D-86 Teacher's Racial Slur Kept Secret

DARIEN, IL — Hinsdale High School District 86 is apparently keeping secret the racial slur that a Hinsdale South teacher uttered in class last month. But it is giving more details about the circumstances surrounding the slur and the plan for the teacher to make amends.

In a message to district officials, science teacher Lisa Fernandez apologized, saying she now understands her words were "hurtful."

Patch requested public records related to the situation involving Fernandez. In the records released this week, a Feb. 18 memo from the district's human resources officer, Domenico Maniscalco, indicated Fernandez made "racial slurs." A previous statement by school board president Nancy Pollak indicated Fernandez made one slur.

According to the memo, Fernandez made the slurs during a Feb. 5 biology class. It was during South's 15-minute "Empathy" lesson. As part of the investigation, the school collected statements from 14 students.

"It is my finding that you made an extremely bad judgment call and did not properly hear or listen to your students that day," Maniscalco said in the memo.

As the district announced last month, Fernandez was given a five-day unpaid suspension. At the time, it did not give further details of her punishment.

In the memo, Maniscalco said Fernandez would not teach on her first day back to work, which was Feb. 21.

"We will hold individual meetings with your impacted colleagues," he said. "This will be your opportunity to apologize and to speak your truth."

He said Fernandez also would have the opportunity to address her class and "speak your truth to impacted students."

Before she was to return, Maniscalco asked Fernandez to provide him and Principal Arwen Pokorny Lyp with talking points for what she would say to students. He said the officials wanted to review the points beforehand.

By Feb. 26, the district requested Fernandez to create a "self-reflection narrative" about how the meetings went, how she could build trust with colleagues and students where "trust has been jeopardized," and how she could ensure such an incident would never happen again.

"As with all personnel matters, this issue will be held in the strictest of confidentiality," Maniscalco said. But he added the vote on the five day suspension would take place in public.

"I believe you are genuinely sorry for the negative impact this incident has caused your students and colleagues and most importantly, I am confident that this issue will never occur again," Maniscalco said.

In a Feb. 19 email to district officials, Fernandez said she would appreciate any feedback on her statements to students and colleagues.

"Again, I cannot stress enough how sorry I am that words I said were hurtful to others, that was never my intention but I understand that they were hurtful," she said. "I plan to work really hard to rectify this situation outlined in (Maniscalco') letter as well as to work hard in my classroom every day."

In an email to school officials, a teachers union representative said it had been a challenge for all involved to find a resolution that was equitable.

"Lisa admitted her mistake in using the terms in class and has been extremely remorseful that her use of those words was hurtful to others," said Naomi Shepherd, who works for the Illinois Education Association.

In its response to Patch's public records request, District 86 did not include an explanation why it provided no documents that indicated which slurs Fernandez is accused of making, though it used a number of exemptions under open records law to withhold certain information. Portions of Maniscalco's memo and the union representative's email were blacked out.

Fernandez has not returned messages for comment.