MSU pediatrician warns Charlotte school board about racism, racial slur use in district

CHARLOTTE – A Michigan State University pediatrician says kids in Charlotte schools called two of her young African American patients racist names and injured one of them, and the district is not doing enough to stop it.

Dr. Jane Turner joined the children’s mother, Cynthia Trice, at the Charlotte Board of Education meeting Monday night.

The children, 8 and 7, attend Parkview Elementary School, where the student population is 90% white, according to the Michigan Department of Education. 

Turner, a 25-year pediatrician and an MSU professor, detailed, in writing, her efforts to meet with Parkview Principal Kali McKenna and Superintendent Mandy Stewart. She listed eight emails and calls she made asking for a meeting.

“I have never encountered the barriers to communication that I have encountered in Charlotte,” she told the board. “Most educators are eager to speak with a child’s physician.”

Turner also told school board members she was “shocked to learn that children are allowed to call other children the N-word and other hurtful names.”

Superintendent Mandy Stewart responded Tuesday, saying that no racial slurs had been reported by the family this school year. She also said administrators returned calls in a timely manner after they were given the proper paperwork by the parent.

“We have many resources available to address bullying and reporting mechanisms for students to anonymously report if they feel uncomfortable for threatened,” Stewart wrote in an email. “We are taking this very seriously and a thorough investigation of the incidents in question was undertaken.”

But Turner stuck by her report to the school board. She said that racial slurs were reported in a phone call Oct. 18 and both she and Trice said they talked about it in a face-to-face meeting with school officials Oct. 30.

Turner said she faxed a standard form signed by Trice that she routinely uses for release of information by parents. The district had a specific form it wanted filled out by Trice, and Trice had to redo it.

Trice, a longtime foster mother, said she’s been in the district since 1995. She had three older children who attended Charlotte schools and now she’s raising four adopted children ages 12, 10, 8, and 7, who attended the meeting with her. She said bullying has long been a problem in the schools.

“My children are going to school and they are being bullied,” Trice said. “I need the bullying and name-calling to stop.”

She said her 7-year-old daughter has been called “monkey” while her 8-year-old told her he was knocked to the ground on the playground Oct. 8 by a group of 10 boys. He said he was kicked in the face. Both children have been called another racist epithet.

The 8-year-old told Turner about the Oct. 8 playground attack during a doctor visit three days later. He also reported he was slammed into a wall Oct. 29. Turner noted the swelling on his forehead during a visit with school officials that finally happened Oct. 30.

Turner said school officials didn’t speak to the 8-year-old face-to-face about the playground incident until Oct. 30, instead asking other children about it.

In that Oct. 30 meeting, Trice said McKenna, the principal, said she would take another look at the reports of attacks, including a review of videotape. But Trice she has not heard anything since, other than the principal asking her if they could pinpoint the time of the alleged incident because there was too much video footage to go through.

Stewart, in her first year as superintendent, said the district does teach students respect for one another

“Personally, this is a passionate topic for me, as the majority of my career has been in highly diverse districts,” Stewart wrote in an email. “My areas of research during my doctoral studies have been connected with disadvantaged, minority, or disenfranchised youth."

And Board of Education President Caleb Buhs promised to follow up.

“This board, through our policies and our actions, wants to create an environment that’s equal,” he said.

The board also heard an impassioned plea from one of Trice’s older daughters, Shameika Williams, 37, of Holt, who graduated from Charlotte High School in 2002. She recalls being the only black student to graduate with her class.

She wept as she recounted name calling and paper being thrown at her or other students commenting on her skin and touching her hair.

“I experienced what my siblings are going through,” she said. “I was called the N-word.”

It was a cold blustery night but the Trice family bundled up kids to attend the meeting. Turner, a pediatrician, drove an hour on icy roads from East Lansing to attend.

And as Williams pointed out, it’s not just the black kids who will benefit.

“Your kids go to college, they have to see a black girl like me because they’ve got a dorm with a black girl like me or a Mexican girl. If you want your kids to venture out and explore the world, they’ve got to deal with other kids, other adults.”

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Judy Putnam is a columnist with the Lansing State Journal. Contact her at (517) 267-1304 or at jputnam@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @judyputnam.

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