EDITORIAL – There seems to be an issue at Chowchilla Union High School that is getting out of hand and that issue is communication. There are teachers making racist comments to students, students making racist comments to other students and an administration hoping if they bury their heads in the sand all of it will go away. Meanwhile parents are not getting any information out of the school and are being chastised for making posts on social media.

Last week a student brought a Donald Trump 2020 banner to school which upset a few students. The next day other students brought American Flags on campus and chanted to Hispanic students that they should all go back to where they came from. While the school and Chowchilla Police claim that no fights broke out on campus, unlike what was reported by students on social media, one student was suspended for fighting.  Police were brought to the campus to maintain order and extra security was enforced at Friday evening’s football game where there was a ban on any sort of flag or banners.

The racist comments seem to be coming out of the agricultural department where a teacher made comments earlier in the year about a former Hispanic student being the poster child for California Polytechnical University in San Luis Obispo. According to a parent of a current student and the student at Cal Poly, the teacher made accusations to the Cal Poly student’s sister in her classroom that her brother was given special placement at Cal Poly only because of his race.

The parent made a complaint to the School’s principal and discussed the matter in a Facebook group with other parents. According to the parent, the principal of Chowchilla Union High School threatened to have her removed from the school and no longer be allowed on the campus without any due process. The parent took it up the chain of command to the School’s superintendent Ron Seals. According to the parent Mr. Seals responded with the following:

Under the Corrective Actions and Follow Up Procedures in my Final Written Decision from Chowchilla Union High School District it stated the following;

1. (Omitted in the post on the Chowchilla Union High School Facebook page.)

2. Administrators, as well as all staff, will receive ongoing professional development on addressing discrimination, harassment, or retaliation against all protected groups. Before school starts, training will occur annually. Other workshops and conferences will be scheduled as they become available throughout the school year.

3. In the 2019-2020 school year, Chowchilla Union High School district will implement the Character Strong program (www.characterstrong.com) at Chowchilla Union High School, Gateway Continuation School, and Independent Studies. All staff will receive this training before school starts in August 2019. Character Strong focuses on character development (staff and students) and social-emotional learning throughout daily life in the classrooms and on campus.

4. Respondent 2 (Principle Mrs. Castillo) will receive ongoing training from the Superintendent regarding communication, relationships, board policies, administrative regulations, educational laws, and procedures, investigations, and problem resolutions.

5. Chowchilla Union High School District will begin training in September of 2019 for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) to improve school climate and culture. In Spring of 2020, staff will be trained and there will be a soft rollout. In 2020-2021, Year 1 rollout will occur.

According to this Mr. Seals is going to train the Principal of Chowchilla Union High School in communications. He might want to add himself to the list of those who need to learn considering the fact that he seems unable to pick up a phone and return multiple calls to local media about concerns over what students and parents are calling a near-riot incident on the campus two weeks ago. Mr. Seals also couldn’t be bothered to return media calls last year when a student was arrested for making threats of shooting up the campus. While he is quick to scold parents for using social media to spread information of these types of incidents, Mr. Seals only communication with parents regarding the shooting threat and this alleged racist fighting incident has been thru one post on the School’s Facebook page with a one-paragraph statement;

From Superintendent Ron Seals, Friday, August 30, 2019:
It has come to our attention that there are many rumors of numerous fights occurring today on the campus of Chowchilla Union High School. There was a confrontation during break this morning with no fights. Lunch ended at 1:35 p.m. this afternoon with no confrontations nor fights during the lunch period. Please pass this information along to those fueling the rumors to clear the air. Thank you.

The school has a CONNECT-ED system for notifying parents via phone calls on incidents on campus like lockdowns, fights, threats or other emergencies but it was not used for either the shooting threat nor these alleged fights. The administration may not want to be transparent with negative events on the campus, but parents have the right to know what is happening around their kids at their school where they are supposed to be safe.

Chowchilla is a town with no media outlet. The Chowchilla Newspaper is dead. Other media outlets, such as Big Valley News and Channel 21, that are called by Chowchilla parents to get to the bottom of these issues are ignored by Superintendent Ronnie Seals and Principal Doreen Castillo. In the absence of real information, what do they expect parents to do other than go to social media and share reports they receive from their kids?

If Mr. Seals and Mrs. Castillo really want to solve these racist issues on their campus they first need to open a line of communication with the parents and the community. They need to work with local media in getting their message out. We can hope this message includes the stand that this sort of behavior is no longer going to be tolerated on that campus. In the meantime, there are several things that seem to be beyond arguing.

Such as, Chowchilla has an image problem. Their population demographics are not going to allow this type of problem to continue to be ignored. Maybe the next time one of these Yee Haw’s, yes that is what these white students call themselves, decides to taunt a Hispanic student on that campus to “go back to where you came from”; he just might find himself looking for his teeth?

Also, consider that burying your head in the sand will not make this problem go away. An education plan to be rolled out sometime next year does not sound like the issue is being given much importance. Continuing to support a racist stereotype as your school’s mascot doesn’t help the situation either.

Lastly, if the administration refuses to listen to their parents, there is an election in the near future and the Chowchilla Union High School Board of Trustees can be removed at the ballot box. Parents you do have the ultimate voice. Use It!