Black teachers say students call them the N-word. LAUSD vows to teach them not to

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Set us as preferred One teacher reported that the N-word was written on the classroom wall for the fifth consecutive year.Another teacher’s inbox contained the message: “I really hate you, [N-word].Black is ugly, and so are you.”A student addressed a teacher by shouting “stupid [N-word] four times,” but when the teacher issued a two-day suspension, the principal returned the student to the classroom with no consequences, according to an account shared at an online forum over the summer.After complaints such as these from Black teachers about students routinely hurling racist insults, especially the N-word, the Los Angeles Unified School District will strengthen measures to track such incidents and respond to them.Too often, say teachers and advocates, nothing happens.

Or worse, teachers are reprimanded or face retaliation for being complainers, such as being written up or getting worse class assignments.Students, too, are targeted with racist language.“Black students ...have told me that they’ve been called the N-word, a monkey and other degrading names,” Shelly Castillo, a San Fernando Middle School history teacher, said at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

“They don’t report it a lot because they have not been believed, and they’ve been targeted or isolated.”Citing “the centuries-long legacy of anti-Black racism, violence, discrimination, and intimidation,” the Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday calling for heightened student counseling related to the N-word and other hate speech, as well as staff training on responding to the incidents and reporting them.And staff must report back to the board in March on the progress made.The resolution, which was brought forward by board members Karla Griego, Sherlett Hendy Newbill and Kelly Gonez, grew out of meetings that Gonez held ...