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Date Posted: 17:02:22 11/28/07 Wed
Author: JMR (Brown people/hate crime...)
Subject: School hate-crime suspension to be probed

School hate-crime suspension to be probed
Robert Anglen
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 28, 2007 12:00 AM

A 9-year-old boy from a Phoenix elementary school has been suspended after the school determined he engaged in racial harassment by using the term "brown people."

The boy, whom The Arizona Republic is not naming because of his age, was suspended for three days from Abraham Lincoln Traditional School after officials determined that his language constituted racial harassment, part of its hate-crime code.

In a parent-teacher conference in early November, Abraham Lincoln Principal Virginia Voinovich said she also told the boy that it is OK to have racist feelings as long as you keep them to yourself.





"As we said to (the boy) when he was in here, in your heart you may have that feeling, and that is OK if that is your personal belief," Voinovich said in the conference, which was tape-recorded by the boy's mother.

The mother, Sherry Neve, 35, said she is outraged and that her son did not make the remark to another student. She said the principal should face discipline for her own statements.

"My son didn't say it," said Neve, whose last name is different than her son's. She has pulled the boy from the school.

She said the incident raises questions about parental rights and methods of inquiry and oversight at the school.

In an interview this week, Voinovich declined to address the suspension or her comments on the tape. She said she didn't remember the incident, then demanded a copy of the recording and insisted that she could not talk about student discipline for privacy reasons.

Officials who oversee Voinovich in the Washington Elementary School District said Tuesday that they would launch an inquiry into the situation. They said they were unaware of a child being disciplined under the hate crime/racial harassment code but also cautioned that principals have the authority to enforce discipline without district intervention.

"We would like to look into everything that transpired," district lawyer Rex Shumway said.

Officials declined comment on details of the incident.

Voinovich submitted a letter of resignation effective Dec. 24, saying she is leaving for personal reasons.

According to the tape recording, school officials accused the boy of making a statement about "brown people" to another elementary student with whom he was having a conflict. They maintain it was his second offense using the phrase. School officials told Neve that other students complained about what the boy had said.

The parent conference included the mother, the boy, his teacher and Voinovich. On the tape, the mother and teacher indicate that another unidentified adult was allowed to question the boy and elicited from him the statement that he doesn't cooperate with "brown people."

After the incident was reported to the boy's teacher, he was made to stand in front of his class and confess what he had said.

The boy maintains on the tape that he never said the phrase. Neve said he only repeated back words that the other adult questioner used.

Neve said school officials didn't advise her of the incident until several days after they questioned her son. When Neve objected to the suspension during the parent conference, Voinovich told her that parents give up their rights to discipline when they send a child to school, the tape shows.

"If you don't want that, you can take him out of here," Voinovich said. "There is nowhere you can go to challenge this."

Neve insists that her son is not a racist and that he never differentiated a person's color until the school made it an issue. But even if he did make the statement, she questions why a principal would tell a 9-year-old it is OK to have those feelings rather than help determine what would make him feel that way.

"We were raised to be color blind," she said. "My children were raised the same way."

District Assistant Superintendent Lyn Bailey said Tuesday that she has spoken to Neve at length several times about the incident and about getting her son transferred to another school.

She said officials can't change the suspension. Bailey said she has worked to ensure that Neve's son is adjusting to his new school.

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