Let the church say, “Amen” to the settlement in the case of the student who was slapped by a teacher at Malibu High School. I commend the family for disallowing the district to turn the lawsuit into the angry black woman show. The demeanor of the family was extremely dignified throughout the endeavor. Based on the experiences of several African American families in the district, I know that there is an effort to provoke that type of behavior from black female parents by district employees and other members of the community to discredit the claim and create a diversion from the issue at hand.
The teacher did not have any business putting her hands on the student. Especially, slapping her in the face, replicating the behavior of a character in a movie. There are about 100 different ways to handle the issue of a student not having their schoolwork. Slapping the student is not one of them.
SMMUSD needs a code of conduct and a policy regarding civility and respect to ensure that this never happens again.
Debra Shepherd