Lubbock-Cooper School Board Approves Resolution Condemning Racism
A meeting was called by the Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District Board of Trustees to address hate speech, racial slurs, harassment and derogatory language within the District. This meeting was called after Lubbock-Cooper ISD administrators and Trustees were made aware of an anonymous Instagram account that used the schools name to display photos of black students and children.
The posts referred to the students by offensive and racist terms before administrators took action and reported the account to Instagram. The account was removed soon after but led to an internal investigation by the school before Superintendent Keith Bryant contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation for help. They have not been able to find the creator of that account and would need to take the issue to the United States Attorney's Office to open a case and then take it to a Grand Jury for a subpoena.
The parents of some of the children victimized on the Instagram page spoke out during a meeting of the Lubbock-Cooper Board of Trustees where they reported other in person racially-motivated incidents towards their children. Some of those incidences spoke about students using direct racial slurs while others played sounds of cracking whips along with being told to go pick cotton, which is an obvious and disgusting reference to the days of slaves in America.
Civil rights complaints were made in December by some families of Lubbock-Cooper and Slaton ISD with the Lubbock NAACP and Intercultural Development Research Association. The district has taken immediate action since learning of all these issues to eradicate any racially-motivated incidents which included additional administrators to observe any racist behavior, Cultural Competence and Racial Bias training over the summer, and addressing grades individually in how that type of behavior is not tolerated.
The school district has tried multiple times since the reports were made to reduce and eradicate any type of racist behavior such as speaking with families, sending out letters, and introducing different programs on campus for students so they can celebrate diversity. During Thursday, January 5, school board meeting an official statement was made in regards towards their beliefs as a school:
Racism has no place at any school within Lubbock-Cooper ISD. It is not a reflection of our beliefs as a school and it completely contradicts the virtues we wish to instill in our students. It is not now, has never been, and will not ever be who we are.
The school has also updated their policy when it comes to discipline for racially motivated incidents such as in school suspension on the first offense and then to DAEP if it ever happens again. In a statement, there have been no racially-motivated incidents at the school reported to any Trustees, administrators, superintendent or any other staff. It was a unanimous vote for the resolution of the issues by the board as stated:
[The District] Condemns all racially-motivated behaviors, actions, or speech; Pledges to stand against any and all acts of racism and discrimination against Lubbock-Cooper ISD students, employees, and community members; and Commits to support Lubbock-Cooper ISD administrators in any and all actions to end racism and discrimination among students and ensure a positive school culture of belongingness and environment of respect and love for ALL students. This support includes, but is not limited to, the facilitation of regular campus student, parent, and faculty surveys, the provision of increased administrative support, and the allocation of resources for continued diversity- and culture-based professional development and student education opportunities.