WOODLAND — Some ugly election-related rhetoric is making its way onto schoolyards.
Woodland Joint Unified School District officials confirm at least two incidents of Latino students being targeted with race-related bullying.They say the bullying appears related to the election results.
From the murals on school walls to the bilingual marquees in front of buildings, the Woodland Joint Unified School District projects a message of inclusiveness. However, even a school district that strives for diversity is not immune to incidents of bigotry.
“The instances this week have been related to some of the election outcomes,” said Callie Lutz, a spokesperson for Woodland Joint Unified School District.
One of two incidents the school district is aware of is described in a Facebook post by a Woodland High School student saying in part, “Trump supporters today have said the following to my fellow Mexicanos: ‘Have you started packing?’, ‘Go back to Mexico’, ‘Yeah, keep on packing’, ‘We’re more American than you.’”
Another incident happened at Pioneer High School post-election where during a brief confrontation a group of students yelled “Send them back” at another group.
The district says the students who made the comments are facing the standard disciplinary process for bullying incidents. They hope this is not the beginning of a new normal.
Woodland says they’re hoping this is not the beginning of a new normal.
We always have concerns like that but really we try to take the temperature of our community, at this point we’re seeing or anticipating it will escalate like it may be in other areas,” said Tom Pritchard an assistant superintendent with the Woodland School District.
