Teens Call on Poly Prep Administration to Tackle Racism
Poly Prep Country Day School appeared in the Daily News today because some students appeared in a video in blackface that was released on January 11th (Video here). The administration didn’t take action, so the students did.
Teen leaders in the school spoke out against the video during a Martin Luther King Jr. Assembly and walkout yesterday – January 18th. Seniors Jeovanna deShong-Connor and Talisha Ward, leaders of Umoja called for the school administration to confront racism.
In the Daily News article, it stated that one of the girls who was in the video was silenced by a school official and was “not allowed” to offer an apology. That’s weird! The video was made two and a half years ago and that student may have grown in knowledge and understanding. If the school is stifling an apology, she should use social media. One of the girls who appeared in the story spoke with the New York Times. She is now eating lunch in isolation to avoid confrontation with other students.
The administration should have done something before these students HAD to address this issue. How is it possible that the school has a zero tolerance policy and nothing was done the week after the videeo came out?! Who are the adults here? The student leaders had a lot of good ideas. See their letter here in Poly Prep’s school paper.
The culture of the school depends on the administrators doing their job. Poly Prep charges over 50K a year tuition and the administration has not done anything to make students feel less alienated.
In a later article today, the head of the school, Audrius Barzdukas, the head of the school said the school will rectify this situation and the school will not tolerate hate. (See here)
Our Congressman Max Rose attended Poly Prep Country Day School (see here). Max spoke out against the video and contacted the headmaster. We hope he will be doing a bit more to help his alma mater in becoming a more inclusive community. @MaxRose4NY 718-667-3313
Senator Gounardes spoke out against the hate: @agounardes 347-688-9924
Councilman Brannan condoned the hate and reached out to the school as well. @justinbrannan 718-748-5200
Brannan had more information to share with the community here.
Even Mayor Bill de Blasio slammed Poly Prep. See here
On Sunday, January 20th, Poly Prep said they responded to the problem already. If they did respond correctly, students wouldn’t have spent time writing that well-developed letter AND holding a walkout. The message from the school has to be as loud and clear so everyone knows it is wrong (especially a parent saying it was just makeup).
This was posted on January 19th on their Facebook page:
The New York Times 1/21/19 : “We should not view this incident of white girls in blackface gyrating as apes in isolation,” said David E. Kirkland, the executive director of the Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools at New York University. “The video perpetuates the sense that black bodies don’t belong in our schools.”
Hopefully in a few weeks, we will hear the school responded to the needs of their diverse student population and started to stomp out hate!
Poly Prep had some controversial situations in the past (see bottom of this article)
Hugs,
marlene
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