Sand Springs students disciplined after racial incidents
SAND SPRINGS, Okla. (KTUL) — "Our desire is for all of our students to feel valued," said Sand Springs Superintendent Sherry Durkee.
But to make that desire a reality, Sand Springs has some work to do. Last week, outrage after a disturbing Snapchat was circulated.
"Something about a $2,000 reward about slavery, if you all catch him he’s a runaway slave," said the victim's mother.
And this week...
"The white privilege card that has been on Facebook everywhere since yesterday. We had a student that was distributing," said Superintendent Durkee.
The cards are easy to find online and even available on Amazon.
"Again the brunt of the joke is a person of color. So this is what we have here Burt, we have white people being here, people of color being here, that’s what’s happening," said social activist Marq Lewis.
And says Lewis, 1775 doesn't' make the incidents easy for schools to address fully.
"The school wants to make it a teachable moment, the superintendent wants to make it a teachable moment, but I don’t know how, because we’re talking about our legislation that is prohibiting anything but color to be taught," he said.
Do you try and take something like this and turn it into a teachable moment? "We try. We’re also going to be in compliance with the law, 1775," said Superintendent Durkee.
The superintendent says both incidents were handled quickly and with appropriate disciplinary action. What kind of discipline?
"Frankly I'm not going to give you the details of that because, again, it's recent and it is protected by student privacy law," she said.
Meanwhile, students are addressing the incidents, with 40 holding a walkout today, and plans for more walkouts soon. Marq Lewis' advice to student activists?
"Continue to do so, just make sure you do it peacefully, make sure you do it legally, but continue to express your rights," he said.
