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Summarized by Kent Larsen
LDS Accused Of Bias In Arizona
(Phoenix) AZ Republic 10Apr00 D4
By Edythe Jensen and Heather Romero: The Arizona Republic
and
Mormons keep high profile in Gilbert schools
(Phoenix) AZ Republic 11Apr00 D4
By Edythe Jensen and Heather Romero: The Arizona Republic
GILBERT, ARIZONA -- Complaints by black students in Gilbert, Arizona
have led the East Valley Chapter of the NAACP to file a federal civil
rights complaint against the Gilbert Unified School District, saying
that the district discriminated against blacks, looking the other way
when they were harrassed. While the complaint itself doesn't implicate
Mormons, the statements made by the NAACP and by the students and
parents involve say that the district favors Mormons over everyone else.
"I've never been called (a racial expletive) so many times as I have
been here," said Racquel Rocio, 17, a student at Gilbert's Mesquite
High School. Rocio claims to be a victim of the school's double
standards. She says a White student last year threatened her on
campus, saying, according to a police report, "I'll kill you! I'll
kill all your (racial expletive) friends. . . . I'll brand you with
a swastika sign on your butt." But while Rocio was suspended because
of the incident, the White student was not. The parent's complaints
range from racial slurs to a black child being forced to play the role
of Buckwheat in a school play.
NAACP East Valley chapter president Floyd Galloway says that one of
the sources of the discrimination is favoritism toward Mormons, who
are one-third of Gilbert's population. According to the Arizona
Republic, one current teacher, two former teachers and a former
administrator agree, saying that administrators would tell teachers
to overturn discipline and raise low grades for Mormon students and
then threaten teachers with probation if they didn't comply.
"I saw things being done to kids who are not White and not Mormon that
wasn't done to kids who were," said former teacher Pam Hickey, who
quit after a group of sixth--graders spit all over her car and weren't
disciplined. "What's happening in those schools is illegal. People's
rights are being trampled."
But Gilbert Assistant Superintendent Clyde Dangerfield, who is an LDS
Church member, doesn't think that any overt discrimination exists,
"We need to work harder at these issues and we're doing that," he
said. "But it's certainly not been anything that's been done
intentionally that I'm aware of." He says the school district is
developing a policy that prohibits racial slurs, and will start
tracking discipline by race to see if patterns of discrimination exist.
But former Gilbert administrator Diana Likes, who left when the school
board declined to renew her contract in 1996, says that a "supremacits
attitude" has permeated the district for years. "Skinheads were
terrorizing kids at high school when I was there," she said. "Every
time we'd try to discipline certain kids, the administrators blamed
the teachers, and the kids knew they'd be backed. Gilbert is paying
the price now."
And another former teacher, Diane Paetz, says that the discrimination
comes from influential parents, who push the administrators into
inequities in discipline, awards and grading. "If you were a student
and weren't Mormon, forget about running for student office," she said.
Rocio says this is still true today, "Black students don't run for
Student Council. We don't have a chance," she said.
A follow-up article today contained additional details of the alleged
discrimination, and supports the conclusion that influential parents
push the administrators into creating inequities. One Mesquite High
School Teacher says that when both Mormon and non-Mormon students
break the rules, only the non-Mormon students are punished. "That's
true in any district," he said. "If you know the right people you get
away with more."
And LDS Church spokesman Wilford Anderson reacted with concern to the
article, seeking to meet with East Valley NAACP President Galloway and
other civil rights leaders about the issue, "Our church and every
other church teaches that we are all brothers and sisters in the eyes
of God, that racism is wrong," Anderson told the Republic.
LDS seminary classes have become part of the issue. The classes, and
LDS customs, like the popular "CTR" ring tend to set students apart
from others. But Assistant Superintendent Dangerfield says that
seminary classes shouldn't be held against LDS Church members, "The
fact that they're very active and want their children to receive
religious instruction shouldn't be held against them. Any religious
organization has the right to be released from school for religious
instruction."
And fellow students complained to the Republic about "CTR" rings. One
student, Mesquite High junior Adam Carroll noted, "Mormons stick
together. Gang colors aren't OK, but Mormons can wear those rings."
Dangerfield admits that some LDS teachers are open about their faith,
going as far as to put up pictures of the LDS Temple in their
classrooms, which may cause freedom of religion problems for the
school district. "How much of it is a freedom of expression issue for
that individual vs. a violation of church and state," he said. "It's a
very fine line."
But not all LDS students feel like they have been favored. 15-year-old
Matt Bingham, a freshman at Mesquite High School, says that he hasn't
seen it. "I'm Mormon and I have bad grades."
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