SHELTON — Shelton Intermediate School students were thrown out of the African American History Museum in Washington, D.C. after one of the Shelton students spit on a black visitor, according to a message posted Friday night by schools Superintendent Christopher Clouet on the district’s Facebook page.
“I am saddened to inform you that on the annual Washington D.C. trip the group from our SIS was thrown out of the Smithsonian’s highly regarded African American History Museum. Why? Because a student, a White male, spit on a Black visitor at the Museum,” the post from the superintendent reads.
Clouet confirmed he wrote the post in an email to The Valley Indy Friday night. The post did not elaborate on the specifics of the incident.
“This kind of action is not a reflection of who our students are, or who we are as a community,” Clouet wrote in the Facebook post.
In a Tweet Saturday morning, Dina Marks, the Shelton Intermediate School principal who is in Washington D.C. with the students on the trip, shared more information on the incident.
“The incident at the African-American Museum involved a student spitting over a balcony,” Marks wrote. “It allegedly hit a visitor, a person of color. It was an act of stupidity, disinterest & immaturity, completely inappropriate, but I believe, not racially motivated against that person.”
The incident at the African American Museum involved a student spitting over a balcony. It allegedly hit a visitor, a person of color. It was an act of stupidity, disinterest, & immaturity, completely inappropriate, but I believe, not racially motivated against that person.
— Dina Marks (@dinamarks) October 12, 2019
The incident comes about two weeks after the NAACP held a press conference outside Shelton Intermediate School asking the school do more to combat racism.
The NAACP, including the Valley Chapter, organized the press conference and rally after a white female middle school student allegedly posted an image of herself on social media in blackface giving the finger. A caption read, “new nigga in town.”
Speakers from the NAACP pointed out it was the fourth blackface incident in Connecticut in a month, and that schools and parents were not doing enough to explain the shameful, racist history of blackface.
In his Facebook post, Clouet urged parents to talk to their kids.
“Please speak to your own children in an age-appropriate manner about our expectation of how we treat people: Black or White, elder or young, or anyone, a child (or adult!) may perceive as being different,” Clouet wrote. “Shelton schools and the Shelton community can do better! We must!”
In an email late Friday, Greg Johnson, president of the Valley NAACP, said Shelton has a major problem — one that the school district is not addressing.
“I write this from a place of total disgust. Why are we here again? Not two weeks ago I said if acts of disrespect and hate towards Black students by White students are not addressed the hatred and disrespect will fester and grow worse … Guess what? This is pretty close to as bad as it gets.”
The superintendent’s post is embedded below:
During the NAACP rally, Akia S. Callum, president of the Connecticut State Conference NAACP Youth & College Division, offered specific steps the school district could take to improve race relations.
Among the steps:
- That the NAACP host or partner with the district for a mandatory “diversity/equity/inclusion” discussion with students and staff. That discussion would include a review of Connecticut’s hate crime laws.
- That the NAACP be updated on efforts to recruit a diverse group of minority teachers
- That the NAACP be advised and participate in the state’s mandate to teach African-American history in schools.
In response to a Valley Indy email Friday night, Clouet said “we are working on issues of bias and disrespect with our teachers, our students and their families, and community partners.”
The students were at the museum at about 4 p.m. Friday, according to a Tweet from the school principal.
This story will be updated as more details emerge.
