School District Admits It Must Act to End 'Pervasive Ruling Climate of Bullying'

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The mother of a 13-year-old who captured video footage on his cell phone of his classmates calling him the N-word and taunting him during a school field trip called on officials at a suburban school district Thursday to do more to change the culture that allows bullying and harassment to occur.

Shanari Williams, the mother of eighth-grader Phoenix Williams, told the Bloomfield Hills school board that she and her family “feel as if there is a pervasive ruling climate of bullying in this community,” the Detroit Free Press reports.

Further, Williams said, “it appears as if you are safe harboring these individuals and then telling the victims to accept minimal punishment, have a seat or leave.”

The newspaper said that some audience members who also said the March 13 incident wasn’t isolated shouted down a speaker who suggested it had been blown out of proportion.

The video Phoenix captured has been widely circulated in the media, an anti-racism rally was held at the middle school last week, and two students involved may face charges – one for them for ethnic intimidation, a hate crime, and the other for harassment.

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• How should the Bloomfield Hills and other school districts go about changing a perceived culture of bullying and racism? Are these issues significant problems where you live?

“Kids do stupid things and in this case, the kids who did what they did or said what they did have been punished,” said Vic Moigis, a longtime Bloomfield Hills resident and grandparent to a student.

“But the sense I get over here is that we’re stretching this whole situation out on and on and I don’t know to what degree does this help matters,” he said. “If this school district was such a racist or terrible place, then why are more and more minorities moving into this district?”

Catch Up On This Story:

• Student Videotapes Racial Harassment School Calls ‘Egregious
• Middle Schooler Faces Hate Crime in Alleged Racial Harassment Caught on Video

Several people wore shirts with the message “no tolerance for hate crimes” – among them Stephanie Crider, the PTO district representative for diversity issues, and the mother of two daughters, ages 9 and 12.

The problems Phoenix reported are persistent in Bloomfield Hills, Crider said, reading a letter she received from a former employee who wrote:

“I am saddened to learn that it took for a child to have the courage to stand up and say ‘no more.’ … No, this is not an isolated incident … This is a pervasive issue that needs to stop. It must stop.”

Superintendent Robert Glass acknowledged the school district has “a lot of work ahead of us” to become more inclusive. Ongoing conversations will explore ways to prevent future incidents and “eliminate it from our culture,” but change takes time.

“I want you to know we are committed to it,” Glass said.

Glass and other district officials met with the Williams family and H. Wallace Parker, chief legal counsel for the Northern Oakland County Branch of the NAACP, on Thursday to explore different strategies.

Already-in-place diversity programming will be expanded, and the boys involved were disciplined under school policies, district officials have said.

The school district hasn’t said specifically what action was taken, but in a letter to a representative to the NAACP, school attorney Robert Lusk said “their punishments were tailored to prevent recurrence of their misconduct, taking into account their ages and disciplinary records.” No other action is planned against the boys.

Phoenix Williams hasn’t been back in school since the incident, and won’t return until the situation is “rectified,” his mother said.

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Photo via Flickr/Creative Commons