Dear Ms Coberly,
We are in receipt of the B.A.C. slip sent home January 18th, 2012. We would like to address what we know to be the situation. Your additional notes section states: “While sitting on the bus a second grader started cussing at him so he verbally did the same. He was asked by two other peers to stop but didn’t.”
It is our understanding, that said second grader initiated a slew of racially derogatory insults including using the word nigger repeatedly in addition to insults littered with profanity. Based off of our conversation with our other two children, XXXX did not at any time curse or return racially derogatory statements. According to the letter you had him fill out, he stated “the child had lice.”
Our concerns are: First, a tremendous amount of valuable class time was lost over the fact that my son told another student that he had lice. The B.A.C. referral form indicates he was sent to you at 8:00 am and returned to class almost 4 hours later. Secondly, he received formal disciplinary action that was assigned to the category of verbal abuse/profanity. If his rebuttals were along the lines of what was written and sent home, it appears that he in fact did not do the same.
We believe that in light of the situation, XXXX seems to have handled himself to the best of his abilities as an11year old child. We work very hard with our children to make sure that they understand the need to respect themselves, and others. We are using this incident as a teachable moment. However, there are adults who would not have handled blatant racist profane encounters as well as he did. Additionally, XXXX has a frame of reference being his own second grade brother to gage the appropriateness of a child in the same age range. In our opinion, that may be what kept the incident from escalating.
We must take issue with the fact that a referral form which is subject to go on his permanent record under the category of verbal abuse/profanity has taken place, if no such behavior took place on his part. We would be more than happy to discuss this issue further if necessary. Feel free to contact us at your earliest convenience.
Respectfully,
Mr & Mrs Soap Box
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