Use of N-word pervasive in Montgomery County school, school board member says

CHRISTIANSBURG — Montgomery County's school board is continuing to probe the racial climate in the county's schools, with one board member saying that use of the N-word is widespread in at least one high school.

"It's like 'the' and 'and' – it's used all the time," longtime school board member Penny Franklin said at the board's June 18 meeting.

In an interview last week, Franklin, who 25 years ago joined the school board as Montgomery County 's first Black elected official, said it was dismaying to hear recently from students at Christiansburg High Schoo l that the N-word is said so frequently.

"It's hard to believe that this is 2024 ... that we still have to deal with this," Franklin said.

"... The thought that our children, and quite frankly even some of our adults, have to go through some of that nonsense – it makes me as a board member infuriated," Franklin continued. "And it makes me as a Black person just feel so much pain. Something has to happen."

Race has been a recurring topic this year as the school board has heard about Black and other minority students or staff being treated differently or made to feel unwelcome.

Martha Ann Stallings, chairwoman of the Education Issue Group for the Dialogue on Race, a Montgomery County group that for more than a decade has studied race-related issues affecting Black residents, wrote in an email last week that there was "a racial climate of concern" in the county's schools.

Use of the N-word has been noted before, along with other race-related problems, and school leadership should "put words into actions and address this immediately," Stallings wrote.

In March, after a presentation of data that showed that Black and some disabled students were suspended at disproportionate rates, Superintendent Bernard Bragen, who was hired in in late 2022, said that he should be judged by whether the situation improved.

"Hold me accountable," Bragen told school board members in March. If discipline outcomes did not become more equal, "put me on 81 and send me north," said Bragen, who worked in New Jersey schools prior to coming to Montgomery County.

In an emailed statement last week, Bragen repeated what he said at the June 18 school board meeting: that the N-word is banned in the county's schools.

"This division has zero tolerance for any hate speech, especially the use of the N-word. We strive to create an inclusive environment for all students and staff and hateful language will not be tolerated here," Bragen said.

But at the meeting, Bragen agreed when school board member Laura Purcell, using her computer to search, said that the N-word did not appear anywhere in the school policy manual.

Instead, students' use of the word fell under more general categories, Bragen said. It would at least be inappropriate conduct, punishable by detention or even suspension, and if used in bullying, harassment or hate speech, could lead to expulsion, he said.

Bragen did not reply last week to a follow-up question about whether a more specific policy on the N-word was being considered.

Last week, Franklin said that grouping the N-word with other offensive language or even hate speech felt like deflection.

"When Black people bring up something that happens to them, it gets thrown in with everything else," Franklin said.

From her own lifetime of experience with Montgomery County schools – as a student in segregated, then integrated schools; as a parent; and finally with the school board, where she has long been the only Black member – Franklin said that she concluded that for decades, the county's school leaders have avoided a more definite approach to the N-word.

Franklin recalled getting a 1990s phone call from her daughter, then a student in Montgomery County schools, who was crying because other students were calling her racist names.

Franklin said that she can't remember now if it was the N-word or another term that was used against her daughter. She said that more recently, she had heard of students being called "monkey" or "boy."

"It's been going on forever," Franklin said.

Franklin said that the Christiansburg students who she spoke to recently were definite that the present-day use of the N-word that they described was as a slur. Franklin said that the students were not talking about the N-word being uttered as part of song lyrics or among friends – both uses that in her opinion would be problematic in a school, she added.

At almost every meeting, the school board goes behind closed doors to consider and vote on punishments for the school system's most serious discipline cases. Franklin said that she could recall only one recent case that involved a student saying the N-word.

Her guess, after years in the schools, was that teachers or students might say something to someone who says the N-word, but would rather not report it and become involved in a race-related disciplinary process.

At the June 18 meeting, school board member Ed Gitre asked that administrators compile numbers on how many students have been disciplined for bullying, hate speech and other offenses involving the N-word.

Last week, schools spokesman Andrew Webb wrote in an email that the staff member who would compile such figures was on vacation, and that numbers would not be available until at least this week.

The June 18 meeting was the second board session in a row where Franklin brought up the schools' racial climate.

On June 4, after a long presentation on the school system's diversity efforts, Franklin reminded board members that they recently received a long letter from an employee who recently resigned because of "disappointing, unbelievable" mistreatment received "from the students to administrators" based on race.

This was not the only employee describing similar circumstances, and not all were Black, Franklin said.

"If you don't fit a certain mold, you can be treated differently, not given the same opportunities, and it needs to stop," Franklin said.

The schools' director of equity and diversity, Guylene Wood-Setzer, told school board members that she and other staff are pressing a five-year plan to open communication and generally improve conditions for minority students and staff. One coming step: in the 2024-25 academic year, she will be taking a book on disproportionality to principals, Wood-Setzer said.

The diversity director had one immediate request: that anyone experiencing what Franklin described notify appropriate administrators.

"If you don't come forward there is nothing we can do about it," Wood-Setzer said.

Franklin replied that people were afraid that coming forward could make the situation worse.

In emails this week, three of the other six school board members shared thoughts on the ongoing discussion, especially the use of the N-word.

Chairman Linwood Hudson wrote that addressing racial issues is a priority.

"Bringing initial data to the board regarding academic disparities was a good first step, and we'll need more data and updates to gauge progress. But we need a plan to turn that data into action, which our administration is currently working on. We're also hiring new positions within MCPS that will help us apply more focus to these issues," Hudson wrote.

Asked if there were limits to what schools could do about racist behavior, Hudson wrote that school officials can't control what happens away from schools. "But we can ensure that we're teaching our students how to respect each other, and that we don't tolerate certain words or language. We can ensure our staff treat each other with respect and model those behaviors to our students," Hudson wrote.

Gitre wrote that he was "deeply unsettled by reports of hate speech and by other discriminatory behaviors," and that he is committed to pursuing equal access to education, and that ending disparities would likely be a long process.

"How widespread these problems are is unclear to me. But I want to know. We must defend and uphold our core values," Gitre wrote.

A history professor at Virginia Tech, Gitre noted that he had researched desegregation and thought the school system could play "a constructive role. We must strive together for the sake of our children and community, and our future."

Purcell wrote that she wanted the school system to live up to its values.

"To paraphrase Lyndon Johnson, we have not always lived up to our constitutional promise of equality for all. His sentiment from 60 years ago is just as relevant today," Purcell wrote. "However, by beginning conversations and identifying issues we can begin to develop a culture where racist behavior and other hate speech is not accepted. We need to deal with this as a serious disciplinary matter, not ignore it just because it is complicated and difficult."

"... We need to work toward what we know is right," Purcell continued. "What other option do we have?"

School board members Derek Rountree, Jamie Bond and Dana Partin did not reply to emails seeking comment for this .

Franklin said that while the school system long has faced an array of racial issues, it seemed long past time to take steps to stop use of the N-word – immediately, before the next school year begins in August.

"There needs to be something in place by the time our students walk back into classrooms," Franklin said.

Mike Gangloff (540) 381-1669