Students and community voice ongoing racial issues at school board meeting
By Ariana Jaso
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SALINAS, California (KSBW) — The Salinas Union High School District held a board meeting Tuesday night, focusing on a racist act at Salinas High School. The incident happened on Friday at a jamboree event, involving a Black doll that students stomped on, drove over, brutalized and then posted it all over social media.
On Tuesday, students, parents and activists all came together at the board meeting.
One parent, Asya Guillory, set up a display of Black dolls on the front lawn. Describing the incident as triggering. She said, “This is not just one isolated incident and I need people to understand that. It just happened to be at this moment where it caught fire. We would expect the parents of those kids would have a sit down with these kids.”
Many who spoke Tuesday night said they are hoping for accountability and beyond that, real change.
“We have the same conversation year after year and nothing changes. But I’m hoping after tonight, that they apply the same messages that we are trying to teach them and use it to change the school system and education,” Da’ja Robinson said.
Salinas Union High School District Superintendent Dan Burns said action will be taken against students involved— “They will face consequences in our district that include but are not limited to suspension from school.”
He also said that some students will be removed from extracurricular activities and will be required to attend restorative justice and healing sessions.
The meeting continued for hours Tuesday night. Moving forward, Burns said the investigation is still ongoing which includes a third-party investigator through a legal firm that will also look into any staff involvement.
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