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Oct 6, 2001 by Aspen C. Emmett An allegedly racist comment made by the Montezuma-Cortez High School principal, Mark Rappe, has angered students and prompted a forum on racial tension in the schools. Further, a quickly-formed group of students is seeking to draw community attention to the matter and is demanding a public apology and hoping for administrative disciplinary action. According to Re-1 Superintendent Bill Thompson, Rappe will be making an apology to the students some time early next week but added that the comment was taken out of context. In discussing low CSAP scores and student mobility in the schools during a faculty meeting Tuesday, Rappe reportedly referred to students who transfer in and out of the schools as "Navajo gypsies." On Friday, Thompson explained that the high mobility rate (36 percent) in the schools has a negative effect on students’ ability to take the test and although there are often many who don’t complete the CSAP, the score of zero is still figured into the school’s performance. "I think it was an unfortunate choice of words and it was not meant to target one group — it was just a term that was used in talking about mobility," Thompson said. "It was an issue that has become an issue that really shouldn’t be an issue as far as I’m concerned, because it was totally out of context." Rappe was not available for comment Friday, but Thompson said the remark was referring to students of all ethnic groups and at all of the Re-1 schools. "He was not talking about one particular group of people — he was talking about Anglo students that are moving around, he was talking about Hispanic students moving around and just students in general that move around. Mobility is a problem for everybody. . . it’s across the board, elementary, middle school and high school." The concerns, though, have not fallen on deaf ears, Thompson said. "The recognition is there that the comment shouldn’t have been made, but there was no intent on anybody’s part to identify one group of people because they were talking about all students in general," Thompson said. "We’ve all said things we wish we hadn’t said. We all pick up on some terminology and say something and then wish we hadn’t." MCHS senior Kevin Kaime is one of many students who found the comment appalling. He is heading a group of students that is to encouraging administrators to take action. Kaime said the group, composed of students of several ethic origins, got together Tuesday evening after hearing about Rappe’s comment and put together flyers that quoted the school’s code of conduct. Rule 12 in the school handbook states that "no racial slurs will be tolerated." The group then simply put the term "Navajo gypsies" below the rule. "We didn’t want to get in trouble passing them out on school ground because it is such a touchy subject. So we handed them out during lunch at the four-way stops," Kaime said. "Our group of students that pulled together to object to the slur grew from about 15 students to about 30 over the lunch hour." Thompson said administrators have met to discuss any action that might be taken as a response to the inappropriate comment. "The high-school administration, Mr. (Dave) Crews (an administrator) and I had a discussion and we’ve made some determinations, but I can’t go any further than that with a personnel matter." Kaime said that there were several faculty members upset by the comment but that none were willing to step forward in opposition to the principal. Kaime said he is looking forward to see the administrators’ response. "We would like to see a school-wide apology made by Mr. Rappe to state the fact that racism is not allowed in our schools or anywhere in life." The student group will be meeting at Denny Lake Park Monday at 6:30 p.m. Everyone interested is invited to attend. |
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez Journal.
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