(NAME-MCE) Complaints cite racist reception in Eugene OR

[Anselmo Villanueva]

Complaints cite racist reception in Eugene
By Anne Williams
The Register-Guard  Eugene OR
Published: Thursday, March 15, 2007

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/03/15/a1.osaacomplaints.0315.p1.php?section=cityregion

The Eugene School District is investigating reports of alleged racial
slurs and harassment against visiting students, coaches and
administrators from Portland's Roosevelt High School, who were in
Eugene last week for the Oregon School Activities Association Class 5A
boys basketball playoffs.

In a statement requested by the state Department of Education,
Roosevelt Principal Deborah Peterson summarized a litany of complaints
culled from interviews with and written testimonials from students,
staff members and parents this week. The department asked for the
summary after state schools Superintendent Susan Castillo heard about
some of the incidents at a meeting of the Oregon School Boards
Association, department spokesman Gene Evans said.

Among the allegations Peterson outlined:

• After the Wednesday game at the University of Oregon's McArthur
Court with Churchill High School, black female students from Roosevelt
were called "whores" by white female students while walking to the
bus. It's not clear whether the students were from Churchill.
• Also on Wednesday, teens in a car yelled at Peterson that they were
going to "burn your school down" and then gave her the finger.
• On Friday, when Roosevelt played Mountain View, Roosevelt's head
coach, who is black, stepped out of a restaurant to talk on his cell
phone and teens yelled an obscenity and a racial epithet from a
passing car. Peterson did not know the name of the restaurant.
• When the Roosevelt team went to a local school to practice on
Friday, a group of students confronted them with, "Hey, what are all
the black kids doing in our school?" Peterson did not know the name of
the school.
• At the Saturday game with North Eugene, black students from
Roosevelt were the target of racial slurs and given the finger by
teens and adults, some of them presumably North Eugene fans.

Eugene district spokesman Kelly McIver said officials were trying to
find and interview students, parents, University of Oregon crowd
management personnel and anyone else who might have witnessed
anything.  "We're basically trying to break it down and find out what
happened," he said.

Officials who attended the games, including North Eugene Principal
Laurie Henry and Superintendent George Russell, saw virtually no bad
behavior. In fact, Henry said, North received compliments from some
Roosevelt boosters and UO personnel for the student and fan conduct
during the game.

"I was unaware of anything on the evening of the basketball event,
except I had heard there had been some kind of altercation between one
of our students and another student," Henry said.

Henry called Peterson earlier this week.

"I told her I was extremely upset and sorry that anything would occur
between North students and her students that would be devaluing to the
students, the staff and the community," she said, noting that any
students found to have behaved inappropriately will face consequences.

Peterson, who attended Wednesday's game but missed Saturday's, said
her school has moved swiftly to support students and seek ways to turn
an ugly episode into something positive. Students were asked to write
about their experiences, she said, and did so eloquently; those
statements were forwarded to the Department of Education.

She and others spoke about the incidents in Eugene at a school
assembly Wednesday.
"We had a student and a staff member talk about their experiences, but
it was primarily a celebratory assembly, and we're going to move
forward," said Peterson, whose school placed second behind North in
the championship.

Peterson said making the championships for the first time in more than
50 years was enormously significant for her school, where 50 percent
of the students are racial minorities and at least 75 percent are
low-income. "Then the reception (in Eugene)...," she said. "The
(Roosevelt) students were saying, `I'm not sure we really belonged
there. We were supposed to be the guests.' "

Henry noted that North Eugene has taken and continues to take steps to
better understand, honor and celebrate diversity. For instance, the
school has implemented the Positive Behavior Support system, which
emphasizes respect and good behavior, and later this month two staff
members will undergo training to launch a pilot project involving
racism study circles.

"It's a sensitive topic, but we are, with an open heart, trying to be
learners and do the best we can," she said.

Evans said his department, at this point, is not doing an independent
investigation. OSAA officials could not be reached for comment
Wednesday.