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November 15, 2001
By Aspen C. Emmett Sobs of frustration, shouts of anger and emphatic applause echoed in the Re-1 school-board room Tuesday night as students, parents and community members aired their concerns over an allegedly racist remark made last month by the Montezuma-Cortez High School principal, Mark Rappe. Rappe conceded last month that he had used the term "Navajo gypsies" while discussing mobility issues and CSAP scores at a faculty meeting. A week later, he made a school-wide apology, explaining his choice of words. However, a student-organized group has charged that the school district has ignored the issue and failed to take satisfactory disciplinary action. Last month the group approached the board but was told to return with first-hand information and was cautioned by board President Steve Hinton to "not use names, point fingers and make allegations on hearsay information." "It can get you in so much trouble, you can’t get out of," Hinton said at the Oct. 9 meeting. "This is serious business — real serious business. You need to know that there could be ramifications." Tuesday, though, the group pushed forward and demanded their voices be heard. The heated meeting ultimately led to an executive session involving the board, district administrators, two students and Rappe. No action was taken following the closed session that took more than an hour, though the students were invited back on Dec. 18 for a second private meeting. During the open meeting, one parent, Michael Mullens, said he was so angry at the board he had to refrain from hurling chairs as he listened to one student break down due to what he called the "ludicrous" treatment the students received presenting their case. "Mr. Hinton, you’ve made a sane man go mad," Mullens said with clenched fists. "My blood has reached boiling points. I’m a very patient person with a very civil manner but I do not and will not stand for this kind of behavior on anyone’s part, especially towards young Native kids." Hinton responded that the board was there for all kids and was working towards resolution on the issue of racial tensions. "We invited these young people to come to our meetings and bring us ideas on how to better things with our Native American kids in our buildings. We’re spending a lot of time and money because we know there’s problems. We’re here as your servants to make our schools better. "Now you can’t beat me up and I can’t beat you up and make it better. It won’t work. You and I being at odds would probably make it worse and I’m not for that. I’m here to listen and I’ll do my very best, even if it makes your blood boil, to see that these kids have a good learning experience." Hinton prefaced the student presentation by reading two letters written by teachers at the faculty meeting in question. Both letters stated the phrase "Navajo gypsies," while an unfortunate choice of words, was not intended to target any one group of kids, nor was Rappe known to be racist. "I had quite a number of high-school faculty step up and come to me with first-hand information," Hinton told the crowd of more than 60. "Some of them were not afraid to put it in letter form and sign it." "As someone who was present at the infamous MCHS faculty meeting, I would like to contribute my experience at that meeting," wrote teacher Janet Lytle. "Mr. Rappe was clearly frustrated, as we all are, with the high number of students whose absence precludes their taking and/or completing the CSAP tests. It goes without saying that the phrase ‘Navajo gypsies’ was a poor choice of words. I believe he was trying to localize a term commonly used to refer to mobile groups of people." Fellow teacher David Umbarger also wrote supporting Rappe and discounting claims that he was a racist. "I know that Mr. Rappe regrets using that particular phrase now," Umbarger wrote. "He is certainly not in the habit of using any racial or minority innuendoes. I find it especially regrettable that a statement made in a faculty meeting that could be interpreted badly, winds up spread through our student body and then reported in the local newspaper." MCHS senior Marvina Pete, spokesperson for the student group, presented references to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as segments of the student code of conduct. Pete cited the school handbook, which says students are prohibited from "engaging in verbal abuse, i.e. name calling, ethnic or racial slurs or derogatory statements addressed publicly to others that precipitate disruption of the school program or incite violence." She pointed out that there is nothing equivalent in the staff handbook to address racism. "To me and many other students at the high school, we feel this has been violated. If it’s strong enough to be in our school handbook, then they (faculty and staff) should be held up to the same expectations." Pete said she discovered only two passages in faculty manuals that come close to enforcing appropriate conduct in regards to racial issues and language. The handbook advises faculty and staff that, as role models, they are expected to have "respect for all students" and should be "articulate, selecting words with clarity and precision." "When this statement was made, it had an effect on students, and to be more specific, Indian students," Pete told the board. "To have a person of such high status saying remarks such as this — it created a feeling of not being welcome." In an emotional plea, Cornelia Vigil, a senior at MCHS, called for the board to take action against Rappe because of the damage his statement has caused Native American students. "It wasn’t hard for him to say it because, in that faculty meeting, there was nothing but whites," Vigil said. "If there had been a Native American in it, he would have had trouble saying it. "It hurts — he put us all down," Vigil said as she began to cry. Marie Brown-Wagner, a physician in Shiprock, expressed her concerns about racism, denouncing the two letters read by Hinton. "I’m a black American. I read about this statement in the paper, and yes, I heard the two letters from the two teachers. But my first comment is they’re not from anyone who is a minority. I don’t have any grudges against this principal but I’m a member of the community, and as a citizen and parent, and a black American, I found this so offensive that I started coming to your school-board meetings," Brown-Wagner said. "If we don’t have policies and we can’t deal with this legally, then we need to set policies for the teachers so that we do not have racial slurs." Citizen Nancy Caldwell told the board about an encounter with Rappe. "When I first moved to our community I went to MCHS to register my children for school," Caldwell explained. "What I encountered was disrespect and humiliation." The Caldwells’ daughter, who is Anglo, was told by Rappe she couldn’t attend the school because her hair was blue, despite her impeccable transfer records, Caldwell said. She ended up at Southwest Open. "I came to this community hoping to find a better life and what I found was something very, very scary," Caldwell said. Re-1 Superintendent Bill Thompson assured the crowd the racism issue is being addressed. "I can’t tell in what ways, but it is being addressed," Thompson said. At a student meeting prior to the school-board meeting, the students discussed protests and walk-outs if the board did not terminate Rappe. However, the demand was not addressed in the open meeting. Pete reiterated that the students were interested in three things: implementing policies for faculty and administrators regarding racism; creating classes on diversity and tolerance; and a third demand she requested an executive session to address. "What we’re striving for is a community that thrives on diversity and doesn’t fear it," Pete said before going with the board, Rappe and administrators behind closed doors. The board returned with little comment except to say the session was productive and they hoped to work toward resolution. |
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez Journal.
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