Teachers at Royall Elementary School in Florence County, South Carolina, made a hugely tone-deaf mistake during a back-to-school event at the beginning of August. I am generally an advocate for teachers and do not like highlighting when they do something wrong unless it is so outrageous it needs to be shared. But something like this makes us all look bad.
On the first day of school, Royall Elementary held what they called an “Olympic parade to celebrate different cultures from around the world.” The way that some teachers and administrators chose to represent Mexico was based entirely on insensitive stereotypes. After they proudly posted photos to Facebook, the community was outraged.
Some of the teachers were dressed in t-shirts that read “U.S. Border Patrol” while standing next to a fake brick wall. Other teachers wore sombreros with a sign that said “Royall Cantina.”
One parent said, “These are educators with degrees who should no better. Out of all the things they could have done to represent the culture, community, and country of Mexico, those chose the U.S. Border Patrol and “cantina” which is a Spanish word for bar. One parent said, “It’s inappropriate, racial, and all-around a flat-out disgrace.”
After posting the pictures to Facebook and the community expressing their outrage, several employees are no longer employed at the school, and school leadership has changed, according to a news release from district administrators.
The Superintendent of Florence 1 Schools Dr. Richard O’Malley said in a press release, “I wanted to inform you that, due to the serious nature of this incident, several employees are no longer employed by the district or have been placed on leave by the district’s administration. As superintendent, I will not tolerate anything of this nature in our school district.”
Christopher Rogers is the district’s director of STEM education and will continue to work as an administrator at Royall until further notice. He has served in Florence 1 since 2009, when he was hired as the principal of Carver Elementary School, and has nearly 30 years of experience in education.
Julie Smith has been the school’s principal for over 20 years. It is not clear if she is still in that position or not. The Superintendent said, “I want to assure the Royall Community that the school will continue to provide an exceptional education for all students, with the high expectations and excellence in student achievement that have always been provided by our staff at Royall.”
Royall Elementary School apologized on Thursday after the post received backlash from parents and Mexican-American community members. The apology reads:
“It is with regret that we acknowledge that a picture that was posted on our Facebook page yesterday showed an insensitive disregard for the current challenges our Hispanic population faces. At Royall, we take great pride in our long-standing tradition of embracing and supporting every student who walks through the doors of our building. Our staff is unanimously committed to celebrating the diversity of our families and ensuring that each and every student at Royall is successful, happy, and recognized for his or her unique culture and abilities. We apologize for our insensitivity but look forward to fostering relationships as we begin a new school year.”
The Racial Justice Network, which is a group that advocates for students and parents, is calling on F1S and Superintendent Dr. O’Malley to do more to address what happened. The group said the “district has a habitual past of displaying discrimination, prejudices, carelessness, unprofessionalism, and downright racism.”
Elder James Williams with the Racial Justice Network said there was a lot of work, time, effort, and thought put into the display for some staff members of Royall Elementary.
“They only started talking tough about it when it blew up and went the wrong way. But, the fact that someone went through this much. And it was only by second glance, that I realized they paid that much to detail,” said Williams. The group said there was “no regard for the students and how some would feel and what message they were sending to others.”
The group’s news release reads in part:
“School is no place for racism and politics. This district has already shown us what they think of African Americans, and now they have shown us what they think of Hispanics. We demand that all parties involved be fired, even the principal, because how could she not know what was going on and what was being built at her school? This was done publicly and needs to be addressed publicly by the district. The statement sent to the parents earlier today was only made because the picture went viral. Normally, the district ignores the parents, students, and community concerns. This district needs to be completely cleaned up. We encourage the district to put the same time and energy that was displayed into this foolishness and efforts they use to pretty the schools up, into the student’s education. The students in this district deserve to be at least above the state line. We call on Ellen Weaver and the State Department of Education Board to finally step in and give this community some much-needed relief.
Many in the Mexican American community have said they’re satisfied with how the district has handled the situation, but question if the district allows for sensitivity training for employees.”
You can read the entire statement here.
Since the incident, several district employees said they go through sensitivity training, and those involved in the incident at Royall Elementary should have known better.