Lawrence Township school district officials came under fire from several adults, who chastised the school board at its Nov. 17 meeting for its handling of an alleged bias incident that happened at Lawrence High School’s homecoming football game.
The incident, which occurred on Oct. 18, involved three Lawrence High School boys of Indian descent and four black Lawrence Middle School girls. It took place during the third quarter of the football game in the auxiliary overflow bleachers on the Lawrence High School side of the football field.
The boys allegedly taunted the girls, and used the “n-word.” An allegation that one of the boys urinated on a girl was unfounded. Police determined that a liquid, which may have been soda or water, was tossed in the girls’ direction.
The boys, who are all 17 years old, were charged with harassment by the Lawrence Township Police Department. Two of the three boys were also charged with bias intimidation.
At the outset of the school board’s meeting, Superintendent of Schools Ross Kasun acknowledged that “we clearly know we have got to learn and do better.”
School district officials recognize the pain caused by the incident – not only to the district, but to the community as a whole, Kasun said.
Kasun said the incident, which was investigated by the Lawrence Township Police Department and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, was the most thoroughly investigated incident in his 25-year career in education.
The incident centered on a few Lawrence Middle School students and a few Lawrence High School students, Kasun said. Water, ice and soda were thrown, “and some horrible, hurtful words were exchanged,” he said. “We have to do better.”
Kasun said school district students believe it was an isolated incident and does not reflect the school district. They were upset at how the school district was portrayed by the media.
In the wake of the incident, Kasun said, the school district has reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other agencies for help, so the district can learn to do better.
But for some attendees at the school board meeting, that was not enough. Some had traveled to the Lawrence Township school board meeting from Elizabeth, Trenton and South Brunswick Township to share their views of the incident.
James Carey, who is the chairman of the Elizabeth Resistance Movement Organization, told the school board that “we don’t take pleasure in coming down the New Jersey Turnpike, but this is a type of blatant disrespect. It is systemic racism.”
Carey asked school board members how they expect to move forward if they do not address the elephant in the room.
Kasun replied that school district officials have held several community meetings, and another one is in the process of being set up. He said he knows it is an issue in Lawrence Township.
Tormel Pittman of the Black Parents Association of Monmouth Junction, which is in South Brunswick Township, challenged school district officials’ characterization of the incident as a “bias” incident.
“I listened to your eloquent speech, (but) I didn’t hear ‘racism’ once. You didn’t mention it once,” Pittman said.
It was a racial incident involving a specific racial slur that was aimed at a specific group, Pittman said, asking rhetorically how it could be classified as a bias incident.
School district officials are down-playing the incident and not seriously addressing the problem, which is racism, he said.
“I’ll call it something in the middle – black discrimination and hatred,” Pittman said. Whether a school district is predominantly white, whether it is predominantly Asian or whether it is predominantly black, the issue is black discrimination, he said.
Eddie Frank, who lives in Trenton, said it’s time to take such incidents seriously. If it happened in Lawrence, it can spread to Hamilton Township and Ewing Township, he claimed.
If someone feels comfortable enough to call children a name, what are they being taught at home, Frank asked.
“It’s mental damage [to the victims]. You can’t say what happened mentally, [or] how it will affect that child. It won’t show up until later,” Frank said.
Shurman Riggins, who lives in Lawrence Township, said much of what the other attendees said were things that needed to be said. No one has the answers, and it will come over time.
Riggins praised the school board for its handling of the incident, which he said was handled in an “excellent way.”
Riggins said that when he told his son, who is a Lawrence High School graduate, about the incident, he said his son could not believe it. None of his son’s friends could believe it, either. He said they were aware of similar incidents, “but not to this degree.”
Riggins urged the school district not to let the offenders “off the hook.” They have to be reminded that they have responsibilities to others, he said. The simple message that needs to be communicated is that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.
“I think you are on the right track, but we are not where we need to be. There is a lot more work that needs to be done,” Riggins said.
The mother of one of the Lawrence Middle School girls who was involved in the incident also spoke to the school board. She said she was “enraged.”
The mother, who declined to give her name, said she had heard from the Lawrence Middle School principal, but not from the superintendent or the school board following the incident.
“We have got to do better. There needs to be accountability, not a suspension” of the three boys who were involved, she said.
Lawrence Township School Board President Kevin Van Hise said there is a criminal investigation by the police department. The police can share what they have found with the school board, but the board cannot release any information to the public, he said.
Jen Perry, who lives in Lawrence, told the school board that she believes that the mother was telling them that, although she would like to know what happened to the three boys, what she wanted to hear from the board was empathy.
“What she would like to hear from the school board is, ‘I’m sorry your child was hurt and I’m sorry you are suffering in this way.’ She is asking you to see her as a mom who is hurting,” Perry said.