North Shore students speak out on discrimination

Students seek to combat a ‘culture of intolerance’

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“This is one of the first times where I’ve become more vocal about the issue, but this is not the first interaction I’ve had,” said Danielle Fossett, a North Shore High School senior who is African-American, and said she was called the N-word by another student in early January. Fossett said that since moving to the district in 2003, she has experienced many such insults dating back to elementary school.

The 18-year-old Sea Cliff resident appeared before the Board of Education last Thursday, accompanied by more than 100 peers, parents and teachers to demand action to stop such incidents of discrimination in North Shore schools.

Two weeks after the incident involving Fossett, another African-American student, Maya Reeves, experienced similar discrimination, she said. She had come to school with braids in her hair, and some of her fellow students made derogatory remarks. “A multitude of racial slurs had been used against me,” Reeves told the Herald Gazette.

Fossett and Reeves reported the incidents to a North Shore High School administrator, they said. In both cases, they were asked to corroborate their charges with witnesses. In Fossett’s case, her alleged offender denied the accusation. She had a witness, she said, but the witness’s account was not taken seriously because she was Fossett’s friend.

“There were no results from either situation,” Fossett said. “It made me feel disappointed.”

“North Shore’s motto is ‘Discovering your dreams,’ and I’m here today to make sure those dreams are discovered for all of us,” Reeves said.

Trustees were visibly shaken by the presentation, choking up while speaking with tears in their eyes. Trustee Sara Jones said the district’s recent equity study had pointed to certain indicators that reflected what the students were describing. “Diversity is a present need we have to address,” she said.

Superintendent Dr. Peter Giarrizzo added to Jones’s point, saying that fostering greater diversity at North Shore has become a top priority for future strategic planning in the district.

“One of the core values we seek to achieve within the next four to six weeks is creating a culture of connection and a sense of belonging, acceptance, equity and inclusivity for all learners,” he said.

Giarrizzo added that Weave Together, a recently formed student group that aims to fight discrimination, would have a seat at the table.

Weave Together’s purpose is to bring social and institutional change to the district. “We want the administration to be more accountable, take action against these issues and institute a protocol to handle them,” Fossett said.

“We found something interesting while working within the group,” she added. “Many other students had similar situations of being discriminated against, and the administration didn’t do anything to address them.”

During the board meeting’s public comment period, Fossett and Reeves, along with Weave Together members Suhana Singh and Gian Royal, offered detailed descriptions of the discrimination that they say they have experienced.

Reeves shared how she was harassed by a male student who physically assaulted her daily during her freshman year. “He would rub my thighs, pin me by my arms against the classroom wall and hold me down so he could etch his name onto my arm,” she said. “The teacher would say things like, ‘settle down,’ and ‘stop bothering her,’ but never anything more. They wouldn’t even let me move my seat away from him.”

As the harassment persisted, Reeves said she brought it to the school administration’s attention. “I compiled the threats he sent me via social media, had five other girls who he harassed in other classes write letters to the vice principal, and I kept a log of class periods and times in which he harassed me,” she said. “When I brought all of this evidence to my vice principal, he said, ‘There is nothing we can do.’”

Singh, a sophomore from Glen Head, called out the “ignorant assumptions” made by students who discriminated against Sikhs, particularly her older brother, whom she said had been threatened and victimized at school because he wore a turban. “Things like this do happen to students,” she said. “It’s real and we need to face it.”

Of the middle school, Royal said, “Our school never taught us the value of diversity.”

Fossett’s older sister, Ayanna, a North Shore High School graduate, also spoke, citing the district’s “continued struggle with diversity and inclusion.” She was also subject to discrimination during her time as a student, she said.

Glen Cove resident Paul Sweeney spoke on behalf of concerned parents. “This is a disturbing and unacceptable situation, and inaction is implicitly condoning it,” he said. “The district needs to be able to stand up for all its students, and that starts with the board.”