March 25, 2023 Breaking News, Latest News, and Videos

Letter To The Editor: Relationships Between A Student & Teacher Must Be Valued:

Dear Editor,

We the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) are concerned about the recent incident that occurred at Santa Monica High School, and we support the decision to place teacher/coach on leave and to launch a complete investigation of the incident.

As you may know, we take physical contact between teacher and student very seriously—especially when it appears that a protocol in place was not followed given that the district had security personnel on campus at the time of the incident.

Relationships between a student and a teacher must be valued.

The video that shows a portion of the incident is very disturbing. I and members of our executive committee believe that the teacher being placed immediately on leave was needed to sort things out.

In our recent memory, there have been at least three physical altercations between teachers and African American students, including this past Friday’s incident. And there was one additional incident in which an African American male wrestler was chained to a locker allegedly by white students who called out, “Slave for sale.”

This particular incident involved the failure of the teachers/coaches to report the incident to administration. It took an alert parent to inform the African American male student’s mother.

We are also concerned if this coach in the video and now on leave was involved in the wrestling noose incident with regards to improper reporting.

It is our expectation that a teacher will exercise judgment that is as good as is humanly possible.

There is no way that the NAACP would condone the use, sale, or possession of any illegal drugs on campus.

However, any use of physical restraint by a teacher of a student must be carefully examined. Even if a student has a challenged history at a school, humane treatment must always be exercised whenever possible towards all of our students.  

We appreciate Superintendent Sandra Lyon’s actions given the possible involvement of others, and the potential for the circumstance to escalate. She took an immediate, hands-on approach to control a situation. Given the video, an investigation serves everyone with regards to transparency and, at the very least, will make things better.

Sincerely,

Darrell Goode

President, NAACP Santa Monica-Venice Branch

in Opinion
Related Posts

Column: SB 9 Ended R-1 Zoning, but It’s Not Meeting Goals

March 11, 2023

March 11, 2023

By Tom Elias More than a year after it took effect, the landmark housing density law known as SB 9...

SMa.r.t. Column: The Urgency to Retrofit Earthquake-Deficient Buildings

March 6, 2023

March 6, 2023

Recent early-morning tremors off the Malibu coast, and the huge and terrible earthquake in Turkey and Syria have made us...

SMa.r.t. Column: ​​Reinforcing the Future – A Revisit

February 27, 2023

February 27, 2023

Six years go we discussed, in these pages, the city’s then-renewed earthquake-retrofit rules. At the time we argued that the...

Column: The Inevitable Conversions Begin Multiplying

February 25, 2023

February 25, 2023

By Tom Elias It’s a phenomenon from New York to Dallas to Fresno and Los Angeles, one that seemed inevitable...

Column: The Fantasy World of California Housing Policy

February 20, 2023

February 20, 2023

By Tom Elias If you’re looking for sure things among bills under consideration in the state Legislature, think of one...

SMa.r.t. Column: Santa Monica City Council – Planners, Politicians, or Developers?

February 19, 2023

February 19, 2023

Santa Monica – a progressive city 20 years ago, a chaotic city today! A city that is struggling for its...

SMa.r.t. Column: What’s Wrong With This Picture?

February 16, 2023

February 16, 2023

The picture shown above is the future of Santa Monica. Large tall buildings along the Boulevards and Avenues plus Downtown...

SMa.r.t. Column: To a Better Housing Element

February 3, 2023

February 3, 2023

Your City is busy rewriting much of its zoning code to implement our new Housing Element as demanded by the...

Santa Monica Police Chief’s Message to the Community

January 30, 2023

January 30, 2023

January 27, 2023  Dear Santa Monica Community,  The Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) would like to extend our heartfelt condolences...

Column: State Usurping Key Powers From Cities

January 28, 2023

January 28, 2023

By Tom Elias All over California last fall, hundreds of the civic minded spent thousands of hours and millions of...

Column – A California Positive: Kids Swarm Extra Classes

January 24, 2023

January 24, 2023

By Tom Elias It’s become a cliché, the shibboleth that California has lousy public schools and most of the kids...

SMa.r.t. Column: Let’s Get Real and Apply Practical Common Sense

January 20, 2023

January 20, 2023

This week’s column is a letter to the City Council, written by Arthur Jeon and sent in this past week....

SMa.r.t. Column: Water Water Everywhere

January 13, 2023

January 13, 2023

The new year has started with water, lots of WATER. The west coast and particularly central and northern California have...

S.M.a.r.t. Looks Ahead

December 31, 2022

December 31, 2022

It’s that time of the year again, when people and organizations look ahead and make resolutions to try to do...

SMa.r.t. Column: Refugees in our Midst

December 22, 2022

December 22, 2022

We published this article exactly five years ago. We leave it to the reader to consider whether this article is...