The Santa Barbara Unified School District administration will strengthen its response to racist incidents on campus following community outcry over a racist TikTok post made by students, the board announced at its meeting Tuesday.
The district’s Chief Operating Officer, Steve Venz, reported that the schools will follow a new five-step response protocol for racist incidents that includes a response, investigation and follow-through with the affected students.
In addition, the district will clarify its consequences for specific acts of discriminatory and hate-motivated conduct. Hurling a racial slur at another student, for example, will warrant an investigation, enrolling in a racial justice program for the offending student and up to two days of suspension.
Both the response protocol and updated disciplinary policies have piloted at Dos Pueblos High School and will soon expand to the rest of the district — but some members of the public said the district should’ve acted a long time ago.
“Black students should be deserving of support year-round, not just when the district is ashamed for not investing in their success over decades,” said Jazmyn Jackson, a Black Student Alliance lead with Healing Justice, a group focused on uplifting the Black community in Santa Barbara.
Concerns about a pattern of racism in Santa Barbara Unified schools reached a fever pitch after a TikTok post of San Marcos High School students in an ethnic studies classroom depicting ‘blackface’ circulated nearly a month ago.
Spanning nearly 40 minutes of public comment, community members commended the district for acting quickly to the incident but argued that more needs to be done to prevent racism instead of simply responding to it.
“You wait until the cohort leaves so that the momentum stops, and then the next cohort comes in and has to start from zero, and that’s really inappropriate,” said Tara Lynn Renee Evans Gutierrez. “It puts us in this perpetual state of having to argue with our existence in a way that we don’t need to.”
Ethnic studies teachers in the district argued that more money needs to be allocated to retaining and hiring Black staff.
“The district should feel embarrassed that two-thirds of the high school black student unions are advised by non-Black people, because there simply are no Black educators at Santa Barbara High and Dos Pueblos available to advise the clubs,” said Miranda Jue, an ethnic studies teacher at Santa Barbara High School.
Nahsia Darcus, president of San Marcos High’s Black Student Union, expressed support for an expanded ethnic studies program and hiring more Black staff.
“These demands are more than a request for help,” Darcus said. “They are a result of years of neglect, faced by our students, in this very racist system that you proudly represent.”
The strengthened response to racist conduct comes after members of the community took center stage at the board’s Oct. 13 meeting chastising the district for not doing enough to prevent or respond to racism in schools.
Following the Oct. 13 meeting, the district’s Committee Advancing Black Achievement, Wellness, and Excellence convened to advise district administration on how to best respond to racist conduct, which is reflected in its new protocol and disciplinary procedures.
Those on the dais, including District Superintendent Hilda Maldonado, showed their support for the district’s strengthened response to racism, but differed slightly on the nuances.
Having a consistent point-person who can lead the response team is crucial in acting quickly, board member Sunita Beall said.
“There’s a lot of delays, and a lot gets lost,” Beall said. “Some of these things are harmful and can’t be mitigated, but it can be addressed very quickly so that people feel like they’re being addressed.”
Board member Gabe Escobedo, who sits on the Black achievement committee, proposed hiring additional personnel who can adequately respond to racist incidents, instead of piling the load onto existing staff members.
“If we don’t want to fall into the trap of institutional amnesia,” Escobedo said, “We need consistency.”
Maldonado, who is retiring at the end of the school year, assured the public that the district is acting right away on their demands.
“I just want to be clear that the answer is, we’re going to get this done as soon as possible, any place and practice,” Maldonado said.
