Across schools in Salinas, minority students have reported feeling unwelcomed and experiencing racism from their peers.
This issue came under increased scrutiny after incidents on Salinas Union High School District campuses, including Salinas High students in 2021 mutilating a Black doll then posing with it and stomping on it. In 2023, students at Rancho San Juan High School produced stereotypical depictions to celebrate Black History Month, such as using cotton to simulate ice cream (millions of enslaved people were forced to work in the American cotton industry).
Parents and community members demanded solutions to pervasive racism in SUHSD and elsewhere.
Last year, SUHSD responded to those demands and created a committee of teachers, administrators, parents, students and representatives of local organizations, including the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), to address this issue. They organized town halls to get feedback from the community.
After nearly a year of work, the SUHSD board approved an anti-hate policy on June 23. This policy establishes procedures to prevent and respond to any type of hate-motivated behavior, including discrimination, hate speech, harassment and bullying.
“The end goal, of course, is to provide a safe, inclusive environment for all of our students,” SUHSD Board President Nathalia Carrillo says.
SUHSD is seeking partnerships with other school districts to address the issue regionally. “It is pervasive in our schools, not just the high school district, but absolutely the elementary school district too,” says Vanessa Robinson, an SUHSD board member and elementary school teacher.
The district has reached out to Santa Rita Union and Alisal Union school districts so far. Carrillo says SUHSD students have led the way to shape a more welcoming environment and share that work with their peers.