, she is still helping the kids.

But yeah, French education in the US is unlikely to be great since there aren't a lot of French speakers in the US, and even fewer who want to be teachers. I really we over-emphasize French in schools. If we just had everybody take Spanish we would be better off in terms of language abilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each school has school based subs, they are paid a little more than a regular subs because they show up like it’s a full-time job (not day to day). They don’t always know where they’re going to be assigned each day, there are assigned based on need.

So the kids are sometimes getting a school-based sub, sometimes having study hall... but in either case not learning any French at all? I'd be so mad if my kid was in that class.

In the case of this particular substitute teacher, deep in the bowels of this thread she's reported to be a woman from one of the French-speaking countries in sub-Saharan Africa. So the class did have a chance of instruction before the kid and his parents decided to fire up the outrage machine. I'm not sure if the admin got antsy and reassigned her or she decided that life's too short and the pay's too small to deal with that level of nonsense.

My DS had this teacher, but isn’t in the same class where the incident occurred. There’s been very little instruction all year. The teacher was using google translate for most things. She even googled the capital of France in front of the kids. Being a French speaker does not equal being a French teacher. The whole year has been a waste.

Did you know that there are probably more French-speaking people outside of France than there are in France. This makes you sound incredibly ignorant.

WHO doesn’t know the capital of France, French speaking or not??? Way to miss my point.

No sweetheart, you're missing the point. You sound stupid.

DP, but are you serious? Paris has been one of the most famous and highly visited cities for forever. It's also frequently in the news (Macron state visit, strikes with trash in the street). I am frightened that any educator would not know the capital of France.

You guys are quibbling about something that doesn't matter. Yes people should know where the capital of France is (although I do think that is more important to western civilization than it is to other parts of the world), but the fact is she knew French and was able at a minimum to offer the kids exposure and now they don't have that.

Okay but the point of the PP whose kid was in her class was that she said the teacher was using Google translate for most things and not really teaching. In that case, what's the point of having a native speaker? If all you need is exposure to an authentic sounding voice, Google translate already has that, or you're better off using any number of free resources on the internet. The kids have wasted an entire year not having a teacher who can actually teach French.

No wonder Americans are so behind in foreign language education! And this whole incident is not making it better at that school. It's just sad all around.

I'm skeptical she was using google translate for *most* things, especially in a French 2 class in APS. I just taught a Spanish 2 class and they were learning words like "turkey" and "What is your favorite dessert?" I'm not a native speaker but I could easily conduct the class in Spanish and answer all their questions. But even if she did use a lot of google translate, somebody who speaks a bit of French is going to be better than somebody who doesn't speak at all. Google translate doesn't know context. Like, if you speak a foreign language, ask it to translate "send it to me" and see what you get. It'll probably be a bad translation because it only works in one situation. So if she can say "send it to me" but not something more obscure, she is still helping the kids.

But yeah, French education in the US is unlikely to be great since there aren't a lot of French speakers in the US, and even fewer who want to be teachers. I really we over-emphasize French in schools. If we just had everybody take Spanish we would be better off in terms of language abilities.

Quebec is right next door with the 2nd largest French Speaking city in the world, Montreal. I think French is a very important language. If anything American students should be multilingual in English, Spanish and another language like French, German, or Mandarin, etc.

[Anonymous]

The French teacher this woman replaced was amazing. She had a family emergency to tend to and we kept getting told she might return, first October, then after Thanksgiving, then after winter break, then finally that she wasn’t coming back this school year. My older child had her for French I & II. Younger child for French I. While the long term sub was a French speaker, she was not a teacher. The kids frequently had tests on vocabulary & topics they hadn’t covered yet. I’m not sure if she got class sections mixed up or something. She frequently berated the kids on their performance but was disorganized and didn’t actually provide instruction. My child hated French days with a passion.

The kids didn’t perceive the incident as a cotton picking game. Were all feeling both coerced and resistant to participating as they thought it silly and they are middle schoolers. The teacher’s subsequent behavior was disturbing regardless of her intentions with the game. The entire year has been a loss, but zero work occurred 3rd quarter & the school had to just award the same grade from second quarter as a result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each school has school based subs, they are paid a little more than a regular subs because they show up like it’s a full-time job (not day to day). They don’t always know where they’re going to be assigned each day, there are assigned based on need.

So the kids are sometimes getting a school-based sub, sometimes having study hall... but in either case not learning any French at all? I'd be so mad if my kid was in that class.

In the case of this particular substitute teacher, deep in the bowels of this thread she's reported to be a woman from one of the French-speaking countries in sub-Saharan Africa. So the class did have a chance of instruction before the kid and his parents decided to fire up the outrage machine. I'm not sure if the admin got antsy and reassigned her or she decided that life's too short and the pay's too small to deal with that level of nonsense.

My DS had this teacher, but isn’t in the same class where the incident occurred. There’s been very little instruction all year. The teacher was using google translate for most things. She even googled the capital of France in front of the kids. Being a French speaker does not equal being a French teacher. The whole year has been a waste.

Did you know that there are probably more French-speaking people outside of France than there are in France. This makes you sound incredibly ignorant.

WHO doesn’t know the capital of France, French speaking or not??? Way to miss my point.

No sweetheart, you're missing the point. You sound stupid.

DP, but are you serious? Paris has been one of the most famous and highly visited cities for forever. It's also frequently in the news (Macron state visit, strikes with trash in the street). I am frightened that any educator would not know the capital of France.

Different poster. We live in one of the most multicultural areas in the US if not the world. There are a lot of educated people here that don’t know what I had previously considered to be common knowledge. So I’m not all that surprised that a native French speaker would not know the capital of France.

Also, most adults under 40 no longer watch World News Tonight, the local Eyewitness News, or subscribe to newspapers like the Washington Post. They get their news through free websites or social media. Or if they are keen, then maybe the UK Guardian, which is a great donation-based newspaper (online and in print).

Subs aren’t vetted like teachers who are uniquely qualified to teach specific subjects. I think the school was just lucky they found a native French speaker for the long term sub position. Sadly middle school language classes are not that strong to begin with.

To add to that argument, there are also a lot of native English speakers here in America (who are well educated) that don’t know the capitals of the UK, Australia, Canada, etc. I’m no longer surprised and don’t think it’s a big deal.

A lot of people don't even know the capital of their own State.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Lots of deflecting going on. Maybe there was no malicious intent, but obviously the family is offended. I am not familiar with the game, but as a Black adult, I would want my kids lubing their face up and covering it with cotton. I think I’d be upset too.
Justin Fairfax was a pretty good draw for an attorney. I’m sure Arlington County is now taking this seriously and they should respect the culture of Blacks in the country who’s ancestors were enslaved and the post traumatic stress they may be experiencing.

what part of the culture of Blacks and history of slavery makes cotton inherently offensive?

NP. Be for real. Nobody is saying cotton is inherently offensive. If you just google “cotton picking slur” you can see why having somebody who is Back pick up cotton is inappropriate. I think this woman is a hustler and the situation should have been taken care of with an email to the teacher that was forwarded to the principal and APS, but learn a little history.

A game with a factory made cotton ball is hardly the same as slave laborers picking cotton to the point that their fingers regularly bled.

Right. This is a hustle that is hurting the students of Gunston, making it harder to fill much-needed sub positions, making people scared that someone will point a finger at them for something benign and not doing race relations any favor. It's all around sad.

I'm the PP who said that the actions was culturally insensitive. I also said that this woman is a hustler and she should have just sent an email so that the sub was made aware of the cultural connotation of cotton balls. You're not doing anybody any favors by saying that cotton has NOTHING to do with race.

Here are some instances of Black students being harassed using cotton balls (all by other students, not teachers). It happens.

Cotton balls strewn across the grass at a Black cultural center in Mississippi: https://www.kmbc.com/article/cotton-balls-left-at-black-culture-center/3659180.

Kid hands out cotton balls to Black students to mock Black history month: https://www.revolt.tv/article/2023-02-10/272655/california-student-made-racist-black-history-month-cotton-ball-joke/

White kid throws cotton balls at Black kid at a private school: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHMLYRNxP74

And the term "cotton-picker" is a racist slur.

That is NOT what I said. I said a GAME using a factory made cotton ball is not the same. You have to look at the circumstances. Was he the only kid picked, were all the kids picked black, etc etc NO. Your examples are completely different- of course those are racist! They were intended to be racist! This GAME was not.

I think the more important questions are:
Was he offended?
Does he have a legitimate reason to be offended?

Someone offended me yesterday and I didn’t go to sue for 5 million.

It’s not about whether or not he’s offended when it comes to a lawsuit. It’s whether or not there was intent to discriminate or intimidate.

Intent does not outweigh impact. What could have been a stupid way to kill time became something bigger because no one stepped in to turn a benign mistake into an opportunity to learn how to do better. The kid didn't know how to speak up, the teacher didn't know when to back down, the principal didn't know how to address it constructively, and the mom didn't know how to raise (or wasn't interested in raising) an issue in a collaborative way.

If the parents aren't Arlington residents and their son gets booted from APS, it will seem like poetic justice for that one time she charged a daycare parent a late fee. Live by the rule, die by the rule.

But everything else is just depressing. Also, eff Justin Fairfax.

Whoa, horsey! No. No one stepped in because NOBODY saw anything to step in about because there was absolutely nothing wrong with using cotton balls for this particular stupid game and activity. There was NO mistake made. The kid didn't speak up because he wasn't offended at the time, just didn't want to play the stupid game that other classmates also didn't want to play. It all "became bigger" because of MOM. MOM. MOM is the only problem here.

Yup

And that’s precisely why there needs to be an appropriate resolution. Arlington Public Schools see nothing wrong with the racism directed towards Black children. A child may not know how to immediately handle the situation, which is why his attorney and his parents are addressing the issue.

Well, to be fair, it IS difficult to know how to immediately handle a racist situation WHEN IT WASN'T A RACIST SITUATION.

Maybe the teachers intent wasn’t for it to be racist, but no Black kid should have to stick his face in cotton as leisure activity.

Ridiculous. So, it would have been a non-issue from the start, if it had been a synthetic fabric, right? Hahaha! Everyone knows this is absolutely bogus.

APS better not be paying any money to this family, best if they counter sued for decades of residency fraud.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Lots of deflecting going on. Maybe there was no malicious intent, but obviously the family is offended. I am not familiar with the game, but as a Black adult, I would want my kids lubing their face up and covering it with cotton. I think I’d be upset too.
Justin Fairfax was a pretty good draw for an attorney. I’m sure Arlington County is now taking this seriously and they should respect the culture of Blacks in the country who’s ancestors were enslaved and the post traumatic stress they may be experiencing.

what part of the culture of Blacks and history of slavery makes cotton inherently offensive?

NP. Be for real. Nobody is saying cotton is inherently offensive. If you just google “cotton picking slur” you can see why having somebody who is Back pick up cotton is inappropriate. I think this woman is a hustler and the situation should have been taken care of with an email to the teacher that was forwarded to the principal and APS, but learn a little history.

A game with a factory made cotton ball is hardly the same as slave laborers picking cotton to the point that their fingers regularly bled.

Right. This is a hustle that is hurting the students of Gunston, making it harder to fill much-needed sub positions, making people scared that someone will point a finger at them for something benign and not doing race relations any favor. It's all around sad.

I'm the PP who said that the actions was culturally insensitive. I also said that this woman is a hustler and she should have just sent an email so that the sub was made aware of the cultural connotation of cotton balls. You're not doing anybody any favors by saying that cotton has NOTHING to do with race.

Here are some instances of Black students being harassed using cotton balls (all by other students, not teachers). It happens.

Cotton balls strewn across the grass at a Black cultural center in Mississippi: https://www.kmbc.com/article/cotton-balls-left-at-black-culture-center/3659180.

Kid hands out cotton balls to Black students to mock Black history month: https://www.revolt.tv/article/2023-02-10/272655/california-student-made-racist-black-history-month-cotton-ball-joke/

White kid throws cotton balls at Black kid at a private school: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHMLYRNxP74

And the term "cotton-picker" is a racist slur.

That is NOT what I said. I said a GAME using a factory made cotton ball is not the same. You have to look at the circumstances. Was he the only kid picked, were all the kids picked black, etc etc NO. Your examples are completely different- of course those are racist! They were intended to be racist! This GAME was not.

I think the more important questions are:
Was he offended?
Does he have a legitimate reason to be offended?

Someone offended me yesterday and I didn’t go to sue for 5 million.

It’s not about whether or not he’s offended when it comes to a lawsuit. It’s whether or not there was intent to discriminate or intimidate.

Intent does not outweigh impact. What could have been a stupid way to kill time became something bigger because no one stepped in to turn a benign mistake into an opportunity to learn how to do better. The kid didn't know how to speak up, the teacher didn't know when to back down, the principal didn't know how to address it constructively, and the mom didn't know how to raise (or wasn't interested in raising) an issue in a collaborative way.

If the parents aren't Arlington residents and their son gets booted from APS, it will seem like poetic justice for that one time she charged a daycare parent a late fee. Live by the rule, die by the rule.

But everything else is just depressing. Also, eff Justin Fairfax.

Whoa, horsey! No. No one stepped in because NOBODY saw anything to step in about because there was absolutely nothing wrong with using cotton balls for this particular stupid game and activity. There was NO mistake made. The kid didn't speak up because he wasn't offended at the time, just didn't want to play the stupid game that other classmates also didn't want to play. It all "became bigger" because of MOM. MOM. MOM is the only problem here.

Yup

And that’s precisely why there needs to be an appropriate resolution. Arlington Public Schools see nothing wrong with the racism directed towards Black children. A child may not know how to immediately handle the situation, which is why his attorney and his parents are addressing the issue.

Well, to be fair, it IS difficult to know how to immediately handle a racist situation WHEN IT WASN'T A RACIST SITUATION.

Maybe the teachers intent wasn’t for it to be racist, but no Black kid should have to stick his face in cotton as leisure activity.

Ridiculous. So, it would have been a non-issue from the start, if it had been a synthetic fabric, right? Hahaha! Everyone knows this is absolutely bogus.

APS better not be paying any money to this family, best if they counter sued for decades of residency fraud.

APS is gonna pay.

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Anonymous wrote:Lots of deflecting going on. Maybe there was no malicious intent, but obviously the family is offended. I am not familiar with the game, but as a Black adult, I would want my kids lubing their face up and covering it with cotton. I think I’d be upset too.
Justin Fairfax was a pretty good draw for an attorney. I’m sure Arlington County is now taking this seriously and they should respect the culture of Blacks in the country who’s ancestors were enslaved and the post traumatic stress they may be experiencing.

what part of the culture of Blacks and history of slavery makes cotton inherently offensive?

NP. Be for real. Nobody is saying cotton is inherently offensive. If you just google “cotton picking slur” you can see why having somebody who is Back pick up cotton is inappropriate. I think this woman is a hustler and the situation should have been taken care of with an email to the teacher that was forwarded to the principal and APS, but learn a little history.

A game with a factory made cotton ball is hardly the same as slave laborers picking cotton to the point that their fingers regularly bled.

Right. This is a hustle that is hurting the students of Gunston, making it harder to fill much-needed sub positions, making people scared that someone will point a finger at them for something benign and not doing race relations any favor. It's all around sad.

I'm the PP who said that the actions was culturally insensitive. I also said that this woman is a hustler and she should have just sent an email so that the sub was made aware of the cultural connotation of cotton balls. You're not doing anybody any favors by saying that cotton has NOTHING to do with race.

Here are some instances of Black students being harassed using cotton balls (all by other students, not teachers). It happens.

Cotton balls strewn across the grass at a Black cultural center in Mississippi: https://www.kmbc.com/article/cotton-balls-left-at-black-culture-center/3659180.

Kid hands out cotton balls to Black students to mock Black history month: https://www.revolt.tv/article/2023-02-10/272655/california-student-made-racist-black-history-month-cotton-ball-joke/

White kid throws cotton balls at Black kid at a private school: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHMLYRNxP74

And the term "cotton-picker" is a racist slur.

That is NOT what I said. I said a GAME using a factory made cotton ball is not the same. You have to look at the circumstances. Was he the only kid picked, were all the kids picked black, etc etc NO. Your examples are completely different- of course those are racist! They were intended to be racist! This GAME was not.

I think the more important questions are:
Was he offended?
Does he have a legitimate reason to be offended?

Someone offended me yesterday and I didn’t go to sue for 5 million.

It’s not about whether or not he’s offended when it comes to a lawsuit. It’s whether or not there was intent to discriminate or intimidate.

Intent does not outweigh impact. What could have been a stupid way to kill time became something bigger because no one stepped in to turn a benign mistake into an opportunity to learn how to do better. The kid didn't know how to speak up, the teacher didn't know when to back down, the principal didn't know how to address it constructively, and the mom didn't know how to raise (or wasn't interested in raising) an issue in a collaborative way.

If the parents aren't Arlington residents and their son gets booted from APS, it will seem like poetic justice for that one time she charged a daycare parent a late fee. Live by the rule, die by the rule.

But everything else is just depressing. Also, eff Justin Fairfax.

Whoa, horsey! No. No one stepped in because NOBODY saw anything to step in about because there was absolutely nothing wrong with using cotton balls for this particular stupid game and activity. There was NO mistake made. The kid didn't speak up because he wasn't offended at the time, just didn't want to play the stupid game that other classmates also didn't want to play. It all "became bigger" because of MOM. MOM. MOM is the only problem here.

Yup

And that’s precisely why there needs to be an appropriate resolution. Arlington Public Schools see nothing wrong with the racism directed towards Black children. A child may not know how to immediately handle the situation, which is why his attorney and his parents are addressing the issue.

Well, to be fair, it IS difficult to know how to immediately handle a racist situation WHEN IT WASN'T A RACIST SITUATION.

Maybe the teachers intent wasn’t for it to be racist, but no Black kid should have to stick his face in cotton as leisure activity.

Ridiculous. So, it would have been a non-issue from the start, if it had been a synthetic fabric, right? Hahaha! Everyone knows this is absolutely bogus.

APS better not be paying any money to this family, best if they counter sued for decades of residency fraud.

APS is gonna pay.

Are there publicly available records identifying legal settlement payouts? I’d be curious to know how common or uncommon it is for this type of dispute to result in a payout. Does that money come out of the APS budget, or is it an expense that needs sign off from the county board?

[Anonymous]

Any publicly available updates on this after the $10 million demand in early May? The letter sought a response in 30 days, which have now passed. Would like to know how APS is handling this given how much publicity it initially got. Interesting it’s been crickets since then—including no further comments from NAACP.

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Anonymous wrote:Each school has school based subs, they are paid a little more than a regular subs because they show up like it’s a full-time job (not day to day). They don’t always know where they’re going to be assigned each day, there are assigned based on need.

So the kids are sometimes getting a school-based sub, sometimes having study hall... but in either case not learning any French at all? I'd be so mad if my kid was in that class.

In the case of this particular substitute teacher, deep in the bowels of this thread she's reported to be a woman from one of the French-speaking countries in sub-Saharan Africa. So the class did have a chance of instruction before the kid and his parents decided to fire up the outrage machine. I'm not sure if the admin got antsy and reassigned her or she decided that life's too short and the pay's too small to deal with that level of nonsense.

My DS had this teacher, but isn’t in the same class where the incident occurred. There’s been very little instruction all year. The teacher was using google translate for most things. She even googled the capital of France in front of the kids. Being a French speaker does not equal being a French teacher. The whole year has been a waste.

Did you know that there are probably more French-speaking people outside of France than there are in France. This makes you sound incredibly ignorant.

WHO doesn’t know the capital of France, French speaking or not??? Way to miss my point.

No sweetheart, you're missing the point. You sound stupid.

DP, but are you serious? Paris has been one of the most famous and highly visited cities for forever. It's also frequently in the news (Macron state visit, strikes with trash in the street). I am frightened that any educator would not know the capital of France.

You guys are quibbling about something that doesn't matter. Yes people should know where the capital of France is (although I do think that is more important to western civilization than it is to other parts of the world), but the fact is she knew French and was able at a minimum to offer the kids exposure and now they don't have that.

Okay but the point of the PP whose kid was in her class was that she said the teacher was using Google translate for most things and not really teaching. In that case, what's the point of having a native speaker? If all you need is exposure to an authentic sounding voice, Google translate already has that, or you're better off using any number of free resources on the internet. The kids have wasted an entire year not having a teacher who can actually teach French.

No wonder Americans are so behind in foreign language education! And this whole incident is not making it better at that school. It's just sad all around.

I'm skeptical she was using google translate for *most* things, especially in a French 2 class in APS. I just taught a Spanish 2 class and they were learning words like "turkey" and "What is your favorite dessert?" I'm not a native speaker but I could easily conduct the class in Spanish and answer all their questions. But even if she did use a lot of google translate, somebody who speaks a bit of French is going to be better than somebody who doesn't speak at all. Google translate doesn't know context. Like, if you speak a foreign language, ask it to translate "send it to me" and see what you get. It'll probably be a bad translation because it only works in one situation. So if she can say "send it to me" but not something more obscure, she is still helping the kids.

But yeah, French education in the US is unlikely to be great since there aren't a lot of French speakers in the US, and even fewer who want to be teachers. I really we over-emphasize French in schools. If we just had everybody take Spanish we would be better off in terms of language abilities.

Quebec is right next door with the 2nd largest French Speaking city in the world, Montreal. I think French is a very important language. If anything American students should be multilingual in English, Spanish and another language like French, German, or Mandarin, etc.

There are 80 million native French speakers in the *world* and 41 million native Spanish speakers in the US. I don’t think there is such thing as an unimportant language and yes French is great, but if we are going to offer a language language classes we should be sure we can staff them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any publicly available updates on this after the $10 million demand in early May? The letter sought a response in 30 days, which have now passed. Would like to know how APS is handling this given how much publicity it initially got. Interesting it’s been crickets since then—including no further comments from NAACP.

I heard several people raised the issue about the home address with many of the involved organizations. Apparently they do live in Arlington now but not until recently (they were using the aunts home address for years). It’s quite the conflict.