This all began when he came home from school and told his mother that he was placed on 'red' because he was talking in class. My daughter and I reemphasized the importance of good behavior and always paying attention. The next day he came home with a folder that contained a 'behavior plan' for him, The note stated that the teacher (a long term sub) had decided that he needed to have his behavior monitored each day. On the chart she had placed one check next to 'talking. My daughter was livid. When his teacher was there she had never heard anything negative about his behavior. Even the class mothers had cited his excellent behavior. So you can imagine how shocked we were that he was suddenly a student whose behavior was so bad that it needed to be monitored each day,
My daughter wrote a note to the substitute requesting a conference with the principal present and told her that she would not be returning the behavior plan until they had met. My daughter also called the principal to ask for a conference. Meanwhile, after talking with my grandson, we realized that more of the 'brown' students had folders than the 'pink' ones, even though the pink students were in the majority. He had always used the words brown and pink. He also told us that the substitute had often called him by the wrong name.
On the day of the meeting, I was present with my daughter. The principal, who had called my daughter had a conflict and had told her that the guidance counselor would attend. The meeting was interesting to say the least. The substitute teacher changed her story so many times is was hard to keep up. The guidance counselor told us that she had visited the class many times and that she had never observed my grandson misbehaving. By the end of the meeting the substitute had apologized and said that 'it would never happen again.'
Why did I bother sharing this? Because I am upset that here in 2018, I have to fight the same battle my parents and grandparents fought. And now my grandson has to fight it, too. Racism is alive and well and is coming out of the shadows more and more every day. I believe that we, as parents and grandparents of children of African descent, must continue to speak up and speak out for our own. The conversation I had with that substitute was to let her know that we were watching and that I would not allow her to define or label my grandson. Hopefully, she would think twice before labeling another student.I spoke up not just for my grandson, but for all of the students. By the way, he has had perfect behavior ever since.
The next day I had lunch with my grandson in the school cafeteria during the second grade lunch. We sat a a table not used by the classes. During lunch I noticed that some students came over to eat quietly. When I asked him about it, he told me that the table was for silent lunch for the the students that had misbehaved. That day four students sat in silent lunch. Three out of four were black. Just saying...