An after-school game took a worrying turn last Tuesday at Lyles Crouch Traditional Academy in Alexandria.
Parent Kathryn Kelley says a group of white students allegedly told her fifth-grade son, who is half Asian, that he couldn’t sit with them.
“[They were] saying that the mixed-race kids had to sit at a table away from the white kids, and then the African-American and black kids had to sit even further away,” Kelley told News4. “They said they were segregated and couldn’t play with the white kids.”
Kelley says some students also allegedly teased black students, based on race and class.
“Of course it was very difficult, it was confusing. He was trying to understand what was going on at the same time as he was trying to defend his friends and trying to stop the situation, but not really knowing what to do,” Kelley said.
News4 obtained a letter sent by the school principal to parents last Friday acknowledging an “inappropriate game” that caused discomfort to some students as part of a “role play in a social studies class.”
The letter said: “Students often want to discuss topics of concern in class in a variety of ways, some of which may cause offence. This is certainly a challenge in educating our students and one that we must be aware of when difficult topics are presented.”
Kelley feels there are steps that should have been taken.
“When kids are learning about these things, like segregation, learning about the history of white supremacy in America — they have to learn this, they need to learn this, but it’s not a game, and they need to learn the seriousness of these things.”
In the letter to families, the school principal said she plans to work with her team to incorporate lessons about thinking before speaking and acting into the curriculum. The principal also said that the school community has a collective responsibility to ensure that all students feel valued and respected.
“I think we do it by perhaps starting with what kids know,” said Greg Carr, a professor of African-American studies at Howard University.
Carr said lessons about inclusion can be as simple as asking children how they feel when they see TV characters who look like them. He also says guest speakers can be helpful.
“So a lesson about segregation could incorporate older people who lived during this period,” Carr said. “You know the implications of that now, from an elder who can tell you how much it hurts to be segregated.”
It remains unclear whether any students involved in the game faced discipline. The principal, in her letter to parents, said she could not say.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
