Angered but not surprised. That’s the message from some in the East Haddam community after an investigation was launched into racist messages targeting a middle school student. They say the news of the bullying isn’t surprising and the issue runs deeper.
“It was like a sense of déjà vu because it is exactly what I have seen others experience.”
An experience a former biracial student at Nathan Hale-Ray Middle School says she saw all too often. She wanted to share her experience after another student was allegedly targeted with racist bullying and messages this year. She says the school environment felt hostile and points to the lack of diversity there. She didn’t want to be identified.
“When there was a new white girl into the school, there was so much excitement, but when I came into the school, I was treated like I wasn’t there,” the former student said.
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State Department of Education data shows Nathan Hale-Ray Middle School is about 87 percent white. The former student recalls being called a racial slur once, but says other students were treated worse.
“A Black student had given a speech regarding how he was called 'monkey' the n-word, monkey noises were made at him, all sorts of things,” she said.
A former teacher who is Hispanic says she felt disrespected in the classroom by students at that time and didn’t want her face shown.
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“They laughed about my accent. They were defiant about the rules I set up in my classroom,” the former teacher said.
The former teacher says she never felt accepted by administrators and her peers. She eventually left for another school district in Connecticut.
“They don’t like people from the outside, who is an outsider for, them and didn’t like my accent. clearly,” she said.
She says the behavior from students did not happen by chance.
“Their behavior is influenced by the community that they are, by the adults they’re surrounded,” the former teacher said.
East Haddam superintendent Dr. Teresa DeBrito says the district cannot comment on individual student cases under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act but has said any racist messages won’t be tolerated.
“We are deeply concerned about the disturbing footage involving students. The immediate response was to involve law enforcement and we did take action,” she said during a June school board meeting.
She went on to say the district would like to work with groups on promoting racial tolerance. The former students feel the statement rings hollow.
“It’s just another statement that they’re making to hope that it just goes away if they say sorry enough,” she said.
The former teacher believes there needs to be systemic change.
“Until someone is held accountable, I don’t think anything is going to change,” she said.
The targeted student of that alleged racial bullying this year is no longer at the middle school, according to his father with no plans to return to the town.
