HSE Distributes Lessons on Racism and Police Violence
Fishers One obtained information with links to the Learning for Justice curriculum that is regularly emailed from an HSE Administrator to educators. These weekly emails have lessons for discussions on racism and police violence.
Multiple sources within the district are speaking out regarding the lessons that some educators are promoting within several schools.
Fishers One looked into the extensive curriculum and found numerous lesson plans including Police Violence, School to Prison Pipeline, Race Riots, Black Lives Matter, and more. Some of the printable homework assignments include handouts on racial profiling, informational sheets created by the ACLU, and readings about “how the War on Drugs is the necessary lens for understanding mass incarceration”.
The Learning for Justice curriculum was created by the Southern Poverty Law Center and funded by organizations like The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its mission is to work in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance the human rights of all people.
Many law enforcement families have contacted Fishers One to speak about how these lessons are having a negative effect on their children in the classroom.
One anonymous mother said, “My child does not feel safe speaking out about this at school. Many times this year, my student has walked out of the classroom during news programming that suggests police brutality. My kid comes home upset about teachers and students wearing BLM masks. For us as a family, that mask symbolizes hate toward the police and that puts dad in a dangerous position. Kids have yelled things in the hallway and that makes my child feel like a target. My child used to dream of being an officer. But, now we have seen a spike in their anxiety. We just pray about it and tell our kids they have to give it up to God. God will protect their dad.”
This incidence has occurred at more than one HSE School recently. Another concerned parent shared their personal testimony with Fishers One. “My student has brought me their laptop on many occasions to listen to one teacher in particular who repeatedly says negative things about officers. My kid lost a lot of friends because of this new trend at school and on social media to bash police officers. It has become the new trendy thing to cyberbully someone and call them racist. These kids are too young to even know what racist is. My child’s friends know our family supports law enforcement. One kid commented on my child’s social media “blue lives don’t matter.” My child was so upset and didn’t want to tell me. I actually found out from another mom they were so upset.”
While researching this topic, one testimony turned into the next. One parent contacted us with concerns regarding what a student witnessed at school. Another child overhead a student raising his hands and saying, “Don’t shoot me” to a school resource officer. At a different school, a student heard asking a Student Resource Officer, “Why do you shoot black people?”
This theme of fear of law enforcement is also present in the HSE media centers. Fishers One became aware that HSE Schools intermediate libraries contain the book, Ghost Boys. According to the book summary, this book is told by Jerome, a 12-year-old bullied black kid in Chicago who's shot dead by a white policeman while playing with a toy gun. Both his own family and the cops start to unravel in the wake of this horror as Jerome watches through grieving, anger, court appearances -- and his friend stepping up to defend his little sister from bullies. Along the way, he forms a shaky friendship with the cop's daughter, Sarah (the only living person who can see him), and learns from ghost boy Emmett Till of a long and brutal history of black kids being killed.
After speaking with several concerned parents and teachers, there was one trend that Fishers One noticed. Many stories included testimonies involving the anxiety students were experiencing by HSE’s daily news programming of CNN Student News 10. Many felt the topics caused division within the student body and sparked discussion of teachers’ personal views within the classroom.
Fishers One reached out to the Fishers Police Department. We sent the department the links to the curriculum being distributed within HSE Schools and asked them to review. While the Fishers Police Department could not make an extensive comment as this time, they did say, “We are in talks with Hamilton Southeastern Schools. We will continue to partner with HSE and foster good relationships with students and staff.”
HSE did comment regarding the topic of race relations following the guilty verdict of former police Officer Derek Chauvin: They made the following affirmations:
Black Lives Matter
We stand united with our students of color and allies in the fight against injustice, racism and discrimination.
It is our responsibility as a school community to uplift our core values of awareness, advocacy, social justice, and empathy.
We are not powerless to change; we are committed to moving beyond good intentions to measurable and impactful results.
Racial justice initiatives are for the common good of all children.
We will continue to engage stakeholders in conversations, even when it is uncomfortable. All HSE students benefit from an anti-racism education.
We commit to turning the mirror inward and advancing an anti-racist and equity-based learning community.
This statement concerned some families regarding the negative consequences that anti-racism training could cause for their students. Some say the message is divisive. They are concerned their children will learn to be fearful of police officers and could have dangerous consequences in the future. Three days after affirming Black Lives Matter, HSE Schools released the following statement.
“Within our buildings on a daily basis, we have officers from the Fishers Police Department, known as School Resource Officers or SROs. They represent a branch of the local police services, and they provide security in our buildings for the welfare of students and staff. “
But they really provide so much more. They often work with our counselors to assist students and their families in tough times and for basic needs. They meet with students and families to head off issues and problems that may be in the developing stages, and they work with administrators and teachers to implement safety procedures within the buildings. Perhaps their most important service is building relationships and developing trust.
Speaking for the HSE school community, I thank each of our SROs for their commitment to kids, and I thank the Fishers Police Department for the specialized training that has equipped each of them to do their job.”