Re-1 response angers critics

Re-1 response angers critics

October 11, 2001

by Aspen C. Emmett
Journal Staff Writer

To the dismay of an emotionally charged crowd at the Re-1 school-board meeting Tuesday night, discussion of an allegedly racist comment made by Montezuma-Cortez High School Principal Mark Rappe was swiftly stifled.

More than 50 concerned students and citizens crowded into the standing-room-only board room only to hear Board President Steve Hinton say he needed first-hand proof that the phrase "Navajo gypsies" was indeed racist in the context in which it was used by Rappe in an earlier teachers’ meeting.

"I need to hear from the people who heard it first-hand," Hinton told one student who came before the board, MCHS senior Kevin Kaime. "I need to know the air of that presentation, the air of that meeting. I need a feel for in what context certain words or certain phrases might be used."

The students were told that they could be put on the agenda for the November board meeting if they could get faculty members to support the allegations. Hinton advised Kaime and the audience, primarily made up of Native American students and parents, that such accusations can backfire on them.

"You do not use names, point fingers and make allegations on hearsay information," Hinton said. "It can get you in so much trouble, you can’t get out of. This is serious business — real serious business. You need to know that there could be ramifications."

Hinton went on to say that the board was sensitive to the students’ concerns but simply needed more information before any action could be discussed.

"We’re upstanding, halfway intelligent, decent people," Hinton said of the school board. "I’ve got problems with slurs if they’re slurs, but I don’t have problems with my community."

Kaime said he felt that the board was avoiding the issue because of its sensitive nature and he was disappointed Hinton was the only board member who spoke.

"Anything I said would have been wrong," Kaime said. "I feel that put a big message out to that audience Tuesday night. This is the type of stuff we’re dealing with. I hoped we had a diverse panel up there that would be willing to listen to something, and he (Hinton) took control. I’d like to say he spoke over all the other voices because I’m hoping there are other voices there, but maybe it’s a case of a shallow-minded board."

According to Re-1 Superintendent Bill Thompson, the controversial remark came during a discussion of low CSAP scores and student mobility in the schools during a faculty meeting Oct. 2. Rappe reportedly referred to students who transfer in and out of the schools as "Navajo gypsies."

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. The high school received a rating of low on the recent state accountability "report cards," based primarily on CSAP scores.

"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 told the Journal in an earlier interview.

Rappe has not returned phone calls from the Journal regarding the issue.

But others disagreed, saying that there is no excuse to single out a group of minorities to carry the burden of an ailing school district.

"How is low CSAP scores justification for using the term ‘Navajo gypsies’?" Kaime asked.

Monday morning Rappe, who has reportedly acknowledged the comment was inappropriate, addressed the issue with the high-school students via the in-class televisions, said Kaime.

"It was more of an explanation of why he could use the term instead of a flat-out, ‘I made a mistake, I apologize,’" Kaime said. "Towards the end he said he sincerely apologized to all the people who were affected by this. I took that as a very sincere apology but he tried explaining himself before he apologized. In a true apology you’ll come straight out and say, ‘I’m sorry for what I did.’"

Marvina Pete, also an MCHS student, said the apology is not enough to rectify the damage Rappe’s statement did.

"If students do what he did, we get suspended or possibly expelled, and yet all he has to do is make an apology," she said.

Annabelle Talk, a member of the Colorado Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, sat in on Tuesday’s board meeting and agreed that the apology was not enough.

"I don’t think it’s sufficient," she told the Journal. "He has a high job position as a principal and he has to abide by the (school) policies as well as the student body. If he doesn’t take an active role as a good role model, abiding by the policy, then what does that say to the students?

"The policy says that they can’t tolerate racial slurs, so they should have terminated him or suspended him. If they let this one go, another faculty or another district employee could do the same thing and it will be pushed under the rug again."

Talk added that she was disgusted with the way the board dealt with the students at the meeting.

"They did not acknowledge them. If they weren’t going to listen to the citizens, they shouldn’t have put it (the citizens-participation segment) on their agenda."

Thompson told the Journal he cannot comment on personnel matters and disciplinary actions but stressed that the complaints "had not fallen on deaf ears."

Talk said she hopes faculty members will step forward and take a stand to fight racial tension, although she is skeptical that school employees will stick their necks out.

"They (teachers) feel they are going to be retaliated against because of their employment with the Re-1 school district," Talk explained. "But they are protected because if there’s any violation under the Civil Rights Act, there is a retaliation clause that can protect them."

Talk said that in addition to going before the school board, concerned individuals and groups can file complaints with the U.S. Department of Education.

Kaime and Pete said they have contacted other groups to assist in their fight against racial tension in the community. In addition to lobbying the school board, the student group has enlisted the Anti-Defamation League in Denver as well as the American Indian Legal House.

"If they won’t listen to us, we have people on our side that they will have to listen to," Pete said.

Kaime said he hopes to see appropriate disciplinary action against Rappe as well as a push for programs that promote tolerance.

"We realize this is a large issue," Kaime said. "It’s not just in the high school or the middle school — it’s a community-wide project. We’ve turned this into a fight against racism in the community."

Concerned students, parents and interested community members will be meeting Oct. 22 and Nov. 6 at Empire Electric at 6:30 p.m. Everyone is invited to attend.