Richmond teacher on leave after allegedly telling Latino student to speak only in English

The video, which The Richmond Times-Dispatch is not publishing, was shared to social media April 26 by several accounts, including that of Ultra Radio Richmond, a local Spanish-language station. The incident in question occurred at Thomas C. Boushall Middle School last week.

On the video, the teacher tells a student that “English is spoken in this class. Period” and that “the School Board will back me up.”

The student replies that she “didn’t know speaking my own language was wrong,” at which point the teacher says that other students who speak French or Russian are also required to speak English in the classroom.

After further discussion, including other students coming to their classmate’s defense and the teacher telling the initial student to “shut up talking” multiple times, she sends the student out of class to see the principal.

‘Will not be tolerated at Richmond Public Schools’

Richmond Public Schools declined to answer questions from The Times-Dispatch about details of the incident — including whether the division has any policies prohibiting the use of languages other than English in the classroom — citing an ongoing personnel matter.

Spokeswoman Lorena Arias shared a statement from Chief Wellness Officer Renesha Parks indicating that the teacher will remain on administrative leave pending an investigation by RPS’ Employee Relations team.

“Racism, bigotry, and intolerance of any kind will not be tolerated at Richmond Public Schools,” Parks said. “RPS happily serves a diverse group of students across many races and nationalities. We will continue to support and advocate for them all.”

Parents, including the mother of the student who was being reprimanded by the teacher, and former students in Richmond — along with several people associated with the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the country’s largest Latino advocacy group — voiced their concerns at a Monday night meeting of the Richmond School Board.

The school’s demographic makeup is about 44% Hispanic and 51% Black, according to School Quality Profiles from the Virginia Department of Education.

‘She wouldn’t stop crying’

The student’s mother addressed the school board at its meeting Monday night, saying that the incident had a negative impact on her child. The mother has not been identified by name to protect the identity of the student.

“Even though many people might not believe it or might not see it this way, with a little girl it affects them emotionally,” the woman said, speaking through a translator. “The day this happened my daughter arrived home and she locked herself in her bedroom and she wouldn’t stop crying. The next day they called her to the office to speak with her. And she said that she went and hid in the restrooms because she was afraid to speak out.”

Several people with the Richmond Region League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) also spoke to the school board in response to the incident. The group’s local president, Rachel Gomez, said the incident at Boushall has been one of several incidents that have been reported to LULAC.

“It makes me curious as to how the student knew what was going to happen and why to record it,” Gomez said. “Apparently, this is an ongoing situation in this class. Also [I want] to recognize that district wide, this is a systemic issues that is not being handled properly.”

Most of the reports to the group have been anonymous, Gomez said, from parents, teachers and students. An accompanying letter said that the LULAC group speakers called for the teacher’s removal and asked that RPS consider a mandatory “civics training” for teachers and students.

“I know you members of the school board and I know that none of you, not one of you would condone this type of treatment of a child, of a student,” said Vilma Seymour, immediate past president of Richmond Region LULAC, “… The sad part for me is this isn’t the first time I’ve heard this. It’s one of the few times it’s been caught on audio. So we need action from the school board to denounce this practice by teachers. It’s not okay.”

Correction: This story was updated to remove a sentence that stated RPS failed to approve a task force focused on helping Hispanic and English language learner students. LULAC asked for the task force to be created in August 2022 and RPS approved it in September 2022.