A high level official in Richmond did something surprising this week. Superintendent of Schools Dana Bedden apologized for an incident that occurred even before he took the job.
The assembly at Huguenot High School began like a pep rally, but it quickly took on a serious tone as Superintendent Dana Bedden recalled how – in 2013 – all Hispanic students were summoned to the cafeteria. Jonthan Villatoro was one of them.
“In the past there had been several conflicts between the African-American students and the Hispanic students that ended in pretty bad fights.”
Hearing rumors of more unrest, the administration searched the Hispanics, warning that police and immigration agents would be called if there was trouble. Then the kids were escorted to waiting buses and sent home. Villatoro says it was terrifying.
“Well any time that you are singled out for a specific reason such as race, you automatically feel threatened, and you find yourself in the cafeteria with a bunch of your friends, and the only apparent reason that you’re there is because you are Hispanic. Some of these students that were called to the cafeteria had nothing to do with the fights, had never even associated with the people that were in those fights, but yet they were all searched the same.”
Parents were also upset by what had happened.
“My parents were outraged. They couldn’t believe the way we were searched here in America, and deportation is a sad reality where parents are taken in the middle of the night from kids, and families just destroyed. My family has suffered from deportation when they tried to take my dad, and I personally know the fear.”
Over the next few years, students and parents would picket outside the school, visit city hall and demand changes – official translators to help Spanish-speaking parents connect with the system, more cultural training of faculty and staff – and an apology. After reviewing the records, Bedden – who was a superintendent in Texas at the time – agreed to apologize.
“So today I stand before you to give my sincere apology to the students and the family members that experienced the inappropriate search that was conducted on February 1, 2013.”
A translator stood beside him, sharing the information with parents in Spanish, and Bedden said cultural training of employees had already begun.
“We have a waiting list for staff who are taking Spanish courses. We’ve begun cultural competence training. We’d like to happen quicker, but 3,500 employees, you just don’t turn on a light switch and poof, it happens overnight.”
He also pledged a million dollars to create a welcome center for Spanish-speaking families, to hire translators and launch other programs to better integrate the district’s fastest growing minority population, which now stands at 13%. Finally, he stressed that it was inappropriate for anyone to threaten foreign-born students with deportation.
“We’re not in the business of immigration. That’s not our role. If a student comes in and they provide enough information that says they are one of our residents, our job is to give them high quality education.”
Villatoro said it was a good first step, and he said the community was proud of what it had achieved.
“As immigrants, we tend to stay quiet and stay in the shadows as much as possible, try not to call too much attention to ourselves, but seeing like this new race of immigrants come forward and be unafraid, unashamed is really making a lot of change. We’re becoming bold, and we’re being heard.”
And Carolina Velez -- a community organizer and the mother of a 10-year-old student – said the two-year fight for justice provided an important lesson for kids.
“When you see injustice, you cannot stay quiet. When you come together with a group of people, you can create change.”
Superintendent Bedden also offered a teachable moment. Pointing out that leaders of organizations often get credit when good things happen, he said they must be prepared to step up and take responsibility when things go wrong.
