Dear AUSD Community: 

 

As a district, we are committed to continuously improving our school cultures, so that all students feel included and safe. There are many, many issues to consider as we work to create such cultures. But one of the most complex ones -- and one we hear somewhat consistently -- is the use of the “N” word in schools.  

 

Examples range from non-Black students asking for “passes” to say the “N” word from Black students to the casual use of the word in its more colloquial form (ending in “a”), and from students quoting the use of the word in popular music to using the word as hate speech both verbally and in writing.

 

During Community of Practice meetings last year, our principals discussed how best to respond to hate speech on their campuses at length. This coming school year, we will be focusing on hate speech and slurs of all kinds with the broader AUSD cmmunity, but especially the use of the “N” word. We want our entire AUSD community to understand our thinking on this topic, and we hope that we can come together, as a community, to support more thoughtful understandings and stringent policies about this slur. 

 

In brief, AUSD staff do not believe that the “N” word -- or its variation ending in “a,” -- has a place in our schools. Whether it is expressed with an intent to harm by non-Black students or colloquially by either non-Black or Black students, we don’t want this word to be used on our campuses.  

 

We acknowledge that some families may allow this word at home. And we know that many students use the word in casual speech. But we believe that even if some feel there is a time and a place to use the “N” word, that time and place is certainly not in our schools.   

 

Why? In part it is because of the long, complex, and harmful history around the development and use of the “N” word. In part, too, we recognize that many families, staff, and students still take great offense at the "N” word and don’t want it to be used in their presence. 

 

We also understand that students will encounter the word in their studies of history or literature, or even in the consumption of pop culture. But it will be up to us as educators and parents to contextualize and facilitate those encounters so that they are truly educational rather than harmful or inconsiderate. We will work with our teachers this year to discover how to best manage this word when it emerges during study.  

 

As a starting point for what we hope will be a year-long discussion of the evolution of this word in all its forms, we encourage families to watch and discuss "Why It's So Hard to Talk About the N Word," a very engaging TedX talk by Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, PhD., Associate Professor of History at Smith College. As noted in the TedX description: 

 

 

To be clear, AUSD does not accept hate speech of any form. To reflect that, we updated our discipline matrix last year to allow for exclusionary discipline when students use or express this word and similar slurs. Our Board Policy Subcommittee also recently reviewed our policies on hate-motivated behavior and will continue that review in September. This year, we are also asking secondary students (and elementary students’ parents/guardians) to sign a newly created compact, or pledge, to avoid the use of hate speech and behaviors. This compact will be available in data confirmation packets for parents and students to review and sign in the first week of August.  

 

Please note that we’re not planning on suspending every student who uses the “N” word. That would not be constructive. But if students use it in a joking or casual manner with each other, we will pull them aside and remind them that schools are not the place for such language. That will both enforce our policy and provide valuable life essons to the students about choosing the appropriate time and place for language. 

 

We will share more resources over the coming year. In the meantime, we do encourage you to watch Dr. Pryor's TedX talk.

 

Sincerely,

Pasquale Scuderi