GENEVA, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The mother of a middle school student in west suburban Geneva recently tasked the school board to do something about the racial bullying she said her son has experienced at school.
The mother, who only identified herself as Kendra, spoke during the Geneva District 304 school board special meeting held on Monday about what she said happened to her son at Geneva Middle School South.
“He was physically assaulted by two fellow students and called a derogatory term that is historically used when referring to Black Americans. I discovered he had been called the n-word for almost a month by this student. In November of 2020, my son was accosted in the restroom by another student that had a comment regarding Black Lives Matter,” the mother said.
She said it needs to be taken seriously and that people need to be proactive, not reactive.
Martha Paschke, a Geneva resident and teacher, also addressed the school board about alleged hate crimes occurring at the middle school.
“Six years ago, my friend’s son was bullied in the same exact way with anti-Semitic slurs continuously in the same school, with the same principal and it was not addressed properly then. This is sex years later and it’s still a problem,” she said.
Paschke said students aren’t getting it and neither are administrators, adding that they can’t keep sweeping it under the rug and pretend racism doesn’t exist.
In an email to the Kane County Chronicle, Superintendent Kent Mutchler wrote that ”racism has no place in our schools and is not tolerated and the district does take a proactive approach to these things.”
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